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Campus, News Break, Police July 20, 2018

Second BGSU football player charged with misuse of BGSU debit card

From BGSU OFFICE OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS BGSU Police have charged Dirion Hutchins, a Bowling Green State University student and member of the football team, with telecommunications fraud, theft and prohibited acts. The three charges are all felonies. The charges are the result of a police investigation that began after the University discovered irregular charges on debit card accounts designated for athletic book scholarships. A second student and member of the football team, Armani Posey, was charged in June. Posey was found guilty of unauthorized use of property, a misdemeanor, in Bowling Green Municipal Court on July 9 and ordered to pay the University $2,000 in restitution. Hutchins and Posey have been removed from the football team. They may also be held accountable under the student code of conduct. The University will be reviewing its procedures and practices for securing and ensuring proper use of BGSU debit cards. Because the investigation by BGSU Police is still ongoing, the University will have no further comment.

Posted by:
David Dupont on July 20, 2018.
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Campus, Politics, Supreme Court, Unions June 28, 2018

BGSU faculty union leader decries Supreme Court’s Janus ruling

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News David Jackson, president of the BGSU Faculty Association, said the union is still trying to figure out the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday forbidding public sector unions from charging non-members fees to cover services. The court rules 5-4 in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 that non-members cannot be forced to pay “fair share “ or “agency” fees to cover the costs of a public sector union negotiating contracts and representing individual employees in disputes with the employer. The decision, which Jackson characterized as “rotted, reprehensible, illogical,” was “not a surprise.” Jackson, who teaches political science, was speaking in his role as faculty association president, not as an unbiased analyst. “We knew five corporate justices on the court were inclined to accept this completely bogus argument and side with wealthy special interests. That’s what they’re there for. That’s why the seat was stolen in the first place.” Jackson was referring to Republican senators’ refusal to act on President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Instead the GOP left it up President Donald Trump to fill the vacancy with Neil Gorsuch, who sided with the majority in the Janus case. The lead plaintiff, Illinois state employee Mark Janus, said that the fee was a violation of his First Amendment rights because it forced him to support speech he didn’t agree with. While the decision is complicated, it’s clear the faculty association cannot collect fees from non-members. Still, Jackson said, “the good work we do problem solving and representing faculty will continue.” He said the association’s attorneys are still trying “to digest the decision and figure out all the different meanings of it.” The decision written by Justice Samuel Alito possibly left open the option of charging non-members if the union represents them in personnel disputes, Jackson said. State law, Jackson said, requires the union represent all members of the bargaining unit, not just union members. They in turn could charge a fair share fee “to account for the cost of negotiating, interpreting and enforcing the terms of the contract” as well as representing them in disciplinary procedures. Jackson declined to give specific numbers, but said an “overwhelming majority of faculty” are members of the BGSU-FA. The faculty voted to unionize in fall, 2010, and reached its first contract three years later after contentious negotiations. Negotiations for the union’s third contract will begin in fall. Unlike the first contract talks, the negotiations for the second contract were…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 28, 2018.

Business, Campus, Community Voices June 28, 2018

BGSU’s supply chain management program ranks in top 25

From BGSU OFFICE OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS The Bowling Green State University College of Business supply chain management program has been ranked among the nation’s top 25 supply chain management programs by Gartner, a leading IT and supply chain management research and advisory company. The Gartner 2018 Supply Chain University Top 25 ranked BGSU’s supply chain management program No. 21 in the nation, making it the second-highest ranking supply chain management program in Ohio. This is the BGSU program’s first appearance on the list. BGSU’s supply chain management program features an integrated approach to the movement of goods from the supplier to the final customer. BGSU supply chain graduates work in a variety of industries, including technology, manufacturing, retail, logistics, health care and consulting. The Gartner Supply Chain University Top 25 is a biennial program that assesses and ranks undergraduate and advanced supply chain degree programs in North America.

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 28, 2018.

Business, Campus, Education June 27, 2018

BGSU camp leads young women down the path of business

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News Sitting in the classroom in the college of business, 35 high school seniors seemed poised to develop the next big idea. For now they are trying to turn trash into musical instruments. The students are at Bowling Green State University for the Young Women in Business Leadership Camp being held this week. Kirk Kern, the director of the entrepreneurship program on campus, is cheerleading their efforts and aspirations. Entrepreneurs aren’t just men like Steve Jobs and Henry Ford, he tells them. Their ranks also include Isabella Weems. When Weems was 14, younger than the campers, she decided she wanted to save to buy a car. Her parents told her she’d have to earn the money. She had a choice: She could get a job or start her own business. With her parents backing, Weems started Origami Owl, making personalized pendants. The product took off. She earned more than enough to buy a car. By 2016 the company had sales of $25 million. Susan Kosakowski, the recruiting manager for the College of Business, said the residential camp has two goals. The first is “to help young ladies develop their leadership skills so they can take those back to their high schools and then continue them through their college years.” The other is to make them aware of the opportunities in business for women, she said. Even though about 55 percent of the undergraduate students at BGSU are female, in the College of Business two-thirds are. The college, Kosakowski said, would like to see more diversity, not only in gender but ethnicity and culture as well. “We have so many opportunities we want the women to start taking advantage of them,” she said. “People get very closed minded about what’s involved in business. Every time you walk in a store you’re engaged in business.” The camp aims to show young women how business impacts their lives. The entrepreneurship program is one draw for women, she said. Students from any major can minor in entrepreneurship. The program’s signature event The Hatch, where budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to potential investors, attracts as many women as men – six of 10 participants this year were women. The Hatch also draws interest from across the university, from photochemical science to music, including graphic design, apparel merchandising, and early childhood education. The students attending the camp had a similarly wide range of interests. Madelyn Krueger, Pettisville, is interested in being a chef, and she envisions opening her own restaurant someday. Nadia Jeelani, Cincinnati, is interested…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 27, 2018.

Campus, STEM, Technology June 25, 2018

Students at BGSU robotics camp engineer summer fun

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News Games of cornhole are on the summer fun agenda of many young people. Earlier this month, a dozen teenagers from Northwest were looking at ways to make the game more exciting using robotics. The students, one from as far away as Antwerp, attended robotics camp for commuters at Bowling Green State University. It’s the second year BGSU has provided a robotics camp. Last year, one session was held at the Toledo Museum of Art targeting students from the Toledo Public Schools. That program continues, but teacher Mohammad Mayyas, an associate professor of engineering technologies, said he wanted to offer one on campus for other students. They decided to have the camp for students on campus “to help our program to grow,” he said. “We want to expose future students, prospective students, to what we can offer,” Mayyas said. “The university is paying attention to robotics and advanced manufacturing.” Northwest Ohio needs a workforce trained in robotics and automaton, and the state recognizes this. That’s helped BGSU land grants to develop its program. “We have very good equipment,” he said. “It excites them to see the actual equipment used in industry.” Employing open source software, the students learned to integrate hardware with software to make sensors so cornhole is more interactive. That can mean keeping score, or having lights or sounds go off in response to scoring tosses or misses. Maybe it’ll play a song or show a hand waving. Ekumjyot Kaur, from Perrysburg, said she was enjoying the camp. “It’s really in-depth. You wouldn’t think you’d go to robotics camp and learn so much,” she said. “Here they focus on the on software as opposed to the moving parts.” This was her first real exposure to BGSU, she said, and for other interested in engineering she’d recommend the camp. Sisters Chloe and Mia Wegener, from the Anthony Wayne district, were working with Kaur. The work consisting of tossing bean bag toward a cornhole board trying to activate a light. The light should be going on when the beanbag goes into the hole, but the vibration of a miss also caused the light to go on. Chloe Wegener, a rising senior, is no stranger to campus. She’s taken College Credit Plus courses on campus. She’s planning on majoring in engineering. Her sister, who will be a sophomore, said she’s also interested in the field and has participated in Girls Who Code program. Claire Heilman, from Columbus Grove, said she had an interest in engineering and felt the camp would be…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 25, 2018.

Campus, Music June 24, 2018

Farewell to “The Chief” – BGSU community celebrates life of long-time band director Mark Kelly

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News If a stranger happened into the memorial for Mark Kelly Saturday morning in Kobacker Hall not knowing anything about the person’s whose life was being celebrated, that person would have been enlightened about the late Bowling Green State University band director, and why he was called the Chief. It would be clear why more than 100 musicians were assembled on stage to play some of Kelly’s favorite music, and why several hundred more gathered in the hall, where The Chief had directed so many concerts, to hear the music and words honoring him. That stranger would come away with a clear picture of a man who valued tradition, integrity and excellence. Kelly thought of himself as “just a band director from Iowa” yet left a legacy that has touched untold thousands, both directly and through the ripple effect of the students of his students. A Celebration of Mark S. Kelly was held Saturday morning on campus. Kelly, band director at BGSU from 1966-1994, died at age 91 on Nov. 20. Those gathered for the celebration of life included a Pulitzer Prize winning composer and just as important people whose lives have taken them away from music yet still remember lessons learned from The Chief. Mark Zimmerman, a 1979 BGSU graduate, was drum major for the Falcon Marching Band under Kelly. He said that Kelly’s voice resonates with them as they stand at the kitchen sink, or walk down Wall Street or through a slum in Kenya. It doesn’t matter if they had careers in music or not. “I’ve heard that voice in my mind for 43 years and it’s never going to leave me,” he said. That voice resounded in the words of the speakers. It was heard in the pet sayings – “plan your work then work your plan,” recalled John Deal, his assistant from1975-1979. And in the stories told. Jay Jackson, as a newly hired assistant director in 1986, recalled questioning whether he needed to wear a uniform. Maybe a sport coat, he suggested, during an increasingly chilly discussion. That’s what the grad assistants wear, Kelly told him. So when Jackson made his debut on the sidelines, he was sporting the “Funky Winkerbean” look. Kelly had his say about what transpired during the memorial. His daughter Karen Kelly, who organized the celebration with her sisters Martha Jewell and Barb Hayden, said she would have conversations in later years with her father about what kind of service he wanted. He told her: “I would be nice if we…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 24, 2018.

Campus June 22, 2018

Student retention & recruitment initiatives paying off for BGSU

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News Bowling Green State University’s efforts to recruit student better prepared for college and then to make sure those students stay around to graduate in a timely manner is paying off. In presenting BGSU’s budget to trustees Thursday, Chief Financial Officer Sheri Stoll said that while the amount appropriate to support higher education is stagnant, BGSU is getting more. State funding, which makes up about a quarter of the university’s revenue, is based on how many students graduate and how many successfully complete courses. University officials have made these a priority. The result, Stoll reported, is that BGSU’s state share of funding is increasing 1.7 percent, to just under $77.9 million, in the operating budget that will go into effect July 1. That budget is tight, Stoll told the university’s Board of Trustees Thursday. It calls for $422.2 million in spending with $423.8 million in revenue, almost half of which comes from tuition and fees. Tuition rates have been flat both because the university opted not to raise tuition and some years, and the state has nixed hikes in recent years. The state has now allowed universities to implement tuition guarantee programs. Through these, tuition for first year students can be increased, but that tuition is guaranteed to stay the same for four years. Tuition for the incoming class will be 5.9 percent higher. The university also raised the out-of-state surcharge and graduate student fees. These changes plus a modest increase in enrollment is bringing in more money. Stoll said her assumptions were “very conservative.” Last year more students were expected but then there was “a melt,” largely because international graduate and undergraduate students decided not to come. That decline in international enrollment was felt at colleges and universities across the country. She also said it was too early to figure in the impact of online courses and new professional master’s degrees. The largest increased expenditure comes from salaries and benefits, which make up over half the expenses. Based on the faculty union contract, the amount spent on faculty will be 3.66 percent more. The contract calls for a 3 percent increase in the pool divided evenly for an across the board increase, merit, and market adjustments. There are also pools of money to increase pay as faculty receive promotion and tenure and for the provost to make salary adjustments based on the market. The amount available for administrative and classified salaries will increase by 2 percent. In line with that, the trustees approved a 2-percent increase for campus police…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 22, 2018.