Ohio University - Athena Yearbook (Athens, OH)

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Secondly, would like to think that we are jiiut.ii muic utuuumuuic, in terms of being better stewards of the taxpayers and students money than perhaps we were a few years ago. There is a real sensitivity to this sort of thing. Third, I would like to think that we are more responsive to students and their needs than perhaps was true in the 60 ' s. We ' ve created an atmosphere around that people whether they like it or not, do try to treat the students by and large as well as possible, but we have a long way to go. I do not think that since I have been here we have had improvement in academic quality and I think part of it was that we have been so distracted with other things that we haven ' t put the proper amount of time in it. Secondly, the resources have been such that I think there has been inevitably some erosion of quality as a result. In the next year or two my main thrust will be in the direction of improving the academic quality of the institution. urging greater rigor, demand, and chaiiange being imposed on students. 1A71 . 1 11 like to see for the University? J would like to see the university stabilize someplace around 17,000 to 18,000 here on the main campus, 1 think that if anything were too big for our location, in terms of Athens, the geography in this area, and our remoteness. Now we are about at the right size, perhaps we can ' t turn the clock back very much, we don ' t want to. Secondly, we need to work out a funding system DR. SOWLE 19

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and broadly about what your problems are and how you ' ve gone about solving them. Therefore, 1 created a group to look into how we could open up the budget process and accomplish these goals. Out of this came the open budget hearings. Secondly, I am a decision maker-implementer. Once as a catalyst you ' ve created a mechanism to look at a problem and that mechanism has produced a solution, or set of reccommendations, then I have to review those recommendations, accepting them, rejecting them, or modifying them. You have to be careful to articulate your reasons. Once a decision is made, I feel a responsibility to follow it up to see that it is carried out in the way it was originally intended. Thirdly, I am the chief communicator of the institution to the many publics we deal with, internally and externally. By example, there ' s a role to be played. That is, if I ' m open, candid, accurate, and if 1 I try to be responsive don ' t have the information say that I ' ll get it. What do you feel you have accomplished here at Ohio University? I often wonder about that and it is sometimes hard to really categorize it. One, I think we have perhaps most importantly, opened up the university. It was pretty closed when I came. A few people made the decisions, they made them privately, there was very little explanation of them, and very little understanding of the ingredients that went into them. My most important accomplishment was the democratizing of the university or at least moving us in that direction.

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that is responsive to the needs of an institution that is stabilized. Our current funding formula in the state of Ohio places a great premium upon growth. If you ' ve got growth then you ' ve got the extra money each year to do new things and so forth, but if you are stabilized then the current funding thing does no more than at best, cover inflation. Third, 1 would like us to ultimately become as rigorous and challenging to our students, as demanding of them as any institution in the country. The last one 1 would put great, great emphasis upon. 1 think other nice things come along with that in terms of academic reputation. Certainly 1 would like to see us keep a balanced program in the sense that I very much believe that as much if not more education goes on outside the classroom than in it. I think Ohio University is a good place to mature. We do open things up and invite people in to participate, give people alot of freedom, give them a variety of things to participate in, ranging from highly cultural to ICA, to whatever else you might name. I hope we can always maintain and indeed enhance that atmosphere, so that a person comes out of here not only with a very rigorous academic experience but also with a very rewarding outside-the- classroom experience, that has permitted him or her to grow as an individual. How would you say your judgement is influenced by your exposure to student opinion? 1 would say rather considerably . 1 tend inherently to be sympathetic to young people and the concerns they have. If they obviously have done their homework on a particular problem that is bothering them 1 am very eager to go far more than half way to meet them and help them out. 1 try to be responsive to their needs or allow them to influence me to get the university working for them as best I can. What about Open Line and your receptions at your home with the students? This is very important again. Open Line you could view as a communication device outward, but nothing is more important to me than what kinds of questions are asked on Open Line, what the general mood seems to be at the end of a particular program, and so forth. Likewise in the house, you can sense these things. If people are tense and uptight and their problems seem to be more than they can bear, it is very easy to pick that up. That is why I do have many devices not only to get out information but equally important to hear what people are thinking about. Open Line has really put middle management and lower management on its toes to a considerable extent. Sometimes students will even say to somebody, I don ' t think you are handling this right, and if you don ' t do this I am going to call the president on Open Line.