At its Dec. 12 meeting, the ϳԹ Board of Trustees endorsed the 2024 University Remediation Report. The report will be submitted to the chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the superintendent of public instruction as required by Ohio House Bill 49. The report provides a comprehensive overview of student remediation at the university, including the number of students needing additional academic support, the associated costs, specific areas of educational assistance and underlying reasons for remediation needs. This marks the eighth consecutive year ϳԹ has documented its efforts to reduce the need for remedial courses.
Results indicated a 35.6% reduction in the number of Kent Campus students enrolled in remedial coursework and a 70.6% decrease on the Regional Campuses compared with the university’s initial remediation report in 2017. These significant reductions are the result of directing new freshman students into mathematics pathways appropriate to their majors instead of the formerly default STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) pathway. Fewer students enrolled in remedial coursework also can be attributed to the addition of corequisite courses to the curriculum, eliminating the need for some remedial coursework.
Board Approves Naming Actions Recognizing Alumnus Raj Aggarwal, Hears Other Naming Actions
The Board named six spaces within Crawford Hall, the new home of the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, to recognize Raj Aggarwal, D.B.A. Aggarwal earned a Master of Business Administration in 1970 and a Doctor of Business Administration in 1975, both from ϳԹ. He returned to ϳԹ in 1999 to serve as the Firestone Endowed Chair in Corporate Finance, and during his tenure, he also served as co-director of the Global Management Center.
Aggarwal has given his time in service to the ϳԹ Foundation Board of Directors, the university’s Gerald H. Read Center for International and Intercultural Education Professional Advisory Board, the ϳԹ Alumni Association National Board of Directors and the Global Management Center Advisory Board. In 2022, the ϳԹ Alumni Association honored Aggarwal with the Distinguished Alumni Award.
The Board recognized Aggarwal’s generosity in providing new philanthropic commitments totaling $400,000 to benefit the Ambassador Crawford College and named the following spaces within Crawford Hall: the Raj Aggarwal Global Management Center Suite, the Raj Aggarwal GMC Director Office, the Karen L. Blackburn Visiting Scholar Office, the Sonia R. Aggarwal Scholar in Residence Office, the Raj Aggarwal Finance Office and the Raj Aggarwal Management Office.
The Board also heard two naming actions that have been approved by the university president, who has the Board’s delegated authority to approve philanthropic naming opportunities with a total value or cost under $100,000. Both naming actions recognize donors who gave in support of the Crawford Hall construction project and the Ambassador Crawford College’s ongoing capital needs.
The William A. Verdini Office recognizes a $30,000 gift from William A. Verdini, D.B.A. A recognized expert in supply chain management and entrepreneurship, Verdini is a Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, and he earned both a Master of Business Administration and a Doctor of Business Administration in Decision Sciences in 1976 from ϳԹ.
The Wendy M. Tietz, Ph.D., and Russell I. Tietz Office recognizes a gift of $35,000 from Wendy M. Tietz, Ph.D., a faculty member in the Department of Accounting within ϳԹ’s Ambassador Crawford College, where she has taught since 2000. She earned her doctorate from ϳԹ in 2007 and both her Bachelor of Science in Accounting and her Master of Business Administration from the University of Akron.
Board Ratifies Fiscal Year 2024 Efficiency Report
The Board ratified the university’s Fiscal Year 2024 Efficiency Report, which indicated effectiveness and savings from Fiscal Year 2024. The report is submitted annually to the chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education.
The Fiscal Year 2024 report focuses on regional collaborations, academic practices related to textbook affordability, special purpose fees, and benchmarking and assessment of operating costs. For instance, about 2,000 course sections utilizing the Flash Books program amounted to more than $2.7 million in savings to ϳԹ students. The report also highlights several collaborations with Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), Stark State College, the University of Akron, Youngstown State University and others.
Among other Board actions:
- The Board confirmed the conferral of 1,202 degrees from summer 2024 on those ϳԹ students who have been officially recorded by the University Registrar as having completed the requirements of their respective programs of study during the period of May 12, 2024, to Aug. 10, 2024.
- The Board reviewed the university’s Fiscal Year 2024 external audit prepared by audit firm RSM. An unmodified, or “clean,” opinion was issued on the university’s financial statements. In the opinion of RSM, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position and activities of ϳԹ as of and for the period ending June 30, 2024.
- The Board approved the vendor selection for meat and specialty food catering services for the Kent and Regional Campuses. In response to a request for proposal issued by the university’s Procurement Department for a qualified supplier for the provision of commodity food products (fresh, frozen and/or dry) for meat, seafood and catering, including appetizers, entrees and desserts for students, faculty and staff in all dining areas on ϳԹ’s campuses, Performance Foodservice provided the proposal with the best overall value. The estimated cost for these services is a three-year initial term of $3 million per year, with the potential of two, one-year extensions at $3 million each year.
- The Board approved the university to enter into a contract(s) with the selected vendor(s) for the purchase of electricity, if the cost is lower than the Standard Service Offer and will not exceed $5 million on an annual basis, for up to a three-year term. The university has issued a request for qualifications to pre-qualify potential bidders for participation in a reverse auction to determine the lowest-cost qualified supplier for the ϳԹ campuses. The results of the reverse auction will be compared with the Standard Service Offer to determine the method that provides the best value.
- The Board authorized the issuance of general receipts bonds and the refinancing and restructuring of outstanding general receipts bonds. The university has previously issued certain series of general receipts bonds, and the fiscal officer has determined that the refunding and restructuring of the outstanding bonds is in the best interest of the university and is consistent with the university’s debt policy. The university expects to reduce debt service in the years 2028-2031 by an average $11.2 million; flatten debt service to approximately $31 million per year for the years 2029-2038, creating budget certainty and stability; simplify all outstanding debt service to fixed rate debt by eliminating the last remaining variable rate/interest rate swap bonds; and offset the cost of terminating the interest rate swap through savings achieved by way of an early call of current bonds at rates preferred by investors (referred to as a tender).
- The Board reappointed Ambassador Edward F. Crawford to a second, three-year term as a National Trustee. This new term will begin upon his current term’s expiration, which is March 1, 2025.
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Media Contacts:
Eric Mansfield, emansfie@kent.edu, 330-672-2797
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595