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Miami University trustees at their Feb. 3 board meeting approved the promotion and/or tenure of 37 faculty members. A list of those faculty can be found here.
Provost Bobby Gempesaw commended the group overall for teaching abilities and innovations, research and commitment to students.
Trustees received a report that applications to Miami for the fall class exceeded 20,000 for the first time in school history. Last year’s applications total, also a record, was 18,485.
Among numerous leadership opportunities for students at Miami, trustees learned details of three, the universitywide Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute, the Buck Rodgers Institute in the Farmer School of Business, and the new School of Engineering and Applied Science Lockheed Martin Leadership Institute. Eric Buller, new director of the Wilks Institute, announced a new Leadership Collaborative at Miami that will promote coordination of opportunities.
In the area of distance learning, Gempesaw and Janet Hurn, physics faculty, Middletown, and interim coordinator of e-learning, reported that Miami now offers 279 online courses among the regional and main campuses.
Trustees also received a report on progress toward a new academic calendar that would include the creation of a new short winter session, approximately the month of January, with an intended start in the 2013-2014 academic year. An implementation team is considering factors. Trustees also accepted a report on new policies for the creation of more combined bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.
Trustees approved several contracts for building or renovating residence and dining halls. The improvements and new buildings will bring more contemporary amenities to Miami’s living and dining spaces. Building new residence halls will also allow for slightly larger student rooms, to meet demand and competition.
Contracts approved for Miami’s Oxford campus include:
- a joint contract to reduce costs for a new residence hall in the Morris-Emerson-Tappan quad and a new dining hall on Western campus with a total project budget not to exceed $42,500,000.
- contracts for the Western campus site infrastructure project with a total construction budget not to exceed $14,850,000. The project provides improvements including heating, cooling, storm water, sanitary and domestic water, natural gas and data lines to support the construction of new Western campus residence and dining facilities.
- a Bishop Hall renovation project, involving the installation of complete new mechanical, electrical, data, fire suppression systems, new accessible restrooms, a new elevator, and improvements to the exterior building envelope, with a total construction budget not to exceed $7,150,000.
- the Maplestreet site infrastructure project, providing site infrastructure improvements including steam, chilled water, storm water, sanitary and domestic water, natural gas and data lines to support the construction of the Maplestreet Station residence/dining facility and the Morris-Emerson-Tappan (MET) Quadrangle residence hall, with a total construction budget not to exceed $3,850,000.
- a Cook Field renovation project to include improvement of subsurface drainage, repaving the running track, replacement of backstops, the addition of equipment storage and restroom facilities, replanting of natural sports turf along with installation of partial synthetic turf, with a total construction budget not to exceed $3,492,500.
- the Equestrian Center phase I project, involving the raising of the existing outdoor riding arena and paddocks out of the flood plain by adding ground fill to the site, with a total construction budget not to exceed $1,980,000.
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