Board of trustees meets to discuss construction projects on campus

Otterbein’s Board of Trustees jump-starts homecoming weekend with their in-person meeting on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, to discuss updates on projects currently underway. 

The meeting will be held in Roush Hall room 338 starting at 2:15 p.m. Prior to that, members will break out into their various committees to deliberate on specific proposals and details then return to discuss with the larger committee. 

Susan Millsap, a faculty trustee, gave a general synopsis of the meeting and what will be covered. 

“One of the things they’ll be talking about probably is the Campus Center and how it's going; can we still afford it?” Millsap said. “The finance committee will look at, 'Well, where is the money coming from?' and 'Can we shift things around? How can we make sure it happens?' and then bring that report back to the whole committee.” 

Two years ago, the board initiated a merit case system for faculty and part of the meeting will go over improving that process and how professors are evaluated.  

According to Millsap, part of the evaluation process is linked to the discussion the faculty trustees have with the student trustees on student evaluations of classes and faculty, what role evaluations play and why students don’t answer them, as part of defining the parameters of the faculty evaluation process.

“I don’t know that there are necessarily big changes coming down the road,” Millsap said. 

Keeping in mind the progress of the Campus Center, she said that a timeline on the construction might come out and the Financial Resources Committee will take a closer look at the funding being used for this project. 

Aside from the renovations in the Campus Center, the merger with Antioch is up for discussion. Millsap expects the meeting to cover updates regarding the kind of attention it is getting, whether they are going to get more students because of it or any indication of that happening. 

While she does not anticipate any surprises, Millsap did mention the reconstruction of The Point parking lot was unexpected. Looking towards the meeting, the board will hopefully answer the question of whether any new projects or endeavors have been undertaken.