Sweet pledges to stay on task

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YSU President David C. Sweet

YSU to face challenges in president’s last year

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University is starting a year of transition this month, but it also must be a year of moving forward, said President David C. Sweet.

Sweet is entering the 10th and final year of his presidency as fiscal 2009-10 begins. He will retire in June 2010.

The presidential transition will be of keen interest to the campus and the community, but the university cannot put initiatives on hold during that process, he said in a report to the board of trustees.

“My staff and I are fully focused on the continued task of moving YSU forward in these exciting yet challenging times for higher education,” Sweet said.

The university is facing several challenges in 2009-10 in addition to a presidential search, he said.

“First, we must begin to meet the challenges associated with our designation as an urban-research university,” Sweet said. It’s a designation given YSU in the state Strategic Plan for Higher Education that was unveiled last year, focusing on the university as a vehicle to help drive the economic, technological and cultural rebirth of the Mahoning Valley and Ohio, he said.

Sweet pointed out that YSU is hampered by the fact that state support per full-time-equivalent student and overall expenses per student are significantly less than the median of the other six urban research universities in the strategic plan. That, coupled with YSU’s low tuition, limits the ability to develop new graduate programs, recruit faculty and provide facilities and equipment for research.

“To achieve our goals, tuition increases will be inevitable,” he predicted. YSU has frozen in-state undergraduate tuition for three consecutive years.

YSU has already made significant steps in developing research programs, Sweet said, pointing out that faculty and staff secured more than $9 million in external grant funds in fiscal 2009. In 1995, external grants amounted to less than $750,000, he said.

A second challenge for the new year is YSU’s continuing role as a leader in transforming the campus neighborhood, Sweet said, a task that is part of the mission and responsibility as an urban university.

“A stable, safe and vibrant campus community extending to the downtown and including the Smoky Hollow neighborhood is not only important to the rebirth of Youngstown but to our ability to recruit and retain students,” he said.

A third challenge centers on Eastern Gateway Community College, which will offer its first classes this fall at selected local county career centers. YSU launched the effort to develop a local community college three years ago, and Sweet said the university has collaborated with all parties to support its development.

“Our continued participation will be guided by the principles that the new community college will do no harm to the university, that new programs will not duplicate existing YSU programs and that YSU will be provided the first opportunity to deliver two-year programs in collaboration with the community college,” he said.

Finally, the university must successfully recruit a new chief human resources officer, Sweet said, pledging to continue efforts to improve campus labor relations.

The board of trustee’s Ad Hoc Subcommittee for Negotiations and Collective Bargaining will, during the next year, develop recommendations based on “lessons learned and best practices” to guide the next cycle of contract negotiations in fiscal 2011 and 2012, he said.

Sweet said that, throughout his tenure as president, enrollment, diversity and partnerships have been constant themes.

Fall 2008 enrollment reached 13,714, the highest number in 14 years, and minority enrollment reached an all-time high at 2,450 students now representing 18 percent of the student body and 80 percent higher than in 2000, he noted.

Enrollment is more than just numbers, Sweet said.

Partnerships with business, industry and other educational institutions continue to grow, Sweet said, singling out the Youngstown Early College program run in conjunction with the Youngstown City School District as a prime example. This program has improved the lives and aspirations of its students, he said.

The Centennial Master Plan, developed as the university marked its 100th anniversary, continues to be implemented, Sweet said.

Construction has begun on a new $34 million Williamson College of Business Administration facility, and other campus-improvement projects are under way.

These are difficult financial times that make fund-raising more critical than ever, Sweet said.

The Centennial Capital Campaign, targeted to raise $43 million, will surpass $50 million, the most successful campaign in YSU’s history, Sweet said.

The money will support construction, scholarships and endowments that wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity of the university’s alumni and friends, he said.

gwin@vindy.com