By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Betty Montgomery wrapped up an eventful year chairing the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees with an eventful meeting Friday.
The former State Attorney General was ending what she would jokingly refer to as her “nine year sentence” on the board.
“Unprecedented and tumultuous times are no match for Betty Montgomery,” said Trustee Linda Forte.
Trustee Marilyn Eisele praised her calm and leadership in getting the university through a year as it grappled with the pandemic.
David O’Brien, who was elected as the next chair at the meeting, said he was most struck by her “caring about the employees, the faculty, the students, the families, the university as a whole.”
Trustee Russell Martin, the sheriff of Delaware County, called the first female state attorney general an “icon.” Montgomery is “a most significant figure in law enforcement in this state.”
Ava Harter told her: “You are a pioneer for women leaders, a role model for all. … You are much of the heart of this board, and when you leave a little of that heart will go away.”
The meeting was not all hearts and flowers. There was work to be done.
Faculty contract extension approved
The university and the BGSU Faculty Association signed an agreement to extend the faculty contract for two years. The current contract expires June 30, 2022. The new deal begins July 1, 2022, and continues through June 30, 2024.
Faculty Association President David Jackson said aside from a few minor changes, the terms of the contract remain the same. The contract calls for 2.5 percent increases in the salary pool in the two added years.
“Given we’re coming out of a period with the greatest level of uncertainty and difficulty and lack of predictability and constant chaos, we think it was in the interest of the faculty and the administration and students and the university overall to lock in place for an extra two years of certainty, predictability and to spend the next two years preparing for the next contract, but also continuing to do the difficult work of rebuilding and retaining the university.”
Greek Village has vacancies
The board also voted to set room rates for housing in the Greek Village, for those students not in a fraternity or sorority.
At Thursday’s Financial Affairs and Facilities Committee meeting, Chief Financial Officer Sheri Stoll said that in the past several years a couple of the houses have been vacant. This year that may be as many as five. Besides the usual ebb and flow of membership in the Greek organizations, this year there was a disruption in recruiting.
(All Greek activities were suspended for a period in the wake of the hazing death of Stone Foltz in March.)
Stoll said the administration decided to make the houses available to other groups on campus. “I don’t think there will be a shortage of interested parties.”
While the room rates are the same as at Falcon Heights and Centennial, an extra $210 “parlor fee” is charged to cover the large community spaces in the houses to accommodate activities involving members who are not living in the house.
Of that, $105 goes to support the office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, and the remaining $105 goes to debt service. With the non-Greek rates, students would not have to pay the money to support the office of Greek activities. They will have to pay the $105 that goes toward debt service.
The room charges will be $3,690 for a double, and $4,195 for a single or super double.
Trustee Howard Traul questioned whether the university should not have suspended for returning sophomores its rule that students in their first two years remain on campus.
The rule was suspended when the administration decided to decrease the number of students staying in dorms during the pandemic.
Stoll said they knew when they suspended the rule that they could not go back and tell students who had been living off campus that they now needed to. They knew it would be a two-year problem.
The arrangements with non-Greek groups will only be for one year, Stoll said.
Real estate borrowing authority
The trustees also approved $1 million in borrowing authority for the administration to make strategic purchases of properties near the university.
Stoll said the trustees have granted this authority every two years since 2003.
Most, though not all, of the properties purchased have been on East Wooster Street.
These are purchased for “possible use or aesthetics,” she said.
One result has been the creation of a new commuter parking lot across from campus.
The most recent purchase using the authority was 914 E. Wooster, which was razed. The purchase in summer 2019 for $412,000 was made through Centennial Falcon Properties, the non-profit real estate arm of BGSU.
Stoll said she questioned whether she should seek the authority this year. She said she doesn’t expect any opportunities to arise.
Tenure & promotions
The board also approved: the promotion or tenure and promotion for 61 faculty members, and emeriti status for 20 retired faculty members. (See list below.)
In his opening remarks, President Rodney Rogers congratulated them on this important step in their careers, and thanked them for their contributions.
He also noted that the progress made in fighting COVID-19 is rooted in the work done in institutions of higher education around the world, including BGSU.
Montgomery’s closing remarks
In her closing remarks, Montgomery said when she arrived back at BGSU nine years ago to serve on the board the campus looked “a little bit down on its heels, a little shabby.” She attributed this to the lack of development dollars.
That was turned around, she said, when Mary Ellen Mazey was hired as president. “She took a pipe wrench to those rusty old bolts of this grand old institution.”
Without apology Mazey turned this around, she said. Rogers has continued that work. The culmination came in raising $250 million in BGSU’s recently concluded capital campaign.
She also thanked those in the audience representing faculty, staff, administration and students for their efforts.
“You have all,” she concluded, “made this a public university for the public good.”
During her tenure on the board, Montgomery sometimes recalled that she had been a commuter student who didn’t always feel connected to campus. She frequently advocated for the needs of commuter students.
And she advocated for the creation of a standing Committee on Diversity and Belonging, which held its first meeting as such that morning.
Afterward, she said, that she could not have imagined any of this when she graduated in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in art, after having started as an art major. That creative thinking, she said, has serve her well.
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Promotion to Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
Joshua Atkinson, Ph.D., School of Media and Communication
Philip Peek, Ph.D., World Languages and Cultures
Kristen Rudisill, Ph.D., School of Cultural and Critical Studies
Jolie Sheffer, Ph.D., English
Allie Terry-Fritsch, Ph.D., School of Art
Carolyn Tompsett, Ph.D., Psychology
Zhaohui Xu, Ph.D., Biological Sciences
Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business
Greg Rich, Ph.D., Marketing
Mohammadali Zolfagharian, Ph.D., Marketing
Firelands
Jaqueline Justice, Ph.D., Humanities
College of Health and Human Services
Melissa Burek, Ph.D., Human Services
College of Musical Arts
Solungga Liu, DMA, Music Performance Studies
Katherine Meizel, Ph.D., Musicology/Composition/Theory
College of Technology, Architecture, and Applied Engineering
Fei Gao, Ph.D., Visual Communication and Technology Education Mohammad Mayyas, Ph.D., Engineering Technologies
Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
Joshua Grubbs, Ph.D., Psychology
Nathan Hensley, Ed.D., School of Earth, Environment and Society
Samuel McAbee, Ph.D., Psychology
Justin Rex, Ph.D., Political Science
Sankardas Roy, Ph.D., Computer Science
Brandon Warmke, Ph.D., Philosophy
Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business
Amanda Cook, Ph.D., Economics
College of Education and Human Development
Katherine Brodeur, Ph.D., School of Teaching and Learning
Jiesun (Lucy) Lee, Ph.D., School of Human Movement, Sport, and Leisure Studies
Marlise Lonn, Ph.D., School of Counseling and Special Education
Alicia Mrachko, Ph.D., School of Counseling and Special Education
Jenny Toonstra, Ph.D., School of Human Movement, Sport, and Leisure Studies
Joanna Weaver, Ph.D., School of Teaching and Learning
College of Health and Human Services
Brent Archer, Ph.D., Communication Sciences and Disorders
College of Musical Arts
Lisa Martin, Ph.D., Music Education
Richard Schnipke, Ph.D., Music Performance Studies
College of Technology, Architecture, and Applied Engineering
Christopher Kluse, Ph.D., Engineering Technologies
University Libraries
Michelle Sweetser, MS, Special Collections
Promotion to Teaching Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
Paul Alday, MA, School of Media and Communication
Carmen Alvarez, MA, World Languages and Cultures
Michael Brooks, Ph.D., History
Charles Coletta, Ph.D., School of Cultural and Critical Studies
Susana Juarez, Ph.D., World Languages and Cultures
Kelly Mangan, MFA, Theatre and Film
Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business
Erik Chiarelott, MA, Marketing
Kristen Krebs, J.D., Marketing
Brian Rohrs, MBA, Accounting and MIS
Andrea Schneider, MA, Economics
Promotion to Clinical Professor
College of Health and Human Services
Carrie Hamady, Ed.D., Public and Allied Health
Promotion to Associate Teaching Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
Kara Barr, Ph.D., History
Christopher Cavera, M.M., School of Media and Communication
Andrew Gilliatt, MFA, School of Art
Konra Holman, MA, Mathematics and Statistics
Ross Mazzupappa, MFA, School of Art
Marius Paulikas, Ph.D., School of Earth, Environment and Society
Tiffany Scarola, MA, English
Charles Tucker, MA, School of Art
Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business
Kyle Moninger, MS, Applied Statistics and Operations Research
J. Rockne Starks, MBA, Finance
College of Education and Human Development
Stephanie Blessing, M.Ed., School of Family and Consumer Sciences
Jacob Burgoon, Ph.D., School of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy
Marian Zengel, MLS, School of Family and Consumer Sciences
College of Musical Arts
John Sampen, DM, Music Performance Studies
College of Technology, Architecture, and Applied Engineering
Scott Gross, MBA, School of the Built Environment
Promotion to Associate Clinical Professor
College of Health and Human Services
Jessica Bankey, M.P.H., Public and Allied Health Tasha Ford, Ph.D., Human Services
Granted emeritus status
Trustee Professor Emeritus
Louis I. Katzner, Philosophy
Distinguished Research Professor Emeriti
George S. Bullerjahn, Biological Sciences
Ronny C. Woodruff, Biological Sciences
Professor Emeriti
William K. Balzer, Psychology
John M. Fischer, Teaching and Leaming
Jeffrey 0. Halsey, Music Performance Studies
Alexander J. Izzo, Mathematics and Statistics
Thomas A. Mascaro, Media Production & Studies
Christopher J. Mruk, Natural and Social Sciences
Associate Professor Emeriti
Linda A. Brown, University Libraries
Gary M. Heba, English
Sudershan K. Jetley, Engineering Technologies
Helen J. Michaels, Biological Sciences
Eileen M. Underwood, Biological Sciences
Lynn Whitney, School of Art
Teaching Professor Emeritae
Jolene K. Buehrer, Humanities
Sylvia E. Hermo-Fedro, Applied Sciences
Akiko Kawano Jones, World Languages and Cultures
Cheryl Lachowski, English
Kelly A. Taylor, Media and Communications
