Mary Ellen Mazey

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News Outgoing Bowling Green State University President Mary Ellen Mazey admits that when she arrived on campus six years ago, she ruffled some feathers. “In the first few years a lot of people criticized me,” Mazey said in a recent interview. She looked at the campus and where it was and where she felt it needed to go, and took action. That meant a reduction of some 150 positions, three quarters of which were vacant. It meant tearing down the Popular Culture house, a move that still rankles some on campus. That became the site of the new Falcon Health Center, built, owned and operated by the Wood County Hospital. It meant injecting the school colors, orange and brown, into all the buildings as a way of addressing what she was told was BGSU’s lack of school spirit. Mazey, who came to BGSU in July, 2011, is retiring Dec. 31. This was her first presidency, and she says, her last. She’d spent three and a half years as provost of Auburn University. She had served as dean of the college of arts and sciences at her alma mater West Virginia University and before that at Wright State University. She also took leave to work for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during President Bill Clinton’s first term. She started her academic career teaching at the University of Cincinnati, where she received her doctorate in geography. That previous experience, especially at Auburn, shaped her approach to her work at BGSU. She wasn’t a stranger to controversy. At Auburn she had to return a large donation to the Koch Brothers at the faculty’s insistence. And she merged the economics programs, a move she still gets asked about. Coming to BGSU, she said, “I used the Auburn model.” That model puts the quality of education at the core. It places a greater focus on national rankings. She emphasized recruiting and admitting “students who can be successful here” and retaining them so they graduate. That involves engaging them more in academics through study abroad, undergraduate research as well as internships and co-ops. “It’s about engaging this generation of students in their learning in many, many different ways depending on their disciplines,” Mazey said. And “insure a strong career when they leave.” That approach has been become part of BGSU’s DNA in the past six years and has…

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News As she departs as president of Bowling Green State University, Mary Ellen Mazey is worried about a sentiment gaining currency. “There’s a lot of questions out there about the value of a college degree,” Mazey said during an interview earlier this month. “I just deplore that. We should be providing everybody in this country with the ability to be educated through at least a four-year degree.” Mazey knows the value of education not just because that’s been her life’s work as a professor and administrator; she knows it because “I’ve lived the American Dream because of education.” Mazey is retiring on Dec. 31 after six years as BGSU president. Provost Rodney Rogers has been named interim president. In the past semester, campus audiences have heard the life stories of JD Vance, author of BGSU’s Community Read “Hillbilly Elegy,” Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Clarence Page, and former ESPN personality Jay Crawford about how they rose from modest upbringings to success. Mazey’s story is just as compelling. Mazey, 68, was born, the third of three children, and the first born in a hospital in Ronceverte in southeastern West Virginia. Her two brothers were nine and 10 years older than she was. They lived in a house without indoor plumbing. When she was still a baby, her father died. The family subsisted on Social Security benefits. Her mother went to work at The Greenbrier resort when Mazey was 3. She did chef’s work. Her job title was “pantry girl.” The Greenbrier was popular, Mazey said, with the East Coast elite. Mazey was cared for by family members. “I grew up with my cousins and my aunts,” she said. “She would pass me around to all these family members. She worked six days a week, and I would only see her but one day a week.” Reflecting on her life, Mazey said, she wondered: “How did I learn to deal well with so many people?” She traces it back to her childhood. “When you’re such a young age and you don’t have a father and have mother whom you love but don’t see a lot, you learn to deal with many types of people.” Her brothers caddied at the Greenbrier, either driving with their mother or hitchhiking. “We were a very fragmented family,” Mazey said, “but my mother always told us to work hard and get a good education,…

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News President Mary Ellen Mazey delivered an upbeat State of the University address Friday at Bowling Green State University. As she spelled out in her talk, the university has scored a number of successes, and its goal is to continue to building on those. Asked afterward what she thought the biggest challenge facing BGSU in the coming academic year was, she prefaced her answer by saying: “Well, sometimes I would say you don’t know the biggest challenge until it’s upon you.” Then she added, “right now I don’t see any major challenges that we can’t take care of.  We recruited a great class, and the challenge is to retain them.” Attracting, retaining, and graduating students remains the focal point for the university. This fall, almost 77.6 percent of last year’s freshmen returned for their sophomore year. That’s 10 percent more than five years ago. That’s still, Mazey said, short of where the university wants to be. “Our goal is to be at 80 percent.” Mazey opened her speech with a long list of national recognitions the university has received. That includes achievement in environmental awareness, safety, entrepreneurial spirit, affordability, and even having the most patriotic football helmets. At first mention the latter drew a laugh, until Mazey continued and noted: “Our helmets list the names of our 111 former students who gave their lives in service to our country.” Sports was also recognized for the academic achievements of student athletes. And Eric Nichols, the men’s soccer coach, was recognized for recruiting two players from Ghana, and helping to make sure they were able to come to Bowling Green. Gifts to the scholarship fund from Gary Kovacs and Michael Golden “put the university in a position to do this for the Ghanaian students,” she said. This was just one example of the university’s global reach. BGSU students come from 42 different countries, and 500 BGSU students have studied abroad this year. Mazey cited the two-year-old College Credit Plus program “as a way to enhance our recruitment efforts.” The program has 1,244 students enrolled this semester. She said she spoke to a mother and daughter who said they would not have considered BGSU except for the daughter’s positive experience in the College Credit Plus course. In a time when state funding has been flat and the university, by choice or by state fiat, has not raised tuition…

By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News The Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees approved a 2.5-percent pay increase for President Mary Ellen Mazey this morning (June 23). Chairman David Levey said that the board, after reviewing her performance earlier in the day, felt the pay increase was merited based on a number of factors. Those included the successful negotiation of a contract with the faculty union – “that’s a pretty big accomplishment,” enrollment of larger and more academically prepared first year students, and more success in keeping students on campus so they graduate. He also cited an “improving relationship” with the university’s foundation. Aside from the union contract, which was approved at the May trustees meeting, all those other factors played a part in the meeting, which was held on the Firelands campus. The increase brings Mazey’s salary to $412,136, beginning in Sept. 1. The board also approved an additional 10-percent payment to her deferred compensation package. That $40,208 is on top of the 15 percent called for in her contract. Those payments are is based on her current salary. Mazey said that the pay increase was a vote of confidence in her performance. Of the accomplishments cited, she said she was particularly pleased that the number of incoming freshmen is increasing. The pay increase, she noted, was in line with the 2.5-percent increase employees not covered by the union will receive. The union agreement calls for a 3-percent increase in the compensation pool for faculty. That increase in compensation figured into 2017 budgets for the campus approved earlier in the meeting by the board. With an increase in state funding, BGSU expects to have revenues of $415.3 million, a 3.1-percent increase, and expenditures of $411.5 million, a 3-percent increase. The budget for the Bowling Green campus will be $288,376,367, a 2.6 percent increase. Chief Financial Officer Sheri Stoll said that after years of declines the State Share of Instruction is now increasing. The 2017 budget includes a 4-percent increase from last year. On the Bowling Green campus, that $70.7 million accounts for 24.5 percent of the revenue. Student tuition and fees account for 67.6 percent of revenue. That’s an improvement over just two years ago when students’ share was 71.7 percent. The university, Stoll said, benefited not only from more money allotted by the state, but also better performance. State funding is largely based on how many students…