On Monday, January 24, Dean Straker held an informal discussion with students and faculty in the One Stop Center. The students shared their thoughts, questions, and comments with the Dean. The forum started with 14 students and five faculty/staff/guests and ended with approximately 39 students and 11 faculty/staff/guests. Dean Straker started out by introducing herself and giving a little background information about where she is from and her qualifications. Then she notified the students of her mission statement for Raymond Walters College, which basically is “to provide a more intimate, smaller campus to assist students with steps to becoming self-sufficient and successful.” Dean Straker then went on to discuss three major initiatives of interest to students:
1) The University of Cincinnati 2005 Graduation Ceremony
Changes are underway to incorporate all the UC’s colleges’ graduation ceremonies into one global celebration. While plans are still being finalized, RWC students will be invited to attend the first annual All-University graduation ceremony slated for Friday, June 10.
2) A proposed leadership conference impacting students at RWC and feeder school districts
Designed to honor former Dean Barbra Bardes, the conference will include both educational and hands-on opportunities for students to hone their leadership skills.
3) A disaster relief partnership with the Red Cross
This program focuses on preparing RWC students to assist their communities in times of disaster while reinforcing leadership and professional development. The hope is that students might also receive academic or community service credit for their volunteer work.
Students then asked Dean Straker a variety of questions.
On student asked how RWC is going to maintain an intimate campus setting when there is obvious growth.
RWC is the most used regional campus in Ohio, Dean Straker responded. Since she has been here, she said there has already been a 20% increase in students.
“It is something that will have to be watched closely and researched,” she said. “The college operates on open enrollment, so that increases numbers, but at the same time, RWC doesn’t want to become too large. We are looking into what exactly too large would be.”
Another student wondered if there is another academic building in the works.
“Yes,” the Dean replied. “The request for permission to build another academic building has already been sent to Columbus for approval. If it is approved, there is still the issue of paying for it.”
“Why was faculty and staff parking increased in front of Muntz Hall?” one student asked.
“There are 20 new faculty and staff members,” the Dean said. “We had 479 additional parking spaces added to the rear and side lots.”
Overall, the Dean felt the discussion went very well.
Student Government President Afshin Taleghani agreed. “I felt that the discussion with the Dean went very well,” he commented. “I did, however, expect to see more students there, but the ones that were there participated fully and were very involved in the discussion. I expect that with more publicity and word-of-mouth, attendance will be higher [at the next Dean’s discussion],” Taleghani said.
The Dean’s staff commented that it was a very pleasant hour, and every question was answered either by the Dean herself or part of her staff.
The next “Discussion with the Dean” is scheduled for Thursday, April 7, at noon in the One Stop area of Muntz Hall. Everyone is invited.