BOARD OKS PROPOSAL FOR CREATION OF VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH POSITION

The Board of Visitors gave its OK for a new vice presidential position, approved tuition rates and endorsed the appointments of tenure for 11 faculty during a busy session April 12 in Webb Center.

A reorganization of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies will result in the positions of vice president for research and associate vice president for graduate studies, effective July 1.

The new Office of Research will report directly to the president, while the Office of Graduate Studies will remain within Academic Affairs.

According to the rationale statement for creating a separate research office, the move is intended to "place greater emphasis on the university's research enterprise, create a recognized leadership position for research and sponsored programs that spans the entire institution and its partnerships and serves as the institutional focal point for research and development, and create an organizational structure that aligns the Old Dominion University Research Foundation, interdisciplinary research centers and external partnerships in order to better coordinate and manage those activities while optimizing the effectiveness of institutional investments in research infrastructure and project and program development."

It was also announced at the board meeting that the Research Foundation will move its office from off campus to Hughes Hall once business faculty from Hughes move into their new space in the renovated Constant Hall.

During the Academic Advancement Committee meeting, it was announced that the recent search process for a business dean has been terminated and that a new search committee will be empaneled. The university is aiming for a January appointment. Also, the search process for an arts and letters dean will resume in the fall.

In other action, the board approved one of the lowest tuition and fee increases among state colleges and universities. The increase is 6.2 percent for in-state undergraduates in 2002-03 (see story on page 3).

The board endorsed the award of tenure to the following faculty, effective at the start of the fall 2002 semester:

-Arts and Letters - Kurt Taylor Gaubatz, international studies; Maura E. Hametz, history; Qiu Jin, history; Sheri A. Reynolds, English; and Peter Schulman, foreign languages and literatures.

-Business and Public Administration - Kiran Karande, business administration.

-Education - Robert W. Case, exercise science, physical education and recreation.

-Engineering and Technology - William S. Gray, electrical and computer engineering; and Charles B. Keating, engineering management.

-Sciences - Bryan Porter, psychology; and Constance M. Schober, mathematics and statistics.

The board also approved granting of the title of emeritus to: Betty Alexy, associate professor of nursing, William Dunstan, professor of ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences; Allan H. Kaufman, associate professor of occupational and technical studies; Lindsay L. Rettie, professor of dental hygiene and dental assisting and former dean of the College of Health Sciences; and Daniel Sonenshine, professor of biological sciences. The effective date of the appointments is June 1 for all but Dunstan, whose effective date was Jan. 1.

A new degree program, a bachelor of fine arts in acting, also was endorsed by the board, as was the creation of a Center for Bioelectrics.

The B.F.A. program will prepare students who plan to pursue careers as professional actors upon graduation, offering training in the skills required of actors both on stage and on camera, in classical and contemporary roles, and in drama and comedy.

The Center for Bioelectrics, to be established as an Enterprise Center in the College of Engineering and Technology, will perform leading-edge, interdisciplinary and multi-institutional research. The proposed center was recently awarded a $5 million grant from the Department of Defense.

The board approved name changes for two university units. Effective July 1, the Office of University Planning and Institutional Research will become Institutional Research and Assessment. Also, the director's title will change to assistant vice president. Also on that date, the women's studies program in the College of Arts and Letters will officially become a department. According to a rationale statement, "Women's studies possess all the attributes of an academic department and has been functioning as a department for a number of years."

In other action the board approved the following policy changes related to tenure:

-To allow for an extension of the probationary period for tenure because of caregiving responsibilities associated with the birth of a child or adoption of a child under age 6, serious personal or immediate family illness, or other serious extenuating circumstances.

-To directly link promotion to the rank of associate professor with the award of tenure. According to a rationale statement, "This linking was the original intent of the Policy on Tenure and has been the practice of the university in most cases. A recent practice of granting tenure without granting the promotion in rank in a few cases caused considerable concern. The proposed revisions would make this virtually impossible in the future."

-To ensure that both the chair and dean be involved in the post-tenure review process and that a second annual evaluation of a tenured faculty member which shows he or she has not met expectations following a previously noted serious deficiency "could" activate the post-tenure review process. New language in the policy also states: "Post-tenure review cannot be activated unless the pattern of deficiency has been noted in two annual reviews."

Additionally, the board approved policy revisions regarding the initial appointment of teaching and research faculty. The revisions "include review of appointments to full professor by the college promotion and tenure committee and the university promotion and tenure committee, and are intended to clarify that the procedures apply both to internal candidates (employed by Old Dominion University) and external candidates."

The board also approved a policy revision that formalizes the practice of bestowing the designation of the emeritus title to faculty who would have been eligible but died prior to retirement.

Finally, the board approved the appointments of 14 faculty and 11 administrators. Among the administrative appointments are:

-Andrew R. Casiello as assistant vice president for academic technology services;

-Ronald Tola, from director of facilities management to assistant vice president for facilities;

-Rusty Waterfield, from director of communications and network services to acting assistant vice president for computing and communications services;

-R. Dillard George III from associate director to director of facilities management;

-James R. Pearson from director of real estate, space management and scheduling to director of real estate and space management and associate director of facilities management;

-Donna K. Hughes-Oldenburg as head of bibliographic services at Perry Library; and

-Kerry E. Beers from acting associate director to associate director of admissions.

Several construction updates were announced at the board's Administration and Finance Committee meeting. Faculty will be moving into Constant Hall early next month; substantial completion of the Constant Center is expected in August; construction on the Engineering and Computational Sciences Building is slated to start this summer (targeted occupancy date is late 2003); and construction on the Maglev stations, as well as delivery of the vehicle, should take place in May or June.