Multi-Campus Report

As designated by the Executive Vice President and Provost, the Office of Regional Higher Education oversees the operations and governance of the regional campus system. The central Regional Higher Education office is maintained by an Executive Dean, to whom the five regional campus deans report. Although budgets for the central office, five campuses, and three
centers are managed centrally by a Director of Operations and Budget who works closely with administrative staff on each regional campus and who represents the regional campus system in university-wide budget conversations and policy decisions, the regional campus deans are ultimately responsible for maintaining their local budgets and budgetary decisions. Regional Higher Education also serves as an academic unit, with resident faculty and native academic programs. Student and faculty academic support services for these programs is also managed centrally.

While working in coordination with each other and the Office of Regional Higher Education, the individual regional campuses each maintain an organizational and governance structure. The campus dean, associate dean, academic division coordinators, and directors of various service operations (i.e. student services, library, facilities, IT) locally ensure the day-to-day operations of the campus. Additional campus locations are governed by the home campus, which helps to ensure operational consistency.

Faculty governance structures exist on each campus and across the regional campus system. Each campus maintains a local curriculum committee comprised of the faculty. Faculty from each campus then comprise the membership of the regional campus curriculum committee. Faculty from each campus also serve on the university Faculty Senate and engage in discipline
specific work with their colleagues across the regional system and in Athens.

During the 2014-2015 academic year, Regional Higher Education instituted an additional level of governance advisory with the development of the RHE Leadership group, comprised of regional campus deans, associate deans, faculty senators, faculty division coordinators, and central Regional Higher Education staff. The RHE Leadership meets each semester to discuss system governance, policy, budget, and operations. The results of these meetings influence executive level decisions made by the Executive Dean and campus deans.

Additional collaboration, coordination, and governance oversight occurs through the following regional campus system groups and meeting schedules:

• Central Regional Higher Education staff and the regional campus deans meet bi-weekly to review governance and operations, to discuss needs and opportunities, and to determine internal to the system policies and practices
• Associate deans: meet 8-10 times per year with the RHE Assistant Dean and a designated RHE Dean
• Student services staff: meet with each other and Athens campus functional leads (i.e. Admissions, Registrar, Financial Aid) 5-6 times per year

OHIO’s regional campuses represent nearly one-third of the university’s undergraduate enrollments. As such, the regional campuses are an integral part of the institution’s overall operations. Institutional planning, governance, and oversight processes are inclusive of the regional campuses as demonstrated by the Office Regional Higher Education’s involvement in
critical executive level planning and decision-making. Specific examples of inclusion in institutional planning and governance processes include:

• Regional Higher Education representation on institutional budget planning committees. 

  The Regional Higher Education Director of Operations and Budget is an active member of the university Budget Planning Council and serves on several ad hoc budget committees, including the RC Strategy, RCM Small Workgroup, OHIO Task Force on Affordability & Efficiency, Student Course Fee Committee, and Budget Planning Partner Group.

• Executive Dean of Regional Higher Education membership of the Academic Leadership. 

  As a member of the President’s Executive Staff, the Deans group, and the Provost’s Academic Leadership group, the Executive Dean is able to ensure regional campuses are represented in executive level academic planning. Similarly, this participation ensures the ability to keep the greater university community informed of the activities and needs
  of the regional campuses.

• Strategic Enrollment Planning

  The university’s Strategic Enrollment Management Steering Committee, of which the RHE Executive Dean is a member, produces enrollment plans that are inclusive of all university enrollment opportunities and consistently include specific goals for the regional campus system. A university-wide task force includes representation from Regional Higher Education which further affords the regional campuses an ability to be included in institutional enrollment planning efforts.

• Faculty Senate and University Curriculum Council

  The memberships of OHIO’s Faculty Senate and University Curriculum Council are inclusive of regional campus faculty members, as required by the Faculty Handbook. Through their participation, regional campus faculty have an opportunity to engage in institutional conversations, planning, and policy development regarding academic standards, expectations, processes, and needs. The faculty then have the responsibility to keep their campus communities informed.

It is the “one university” culture that helps OHIO’s regional campuses ensure that the University’s strategic priorities expand beyond the Athens campus and are incorporated into the planning and operations of the regional system: inspired teaching and research, innovative academic programs, exemplary student services, and integrated co-curricular activities. Evidence of the reach of the Four Fundamentals can be found in regional campus strategic planning
documents through descriptions of campus mission and overall campus goals, as well as through identified program, service, and community engagement goals. The most recently developed campus strategic plan on the Zanesville campus specifically references the need to align campus strategic plans to the University’s strategic priorities. This intentional focus demonstrates the expectation that, although the regional campuses are physically located separately from the Athens campus, the university goals and directions are inclusive of all OHIO campuses.

Budget planning and oversight for the regional campuses occurs in a collaborative process between the Office of the Executive Dean and Campus Leadership. Campus resources are identified mostly through state appropriations and tuition as well as non-academic activity. Oversight for direct campus expenses occurs locally while oversight for the RHE system occurs through the Office of the Executive Dean. Campus Deans serve as the chief budgetary officers for the campuses while the Executive Dean serves in this capacity for RHE. The budget timeline for RHE is consistent with the University timeline and planning process and includes campus presentations by the Dean to the Office of the Executive Dean

Regional campus facilities offer faculty, staff, and students a safe, innovative, and accommodating environment in which to work and learn. Capital funding from the state of Ohio includes funding specifically for regional campuses, which helps to limit deferred maintenance funding across the system. In addition, one-time-only monies from Regional Higher Education funding combine with development gifts allow the campuses to continuously monitor, maintain, and improve building and grounds. To date, four out of five campuses are up to date on facility needs; the remaining campus, Lancaster, has developed an improvement plan to address the needs of the physical campus. Regional campus facilities also embrace physical space initiatives
that originate on the Athens campus. For example, the Athens, Southern, and Zanesville campuses each adopted a Tobacco Free policy for the 2015-2016 academic year; the remaining regional campuses are currently revisiting and revising their tobacco use policies with a goal of becoming Tobacco Free in the future.

Through collaborative efforts with Auxiliary Services, Student Accessibility Services, and the Office of Information Technology, the regional campus system is able to provide faculty, staff, and students with the technologies they need to be successful. Examples of effective collaboration include:

• New Vice Presidents, Vice Provosts and other executive level staff are provided with personal tours of the regional campuses and provided with an opportunity to be introduced to the individual regional campus communities. While visiting each campus, executive level staff have the ability to engage with university stakeholders and to learn about the unique opportunities provided by each campus.
• A Bobcat Depot partnership provides bookstore and food services to regional campus students. Coordinated through Auxiliary Services in Athens, this arrangement provides a more consistent level of service to regional campus students and offers students the opportunity to participate in programs like Bobcat Cash that are afforded to Athens
  campus students.
• The Executive Dean of Regional Higher Education serves as an active member of the Information Technology Governance Council (ITGC), an IT governing body that establishes IT policy, practice, and development priorities for the university. Inclusion in this group provides an opportunity for the needs of the regional campuses to be considered in the same manner as those of the Athens campus.
• Managed centrally in Athens but assigned locally to the regional campuses, Student Accessibility Coordinators provide regional campus students an on-site, in-person contact to ensure that they are provided with appropriate accommodations.

In addition to university-wide technology efforts, local opportunities exist on individual campuses and across the regional campus system to use technology to enhance faculty, staff, and student experiences.

• Local example: the Chillicothe campus offers a laptop lending program, which provides an opportunity for short-term use of campus computers for faculty who otherwise would not have access to the resource. Dedicated labs on each regional campus also provide faculty, staff, and students with access to computers while the campus is open.
• System example: the Ohio University Learning Network (OULN) is a live, compressed video instructional opportunity. Connecting the regional campuses and centers to each other and the Athens campus, the OULN system is used to expand course offerings to students who might otherwise not be able to enroll in courses required for their degree. Though the system has been operational for more than 20 years, new software and
  hardware was purchased and installed for 2015-2016. This new OULN technology offers state-of-the-art, synchronous interaction between and among the campuses and offers the ability for remote login through WebX, further expanding the ability to connect with students.

Employing highly qualified faculty and staff is a priority for the regional campus system. Hiring processes are consistent with university policy and procedures. Regional campuses utilize the same hiring systems and staff performance evaluations as the Athens campus. Faculty evaluations for merit and performance are managed and maintained locally. Data included in the
assessments typically include a combination of course evaluation data, scholarly activity and accomplishment, and service to the campus, to RHE, to Ohio University, to the profession, and to the greater community.

Hiring practices for faculty include local campus reviews as well as departmental consideration for disciplines housed on the Athens campus. While campus associate deans and division coordinators are authorized by the campus dean to manage the faculty hiring processes, the campus dean makes the offer of employment, and individual course instructional approvals are
determined by the discipline. Procedures are in place within each academic college to help streamline the review and approval processes for clearances. During the 2014-2015 academic year, a Task Force was established between Regional Higher Education and the College of Arts & Sciences to identify opportunities for greater collaboration, stronger communication, and clearer processes. The Task Force’s final report recommended the long-term establishment of a similarly membered council and produced a document that more clearly outlined and identified the minimum criteria for course approval within Arts & Sciences departments. This model of relationship building and collaboration will be extended to the remaining academic colleges; a new Task Force with the Scripps College of Communication has already been identified and a Task Force with the Patton College of Education is in development. The expected long-term impact of these efforts is a stronger link between the regional campuses and Athens-based academic colleges, particularly as it relates to faculty.

Upon hire, regional campus faculty have the opportunity to be oriented in three ways. Regional campus faculty must participate in a new faculty orientation at their home campus, and are also invited to participate in an orientation on the Athens campus. In addition to the official orientation opportunities, new regional faculty have the opportunity to network with their peers at the annual Regional Higher Education Faculty Conference. Other campus specific opportunities to engage new faculty also exist. For example, by spring 2016 new faculty on the Chillicothe campus will have the added ability to participate in an online orientation module through Blackboard. Developed by the Chillicothe campus associate dean, this online tool will
be presented to the other four campuses in October 2015 as an opportunity for system-wide use in 2016-2017.

The Director of Operations and Budget is currently collaborating with the Regional Higher Education HR Liaison to develop a workflow for adjunct hiring processes that will provide greater levels of consistency across the system. Additionally, offer templates are being created for the Associate Deans to use when hiring adjunct faculty, which will better identify expectations for the selected individuals. The workflow and template information will be presented to the Associate Deans on October 19, 2015 and will be finalized for implementation for spring semester 2016.

OHIO’s regional campuses are organized in such a way that students and faculty can be supported on the local campus and still have opportunities to access information, services, and events on the Athens campus. By providing well-rounded and robust support services, the regional campuses are able to create an environment that supports success.

Student support services on the regional campuses are comparable to those available on the Athens campus.

• Program marketing, recruiting, and admissions are supported on each campus. Policies and procedures for each are established at the university level, but each campus has the autonomy to engage in pre-admission through admission services. Each campus engages in program marketing and recruiting separately, focusing their efforts in the communities that surround their campus. Although university-wide brand standards are maintained, each campus has the ability to uniquely tailor their marketing efforts. Admission to the university through the regional campuses exemplifies the regional campus open access mission; students who have earned a high school diploma or equivalent may be admitted. Students may apply online or in person. Admission processing occurs on the regional campuses with support, as needed, from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions in Athens.
• Financial aid is processed in Athens for all OHIO students; however, each campus employs staff members who are local experts in financial aid and provide a critical link between the student and the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. Regional campus staff work with students electronically and face-to-face to review federal financial aid regulations, to assist with understanding and completing required forms, and to identify and assist with problem resolution.

• Academic support services are available to regional campus students in person and online: academic advising, placement, retention services, remedial coursework, tutoring services, library services, and career services.

  Academic Advising
  Upon admission, regional campus students are assigned an academic advisor. Students who are undecided in their major are assigned staff advisors who provide students with information about degree options and help students align personal goals to academic opportunities. Students who have an identified major are assigned to faculty or staff advisors, depending on the campus and major selected. Academic advisor assignments are reviewed and updated as appropriate each term by campus student services staff. Undecided students are encouraged to take the University Experience course to survey majors and/or to attend majors fairs and/or student club recruitment events.

  Placement
  Newly admitted students are placed into English and math courses based on their placement scores. Students who are determined to be below college-level readiness are placed into developmental coursework, which must be completed successfully in order to advance to college-level courses.

  Retention Services
  Each regional campus has dedicated staff who focus on student retention. The day-to-day role of the retention or student success staff is campus specific; however, the overarching goal of retention services is the identification of, communication with students in need of additional support. Retention staff provide students with information about campus and community resources that meet both personal and academic needs. Examples may include tutoring support, psychological services, and career services. Retention staff also work directly with students placed on academic probation in an attempt to help students achieve academic success.

  Library Services
  In addition to being able to access on-site library services, regional campus students have access to the robust resources through the university library. Online library resources include access to academic journals with some limitations and direct access to OhioLink, a statewide library resource sharing service.

  Student Accessibility
  Through partnership with the Office of Student Accessibility Services, regional campus students have access to dedicated staff who can help identify accessibility needs and services. The regional student accessibility coordinator positions are shared between campuses.

• The Office of the University Registrar directly supports the regional campuses from the Athens campus; however, the regional campuses also provide basic enrollment services on a local level. Through the add/drop time period each term, campus staff have the ability to enroll or withdraw students from individual courses and reactivate the accounts of students who wish to reenroll.

Coordination and collaboration between and among the regional campuses and the Athens campus helps support the development and maintenance of quality student services. At least five times per year, the student services staff from the regional campuses meet with the functional leads from the offices of admissions, financial aid, registration, and billing. Referred to as “A&R” (admissions and registration), these meetings provide a valuable opportunity for the campuses to discuss issues, processes, ideas, and changes.

Regional campus faculty are supported through both campus and system efforts.

• Faculty development stipends are available at each campus, with a basic amount of between $1000 and $1500 directly accessible for each tenure track faculty member and additional funds available through either a campus faculty development pool or dean’s discretionary funds, or both.
• Regional Higher Education supports faculty development through a number of programs, the most significant of which is the Course Release Program for scholarship, which enables faculty to maintain a 4-3 course load for continual scholarly production. RHE also provides funding for international travel fund, as well as supporting an annual RHE Faculty Conference at which numerous teaching and scholarship development activities suggested by the faculty are provided.

OHIO’s regional campus system offers students the opportunity to enroll in courses and degrees from across the university’s academic catalog. Although many of the educational offerings are similar on each campus, some programs are unique to an individual campus. In all regards, the academic options on a regional campus are approved through the same university processes as
exist for programs available on the Athens campus. For programs administratively housed on the Athens campus, additional application and review processes internal to the university help ensure that the regional campuses have the capacity and expertise to deliver the content and support the students. In general, all programs delivered on a regional campus must go through the full academic review and approval processes: campus curriculum committee, Regional Higher Education curriculum committee, university programs committee, University Curriculum Committee, and Provost. New programs to the institution that are developed by and delivered on a regional campus must additionally go through Ohio University Board of Regents and Ohio Department of Higher Education approvals, with notification to the Higher Learning Commission.

As noted above, regional campus faculty engage in the curricular processes of the institution by serving on Faculty Senate and its subcommittees, including the University Curriculum Council. Discipline specific involvement in academic governance also ensures regional campus faculty are maintaining the academic expectations of the department and university. Examples of faculty
engagement include:

• The former chair of Social Work is a faculty member on the Eastern campus. Through this role and the advocacy it allowed, the regional campuses were able to begin officially offering the social work program.
• Faculty from the regional campuses are included in Psychology department meetings and in Arts and Sciences college-wide meetings. This participation allows for greater collaboration and improves communication between and among campuses.
• Early Childhood Education faculty from all campuses are integrated into department meetings, which helps ensure regional faculty have a voice in decisions about the program and its delivery.

Individual course clearances for disciplines maintained on the Athens campus are managed and approved by the Athens department chair. Though the regional campuses employ the faculty locally, information regarding academic standards for individual courses and for degree programs is provided to the regional faculty by the department. Following each semester, course evaluation data is collected from the regional campuses and distributed to the academic department in Athens. Additionally, Athens department chairs are included in the review processes for regional campus faculty hiring, promotion, and tenure.

During the 2013-2014 academic year, the regional campuses began the process of establishing a bi-annual Scheduling Summit. The goal of the Scheduling Summit each semester is to identify opportunities for efficiency in the regional campus schedule and to discuss areas of need. The results to date have included greater collaboration between the campuses and stronger ties to academic departments in Athens.

The processes for academic evaluation and assessment are diverse. All Regional Higher Education programs must go through a comprehensive 7-year review as established by the University Curriculum Council. This review includes an assessment of program learning outcomes, program assessment data, program goals, and the identification of future plans and needs. This same review process was used during the 2012 conversion from quarters to
semesters. Additional evidence of evaluation and assessment include:

• Many Regional Higher Education programs align program learning outcomes to national, regional, or state standards with the field. This alignment allows students to seek external national, regional, or state certification upon completion of their OHIO program. Examples of programs that currently align to external assessments include: associate in
  nursing, equine studies, human services technology, medical assisting technology, computer science technology, and deaf studies and interpreting.
• During the 2014-2015 academic year, all Regional Higher Education programs were asked to review and update their program learning outcomes. This information was then posted on the Regional Higher Education site and included in the 2015-2016 university catalog description for each program.
• During the 2014-2015 academic year, the Bachelor of Technical and Applied Studies began a comprehensive curriculum review, separate from the university 7-year review process. The end result will be a revised program with updated learning outcomes, clearer program assessments, and standardized delivery expectations for all campuses. The goal is to complete the project in time for inclusion in the 2016-2017 academic catalog. This process of review, including consideration of program learning outcomes, assessments, and the relationship to individual courses, will become a model for other Regional Higher Education programs that do not tie to third party credentials. The next program slated to begin this process is the Associate of Applied Science in Electronic Media, which will begin in spring 2016.
•  In addition to the bi-annual Scheduling Summit, an additional evaluation of course delivery needs began in spring 2015 with a comprehensive review of the regional campus system schedule. By evaluating course needs (as indicated by program enrollment) against course delivery history, the regional campuses will be better able to serve students and maintain efficiency in scheduling. The data from this evaluation is still under review
  and will be used during the December 2015 Scheduling Summit.

Through the process of collecting and reviewing data for the university’s reaccreditation visit, an opportunity to improve assessment practices on the regional campuses became evident. While many programs are able to tie assessment to external reviews of student learning, other programs are still in the process of developing strong assessment plans. This opportunity will be addressed through the development of the RHE Assessment Council. The council will have an inaugural meeting during October 2015 and will establish a timeline for meeting the goals of their charge by January 2016. The council will be comprised of a Regional Higher Education representative, one campus dean, and two faculty from each regional campus. It is an expectation that the RHE Assessment Council will be a permanent addition to the regional campus governance and operation structure.
The charge to the council will be:

• Develop a toolkit of strategies that faculty can use to assess student learning
• Identify and promote RHE “best practices” for student learning assessment
• Identify RHE programs that need help completing or improving student learning
  assessment, and help these programs finalize and implement their plans
• Develop ways to engage faculty on each campus and build a culture of assessment
• Coordinate with the Teaching Learning and Assessment committee in Athens to help replicate and implement their efforts and strategies on the regional campuses

In an effort to live the AQIP philosophy of continuous improvement, the regional campuses have identified and implemented a number of strategies. Through these efforts, policy and practice are routinely reviewed and updated in order to ensure that the regional campus system is operating at optimal levels of efficiency, that faculty have the expertise and resources they need, that students are provided with appropriate levels of support and service, and that the regional campus system remains an engaged part of the university. In addition to the efforts noted in previous sections (RHE Leadership, academic college Task Forces, RHE Assessment Council, internal program review, university program review and approval process), examples of continuous improvement strategies include:

• During the 2013-2014 academic year, each regional campus was charged with developing updated strategic plans. The goal of the strategic planning process was to identify areas of success and opportunity, to develop plans for efficiency, and to consider and project areas of enrollment growth and expanded community engagement.
• During the 2014-15 academic year, RHE Guidelines for Revision of Division P&T Criteria were revised and each academic division began the process of revising its P&T documents to reflect best practices such as third –year review, a clear requirement for scholarly publication, and closer alignment with the regional campus mission through expanding the range of scholarship to include Boyer’s categories.

Campus: Chillicothe

Established Date: 1946

Address: 01 University Drive, Chillicothe, OH 45601-0629

Additional Locations:

Full-time Faculty: 23 

Part-time Faculty: 31 

Adjunct Faculty: 140

Full-time Staff: 41

Part-time Staff: 

Temporary Staff:

List of Available Student Services: services available through off-campus partnership noted with an asterisk (*)

Recruitment; Admissions/Registration; Financial Aid; Advising/Career Counseling; Tutoring, Accessibility/Disability Services; Information Technology; Health/Wellness Center, Library; Bookstore

Campus: Ohio University Eastern Campus

Established Date: 1957

Address: 45425 National Rd, Saint Clairsville OH 43950

Additional Locations: Partner with the Ohio University Zanesville Campus on the Cambridge Center, 7077 John Glenn Highway, Cambridge OH 43725.

Full-time Faculty: 16 

Part-time Faculty: 10#

Adjunct Faculty: 39

Full-time Staff: 17 

Part-time Staff: 4 

Temporary Staff: 4

# Two faculty shared with the Ohio University Zanesville Campus; home campus is OUE.

List of Available Student Services: services available through off-campus partnership noted with an asterisk (*)

Mental health counseling*
Academic advising
Student organizations and clubs
Tutoring in math and English
Accessibility services
Fitness Center
Athletic sports (volleyball, Men/Women’s basketball, golf)
Library/Learning Commons
Testing Center

Campus: LANCASTER 

Established Date: September 1, 1956

Address: 1570 Granville Pike, Lancaster, OH 43130

Additional Locations: Pickerington Center, 12933 Stonecreek Dr., Pickerington, OH 43147 Pickerington classes began in 1982 (local high school). Current center classes began in 2000.

Full-time Faculty: 31 

Part-time Faculty: 22 

Adjunct Faculty: 195

Full-time Staff: 38 

Part-time Staff: 2 

Temporary Staff: 5

List of Available Student Services: services available through off-campus partnership noted with an asterisk (*)

Tutor.com*, advising, financial aid counseling, peer tutoring, veteran’s advising, career counseling, ADA services, library, bookstore

Campus: Ohio University Southern

Established Date: 1956

Address: 1804 Liberty Avenue Ironton, OH 45638

Full-time Faculty: 19 

Part-time Faculty: 23 

Adjunct Faculty: 125

Full-time Staff: 37 

Part-time Staff: 2 

Temporary Staff: 6

List of Available Student Services: services available through off-campus partnership noted with an asterisk (*)Admissions Advising/Processing, On-line Orientation, Academic Advising, Registration Assistance, Financial Aid Counseling, Veterans Advising, Financial Aid Workshops, Walk in Advising, Personal Counseling, Probationary Advising, Student Activities, Student Organization Support, Background Checks (required by specific majors), Student ID Cards, Cash Net Payments, Partnership Services with Mount West and Ashland Community and Technical College, Community and Continuing Education, Leadership Training, Learning Center, Personal Career Interest Assessment, Writing Center, Math Center Placement Testing, Career Skills / Resume Writing, Accessibility Services, Skills Workshops

Campus: Zanesville

Established Date: 1946

Address: 1425 Newark Rd., Zanesville, OH 43701

Additional Locations: Cambridge

Full-time Faculty: 50 

Part-time Faculty: 28 

Adjunct Faculty: 73

Full-time Staff: 47 

Part-time Staff: 9 

Temporary Staff: 0

List of Available Student Services: services available through off-campus partnership noted with an asterisk (*)

Academic advising, accessibility, career services, *counseling, financial aid, information technology support, library, testing, tutoring