Faculty and staff opened the fall semester by celebrating the college’s 80th anniversary with cake.
By Robert Frank
Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences
We are off to a great start this academic year—the 80th anniversary of the founding College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University.
A lot has changed since 1936.
- Enrollment on the Athens campus has increased from 2,500 to over 18,000.
- The number of faculty from 76 to more than 900.
- Tuition in 1936 was $90 for the year compared to $10,600 in 2016.
- The diversity of the faculty and student body has changed dramatically since 1936 with substantial increases in representation by race, ethnicity and nationality within both the faculty and student body.
State of the College
Enrollment: This year, we welcomed the largest freshman class to the college since 1995, and we expect to be near record enrollment for the college as a whole. The academic credentials of these students continue to be very strong.
Research: I am delighted to report that grant and contract funding is up substantially over the past several years, exceeding $10 million for calendar year 2015. And-grant funded research is just one dimension of the strong tradition of scholarship. We have an impressive record of published books, articles and monographs and professional presentations in the past year.
Advising: I am also very proud of recent improvements in student satisfaction with advising. We conduct an advising satisfaction survey of all Arts & Sciences undergraduates each spring. I have watched the ratings improve every year for the past three years, due primarily to advising improvements implemented by every department. This year, for the first time, the average rating for every survey item was in the satisfied to very satisfied range (above 4 on a 5-point scale).
Building Renovations: I am happy to report that renovation and building plans are now in place for Clippinger Laboratories and Ellis Hall. These buildings are central to our work in the sciences and humanities, respectively.
New Faculty: We welcomed 33 new faculty to the college this year. They come to us from all over the country and the world including institutions such as Harvard, Princeton, the University of Washington and the University of Pennsylvania. It is a very distinguished group with expertise in topics that include nuclear physics, conservation biology, women and religion, and applied ethics. These new professors join a faculty that includes more distinguished research professors and award-winning teachers than any other college.
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