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The ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ Board of Trustees learned about various successes on OHIO’s regional campuses, such as recent expansions in nursing across the campuses and their stable retention during meetings on Oct. 16, and Oct. 17, on the Athens campus.

The Board received a presentation from Luke Pittaway, Copeland Professor of Entrepreneurship in the College of Business, who highlighted his research on entrepreneurship education, learning, and corporate venturing. Pittaway discussed his interest in economic theory and how it shapes new ways of thinking about entrepreneurial behavior and practice. He also shared details about a current project he’s working on involving corporate venturing, which explores its connection to education and aims to develop effective approaches for teaching corporate entrepreneurship.

Vice President of Finance and Administration, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer David Moore also presented an update to the Board on the preliminary FY25 financial results and Vice President for Advancement and CEO of the ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ Foundation Greg Simmons provided an update on the University’s endowment.

Additionally, Executive Vice President and Provost Donald Leo updated the Board about a Governance Working Group that will enable faculty from the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (HCOM) and College of Health Sciences and Professions (CHSP), who are not part of the United Academics of Ohio, to make recommendations about governing their terms and conditions of employment. The group, which will include associate deans and faculty, will develop a proposed governance framework and provide recommendations for employment terms and Faculty Handbook content, best practices for shared governance, models for academic collaboration, a summary of stakeholder engagement and feedback and an implementation roadmap and evaluation metrics.

Additional highlights from the October 2025 Board of Trustees meetings include:

President’s Report
President Lori Stewart Gonzalez provided the Board with an update on the University’s record enrollment, noting that this year’s incoming class represents students from all 88 Ohio counties and more than 100 countries worldwide, highlighting that many incoming students are also first generation. Gonzalez also reflected on the success of Welcome Week, where a variety of events helped students build connections and a sense of belonging early in the semester. She shared how the University honored former President Roderick J. McDavis with a cornerstone celebration for McDavis Hall, which will be the largest residence hall on campus, designed to foster community and engagement among students and spoke about McDavis’ enduring legacy.

Gonzalez also shared highlights from her recent State of the University address, where she reaffirmed OHIO’s mission in the context of a changing higher education landscape. She celebrated the University’s 10-year national accreditation and highlighted the launch of several new initiatives, including the Employee Innovation and Initiative Award and the creation of the Center for Community Impact, led by Nukhet Sandal, which will focus on deepening partnerships between the University and local communities. She further shared the ongoing success of the alumni mentoring program under the Engage pillar, which will expand this spring to include new group mentoring opportunities for sophomores. Additionally, Gonzalez marked the 10-year anniversary of the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Cleveland campus, noting how its continued growth and the Transformative Care Continuum partnership with the Cleveland Clinic are helping to address physician shortages across Ohio.

Gonzalez concluded her report by celebrating several accolades, including that the University was recognized by Forbes as one of the top employers in Ohio and among the nation’s leading midsize employers and how for the sixth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report ranked OHIO as the best public value among public universities in the state. Gonzalez also shared the appointment of Slade Larscheid as the University’s new director of athletics.

Regional Higher Education Update
Leo and Vice Provost for Regional Higher Education and Partnerships Lewatis McNeal presented an overview of OHIO’s regional campuses, highlighting numerous points of pride, including next year’s 80th anniversary celebrations of the Chillicothe and Zanesville campuses and the 70^th anniversaries of the Lancaster and Southern campuses, highlighting the University’s longstanding commitment to the many communities it serves across southeastern Ohio, as well as how regional nursing programs are expanding to meet workforce and community needs.

They also provided information about how Regional Higher Education has maintained stable enrollment in recent years, supported by expanded student services, scholarship investments, advising, career development initiatives, student employment opportunities and the Guarantee+ Plus program. McNeal also highlighted the regional campuses’ strong programs in teacher education, social work, engineering technology, study away opportunities and College Credit Plus.

The Board also heard how nursing remains one of RHE’s most popular programs, offering a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) on every campus, while community engagement thrives through vaccine clinics, volunteerism, youth camps and more.

Enrollment and Retention Update
Vice President for Enrollment Management Candace J. Boeninger shared with the Board an update on preliminary census enrollment for fall 2025 across ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ’s campuses, centers and modalities. The presentation featured a discussion of OHIO’s recent success in first-year retention and the drivers of that success. She shared how OHIO’s headcount enrollment totaled 30,692, a 3.6% increase from fall 2024 preliminary census enrollment, as well as how the Athens campus welcomed another record entering first-year class with 4,550 students, with a near record Ohio resident enrollment, just under 4,000. 

Boeninger noted how preliminary enrollment growth this fall has been supported not only by new students, but also by continued year-over-year improvement in retention for Athens and the regional campuses, gains in online undergraduate and graduate enrollment, steady medical enrollment and modest gains in graduate enrollment, including enrollment increases in doctoral programs in the University’s focused areas of research.

She also shared enrollment trends and student success initiatives, noting that opportunities for growth extend beyond the traditional Athens undergraduate population, which currently represents about 55% of total enrollment.

Under the Learning Pillar of Dynamic Strategy, Boeninger highlighted continued progress in student retention and persistence, noting that for first-time, bachelor’s degree-seeking undergraduates who entered in fall 2024, the fall-to-fall retention rate reached 84.7%, a recent record and an increase of more than half a percentage point over the prior year.

Student Affairs Spotlight
Dean of Students Kathy Fahl and Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Imants Jaunarajs presented to the Board on several new student life initiatives, including enhancements to Bobcat Student Orientation (BSO) and expanded student engagement opportunities. Now managed by the Office of New Student and Family Programs, BSO has added parent programming, streamlined placement testing and course registration and introduced more social and team-building activities. This summer, nearly 10,000 students and their families participated in orientation, with strong positive feedback from both.

They also shared highlights from Welcome Week programming, including the new student convocation, the involvement fair and how the University offered more than 100 events across all campuses designed to foster early connection and belonging. One of the events highlighted included a Mental Health Resource Fair that was attended by over 300 students.

The Board also received an update from College of Health Sciences and Professions Dean John McCarthy, Assistant Vice President for Well-Being Mark Ferguson, Senior Project Manager and Planner for JED Campus and Well-Being Hali Burleson and student Ethan Stone on ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ’s JED Campus designation, a comprehensive four-year initiative to strengthen student mental health services, suicide prevention and overall well-being. The team reviewed accomplishments from year one, which focused on assessment and strategic planning, including findings from the Healthy Minds Study, one of the largest national surveys on college student mental health, which showed that 38% of respondents screened positive for depression in 2023–2024. JED Campus representatives also visited Athens to help develop a strategic plan that is now moving into its implementation phase.

They shared how as the initiative enters year two, the University is advancing its strategic plan through five subcommittees: Campaign, Gatekeeper Training, Program Inventory, Environmental Safety and Regional Higher Education. These groups are launching initiatives that link physical health, emotional well-being, and academic success; assess and enhance peer-to-peer programming; and conducts environmental scans to improve campus safety.

Student Investment Group Presentation
Chief Investment Officer for The ÃÛèÖÊÓƵ Foundation David Gaume, Associate Professor of Finance David Stowe and four students presented to the Board an update on the performance and progress of OHIO’s Student Investment Programs.

The students discussed how participation in these programs has provided them with valuable experiential learning opportunities that directly translate to real-world skills and career readiness. Through the Fixed Income Management Group (FIMG), students manage approximately $3.3 million of the University’s funds, while the Student Equity Management Group (SEMG) oversees about $10 million.

Both programs are also approaching significant milestones. The Fixed Income Management Group will celebrate its 20th anniversary, and the Student Equity Management Group will mark its 25^th year. The students highlighted the strong engagement these programs maintain with alumni working in prestigious finance roles, who often provide mentorship, connections and career opportunities.

The Board also heard how the groups have continued to demonstrate strong performance, having outperformed their benchmark over the past five years.

Capital Projects 
The Board approved several new capital projects, including:

• Glidden Hall HVAC and Controls Replacement – The Board approved a $6 million project to replace two outdated air handling units and retrofit select HVAC controls throughout the building with a modern direct digital control (DDC) system. The project also includes targeted acoustical panel installations in specific areas of the building. The project is anticipated to be funded with Century Bond funding and State Capital Appropriations.
• Shively Dining Hall Roof Replacement – The Board approved a $876,000 project to replace the aging flat roof on Shively Dining Hall. The project is anticipated to be funded with departmental reserves.
• Bentley Annex, Lindley Dormers, USC Flat Roof Replacements – The Board approved a $810,000 project to replace small flat roof sections at the University Service Center and Bentley Annex, and repair dormer roofs at Lindley Hall. The project will address deferred maintenance needs and extend the service life of multiple campus buildings. The project is anticipated to be funded with Century Bond funding.

In other business, the Board also approved:

• The FY25 audited financial statements and footnotes for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025.
• The renaming of the following four centers/institutes:
  • Institute for Applied and Professional Ethics to the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics
  • The Edward Stevens Literacy Center to The Edward Stevens Center for Literacy and STEM Education
  • The Edison Biotechnology Institute to the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Aging
  • The Appalachian Institute to Advance Health Equity Science (ADVANCE) to the Institute to ADVANCE Population Health
• The American Civic Literacy Plan to ensure compliance with the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act.
• Six policies including Faculty Workload, Advance Ohio Higher Education Act Compliance, Annual Faculty Performance Evaluation, Faculty Tenure, Post-Tenure Review, and Faculty Retrenchment, which will go into effect on Dec. 24, 2025.