Campus

Campus July 21, 2017

BGSU Women’s Center in transition as it marks its 20th anniversary

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News The Women’s Center at Bowling Green State University will mark the 20th anniversary of its founding in a state of flux. Mary Krueger, who has directed the center since its founding, retired at the end of the academic year, and the center is slated to be relocated from Hanna Hall to most likely Hayes Hall in early fall. Vice President for Students Affairs Thomas Gibson wrote last week in response to questions from BG Independent news: “We are finalizing the recruitment process requirements to commence the search in approximately two weeks.” He said the hope is to have a new director in place by October. In the meantime, Krueger is staying on part time, working two days a week. Last fall, the Women’s Center was moved into the Division of Student Affairs, out of the Office of Equity and Diversity. In spring, after protests over the way the university handled cases of sexual assault, faculty members put support for the center and for hiring a director with background in addressing sexual violence on campus in a list of demands. (http://bgindependentmedia.org/faculty-members-urge-bgsu-to-be-a-leader-in-addressing-sexual-violence/). Gibson wrote: “I am seeking a candidate who has at minimum of 3-4 years of related work experience; in-depth knowledge of women’s issues, especially in the college/university setting; a student advocate; a good collaborator with faculty colleagues, especially from Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies; strong leadership and public relations skills; excellent administrative and organizational skills; evidence of potential successful fund-raising, including grant-writing.  And certainly, I am seeking an educator, support resource and advocate for survivors of sexual violence, perhaps with the potential to serve as a deputy…

Posted by:
David Dupont on July 21, 2017.
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Campus, Education, Environment, Philanthropy June 29, 2017

Young Africans leaders congregate at BGSU to learn from Ohio & each other

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News The future of Africa is at Bowling Green State University. The university is hosting 25 organizers and activists as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. The institute hosts 1,000 fellows at institutions across the country. (http://bgindependentmedia.org/bgsu-hosting-young-african-leaders/) A conversation with nine of fellows included men and women from Mauritania and Niger in the northern end of the continent to Zimbabwe near the southern tip. The issues they were concerned with were similarly broad, from helping those caught up in the sex industry, education, and environmentalism. And they said they were finding ways of addressing those issues here in the Northwest Ohio meeting with civic leaders and during outings as close to home as the farmers market and as distant as Columbus and Detroit. Tuesday they toured the Bureau of Criminal Investigation lab and crime scene building. Jon Sprague, the director of the Governor’s Center for the Future of Forensic Science at BGSU, also spoke about the opioid crisis. Yet their greatest source of support and knowledge, they said, was each other. “I think the best art of this program was my colleagues,” said Chibuzor Azuuike, of Nigeria. “Africa has to move forward .So meeting people who are of like-mind, who are very passionate about making an impact back at home, is important. I’ve learned a lot from them, and we hope to partner on projects.” Loice Kapondo, of Zimbabwe, said in the week they’ve been at BGSU “we’ve been sharing stories formally and informally. … Their strategies are easy to adapt to my country because of the similarities.” While Africa is…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 29, 2017.

Campus June 28, 2017

New state budget expected to eliminate BGSU undergrad tuition increase

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News With the conference committee wrapping up work on the Ohio budget, it appears that undergraduate tuition will not increase at Bowling Green State University in the fall. At its June meeting the BGSU Board of Trustees voted to raise tuition by 2 percent for undergraduate in-state tuition and general fees. The 2.5-percent increase for graduate students will still take effect. That vote was taken pending the resolution of a new state budget. Now with the budget just about ready for Gov. John Kasich’s signature, BGSU president Mary Ellen Mazey said the tuition increase will not be allowed at least for this year. The tuition hike would have generated $2.4 million in additional revenue. Nor will the university receive more state aid. “You never know what will happen, that’s certainly what it looks like coming out of the conference committee.” This is a case where the House version prevailed despite, she said, the efforts of State Sen. Randy Gardner (R-Bowing Green) who “worked very diligently” to try to get more favorable funding for universities. Mazey said that tuition increases would be allowed next year, but only if a university adopts the Ohio Guarantee program. Through that program schools promise that students’ tuition will remain the same throughout their four years. If BGSU adopts the tuition guarantee it would be allowed to raise tuition as much as 8 percent for incoming students in fall, 2018. However, Mazey said, that could be reduced to 6 percent by the governor. Mazey said while the budget is not good news, it could have been worse. Other agencies are taking…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 28, 2017.

Campus, Environment June 27, 2017

BGSU & contractors take green approach to demolition

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News Bowling Green State University constructs buildings with a sense of environmental awareness. The university requires all new structures meet LEED Silver standards, and some including the Stroh Center, and Greek Village exceed that standard, said Ryan Miller, senior project manager in the Office of Design. He’s hoping with a few changes, the Kuhlin Center will also gain the gold designation. When buildings come down, the university and its contractors also try to be environmentally aware. Right now Miller, who worked on the Student Recreation Center renovation and the Wolff Center among other projects, is overseeing the demolition of West Hall and the Family and Consumer Science Building. By the time students arrive on campus next August there will be empty space where the two buildings stood. Miller said that the university’s design consultants and contractors are attuned to LEED principles. The demolition isn’t a LEED project, but as in those projects, the contractors are aiming to recycle and reuse as much material as possible. The original plan was to take brick and concrete from the buildings, crush it onsite, then use it as engineered fill in the basements of the razed structures. Instead in order to save time, the contractors will truck it to the landfill for construction waste and trade it for engineered fill that’s already stockpiled there. That fill will have to meet engineering approval, Miller said. The brick and concrete from BGSU will then be crushed to be used as engineered fill on other projects. The holes will be filled up to five feet from flush to the ground. Then soil…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 27, 2017.

Arts and Entertainment, Campus, Visual art June 25, 2017

Tom Muir’s signature vessel finds home at Toledo Museum of Art

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News It has taken 30 years for Tom Muir’s “Cycladic Figure Impregnated” to find a home. The metal coffee server, one of the silversmith’s signature works, could have entered the White House collection of American Crafts. Instead that institution received a vessel inspired by Beluga whales. And it was one of the two works being considered by the Institute of Art of Chicago. That collection got the first in the series of these fertility figures though. Muir has had private collectors offer to buy it, but the price wasn’t right, and he kept it close to home. Now the 30-year-old vessel has found its place in the collection of the Toledo Museum of Art. “This was always one of my favorite pieces,” he said. The piece is made of 18-carat gold, sterling silver, oxidized copper and anodized aluminum. “I wanted it to have red belly to make it alive.” The base is shaped like udders. “It was a more interesting way to present it.” The museum has been holding the piece for several years, said Muir, a Distinguished Professor of Art at Bowling Green State University. The intent was to purchase it when the proper arrangements could be made. Jutta Page, then curator of glass and decorative art at the museum, contacted him earlier this year, to start the purchase process. Now the executive director of Old Dominion University’s Barry Art Museum, Page said she was pleased that the museum completed the purchase. In an email, she described “Cycladic Figure Impregnated” as “a significant American contemporary work by this much-revered local artist, nationally recognized metalsmith,…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 25, 2017.

Campus June 24, 2017

New BGSU hires strengthen key academic programs

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News Three tenure actions at the June meeting of the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees meeting highlighted the university’s efforts to strengthen particular academic areas. The trustees approved granting tenure to three incoming faculty members, each in a key discipline, who have been hired by the administration. Provost Rodney Rogers described them as “strategic hires” aimed at bolstering academic areas where the university already is strong. MD Sarder was hired as a professor and chair of the Department of Engineering Technologies. He has been on the faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi. Rogers said he brings particular expertise in robotics and advanced manufacturing to BGSU. Jayaraman Sivaguru has been hired as a professor in the Department of Chemistry. He comes from North Dakota State University. Rogers said he brings expertise in STEM education and photochemical science. Timothy Davis has been hired as associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. He has been at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor. This will be his first full-time teaching position. Davis fits well into BGSU’s leading role in studying water quality in the Great Lakes, Rogers said. In other action, the trustees approved the naming of the computer lab in the Kuhlin Center for BGSU alumnus Judge Allan Davis. Shea McGrew, the vice president for University Advancement and the CEO of the BGSU Foundation, said that the judge has a long history of generosity towards his alma mater. Judge Davis told the trustees that South Hall, as the Kuhlin Center was known before its renovation and expansion, holds a special…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 24, 2017.

Campus June 22, 2017

BGSU budget calls for tuition increase

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News Faced with uncertainty over the final state budget, the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees approved a $416.2 million budget Thursday morning That includes a 2-percent increase for in-state undergraduate tuition and general fees and 2.5-percent increase for in-state graduate tuition and general fees. The out-of-state surcharge for both graduate and undergraduate students will remain the same. This is the first time since 2013 that the university has raised tuition. The increase represents a hike of $105 per semester starting this fall. That brings tuition and general fees to $5,400, up from $5,295. The tuition increase is expected to bring in an additional $2,433,414 and the graduate tuition increase is $430,135. The trustees acted while budget negotiations continue in Columbus. Legislators are trying to reconcile spending plans passed by the House and Senate. The legislation must be signed by Gov. John Kasich by June 30. “The number of unknowns in this budget cycle exceeded the knowns,” Sheri Stoll, vice president for finance and administration, said. Based on the current proposals, BGSU officials are planning on no increase in state support for two years. But the budget would allow colleges and universities to raise tuition by $10 per credit hour. On the spending side, the budget includes a 4.1-percent increase in the amount allocated for salaries for faculty. That money is placed in a pool and allotted based on a number of factors. The pool for administrators and staff not in the bargaining unit will be 2 percent. The BGSU increase will amount to $8.75 per credit hours. The state proposal also allows colleges…

Posted by:
David Dupont on June 22, 2017.