Sunday, September 28, 2014
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Jim Tressel spent the first 100 days of his Youngstown State University presidency — a milestone he marks today — evaluating the direction the university should be taking.
“We do a lot of things really well,” he said. “What can we do better?”
He said he’s taking time to evaluate that and didn’t come into the job with any preconceived notions.
Tressel was hired after a nationwide search, although a group of community leaders mounted a campaign supporting him as YSU president shortly after Randy Dunn, YSU’s eighth president, announced his resignation. Dunn served for only eight months.
Trustees selected Tressel in May, and he became acting president June 20, when Ikram Khawaja, interim president, went on vacation. Khawaja’s term as interim president ended June 30.
“From May 12 to June 19, I was acting like the president,” Tressel quipped. “From June 20 to June 30, I was the acting president, and on July 1, I became the official president.”
May 12 was the day Tressel signed contract terms with university trustees.
He came into office at a difficult time in the university’s history.
With the state’s contributions to higher education dwindling and with a fourth year of lower enrollment looming, YSU continues to battle tight finances.
Three cabinet positions: provost and vice president for academic affairs, vice president for finance and administration and vice president for advancement were occupied by interim office holders, vacated through retirement or resignation.
The university’s two largest unions, the YSU-Ohio Education Association, which represents faculty, and the Association of Classified Employees, which represents employees from secretaries to parking attendants, were in the midst of contract negotiations.
Last week, Tressel named Martin Abraham, dean of the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, as interim provost, replacing Teresa Riley who had been in the interim position since last March. Abraham’s appointment awaits approval by YSU trustees with a vote expected Oct. 7.
Although Abraham didn’t apply for the job and the university spent about $51,000 on a national search, Tressel said he believes Abraham is the best person for the post.
Tressel said he talked to many people about the attributes they wanted to see in the new provost. They wanted someone with a high level of academic experience, and many talked about the need for a candidate who understands the importance of research, he said.
Abraham, formerly associate dean of research and graduate studies at the University of Toledo, fit both requirements and offered the added benefit of allowing work to begin immediately, Tressel said.
Beyond that, Tressel still is dealing with many of the same issues he faced upon taking office but is developing plans to address some of them.
The university is bracing for another round of cuts, the last of which, enacted last spring, included layoffs.
Tressel hopes to avoid that this time but says it’s too soon to know if that’s possible.
“It’s the No. 1 thing you want to avoid,” he said.
Tressel doesn’t anticipate filling the other two vice- president positions, what he calls “Tod Hall leaders,” at least through the remainder of the year.
Negotiations continue with ACE, while a tentative agreement was reached in mid-August with the faculty union. No contract has been finalized.
Though enrollment tumbled more than 6 percent this fall compared with last, much of the decline is due to YSU changing from an open-enrollment to an open-access university. This year’s freshman class is about 300 students fewer than the previous year.
Tressel believes the open enrollment to open access change enacted by Dunn was the right move but says there wasn’t a plan to fill the hole it created.
Since taking office, he’s laid some foundation to correct that.
Tressel plans to expand the footprint from which YSU recruits beyond the five-county area south to the Columbus area and east to Harrisburg, Pa., with additional efforts paid to attracting international students to campus.
To help with recruitment, YSU hired Royall & Company of Richmond, Va., a direct-marketing student recruitment company, for $300,000 for one year. Tressel raised the money to pay the company. It’s not coming from the general-fund budget.
But enrollment is about more than attracting additional students.
“Enrollment is a combination of enrollment and retention,” Tressel said. “It’s about 85 percent retention and 15 percent recruitment. We have to do a much better job with retention.”
It’s everyone’s job on campus, he said. Everyone who students and prospective students come in contact with should be focused on making those students’ experience the best it can be.
“That has to be the first thing we think about every day,” the president said.
The main reason students leave school is financial, so YSU is examining its scholarship allocation in an effort to help more students. One student group that logs high retention is those that work on campus, Tressel said. That same group also posts high marks for philanthropic giving as alumni.
“They’re engaged at the university beyond just going to school and getting credits,” he said.
Increased retention is better for students, and it’s also a measure used by the state in determining funding.
“If we can increase our retention 5 percent, that’s a huge step,” Tressel said.