College of Graduate Studies

Graduate Council Minutes

Graduate Council Minutes
March 18, 2025
Webex

Present:     Bhuiyan Alam, Marcelo Alvarado-Vargas, Saad Andalib (GSA), Brian Ashburner, Tomer Avidor-Reiss, Qian Chen, Mao Dao, Jennifer DeVries, Bashar Gammoh, David Giovannucci, Dan Hammel, Noela Haughton, Ahmad Javaid, Andrea Kalinoski, Kristen Keith, John Laux, Patrick Lawrence, Nagalakshmi Nadiminty, Megan Petra, Patricia Relue, Srinivas Saladi, Barbara Saltzman, Youssef Sari, Beth Schlemper, Connie Schall, Joseph Schmidt, Zahoor Shah, Hossein Sojoudi, Kuo-hui Su, Varun Vaiyda, Eileen Walsh Kandace Williams.

Absent:      Rafael Garcia Mata, Edward Janak, Snejana Slantcheva-Durst, Qiuying Zhao.

Excused:    Dan Boden, Jerry Van Hoy.

Guests:      Interim President Matt Schroeder
                   COGS – Terri Green, Tara Hanna, Yasmeen Hamdah, Drew Saltzstein.
                  Notes – Terri Hayes.

Call to Order, Roll Call, and Approval of Minutes
The meeting was called to order and roll called. The Minutes of February 4, 2025, meeting were approved.

Executive Reports
Report of the Executive Committee of the Graduate Council

On behalf of the Graduate Council, Chair, Dr. Barbara Saltzman provided a brief report:

• GC Report to Board of Trustees – February 19, 2025

Chair Saltzman presented the Graduate Council Report to the Board of Trustees at its last meeting on February 19, 2025. There were no questions or comments from BOT.

• President Schroeder’s Visit with Graduate Council – March 18, 2025

Questions from the Council were shared with the President and will be addressed and distributed to Council along with the agenda and he will likely take additional questions for an organic discussion.

Discussion:

Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss sought an update on tracking of numbers of Ph.D. students compared to last year.

Dr. Dan Hammel indicated that the best indicators are not only applicant acceptance but offer letters submitted for my signature. Programs that are confident in their budgets should complete these offers as soon as possible.

Report of the Vice Provost for Graduate Affairs

Dr. Dan Hammel, Interim Vice Provost for Academic Affairs provided the following updates:

• Grade Substitution Inquiry Request by Graduate Council
  We need to pull data and to determine what the significance of the issue really is. Presently, it appears that some students that do poorly in one class in graduate school either do fine in other classes and their GPA ends up being perfectly acceptable to graduate or has become a complete disaster. At that point, grade substitution is not going to remedy the situation. The Fresh Start initiative would be a viable alternative. However, we do want to investigate the inquiry further but may not have sufficient time until near the end of the semester.
  
  
• New Staff Member in COGS

Drew Saltzstein, who is moving from UToledo Online to the College of Graduate Studies as a Graduate Recruitment Manager. He brings experience in communication plans, which will bode well for our graduate programs. Much of the work will be done in Slate. We are extremely happy to welcome him aboard.

Drew Saltzstein thanked the Council for inviting him for introductions. He expressed excitement for the opportunity to use existing skills from the past eight years in two different roles at UToledo and learn more. He earned two degrees from the UToledo’s Neff College of Business and Innovation, an undergraduate degree in Sales and Marketing, with an IT minor and an MBA graduate degree. He hopes to continue to make UToledo his home and looks forward to being able to collaborate with the Graduate Council more and continue to expand his higher education knowledge.

Tara Hanna, Director of Graduate Admissions Operations, added that Drew will allow us to expand Slate in a way we have not been able to. With his knowledge and experience he will do good things, and we are excited to have someone of his caliber. He is excited to be in this position, and it should be a growth opportunity for him.

Report of the Vice President for Research
Dr. Connie Schall, Interim Vice President for Research reported the following:

• Research Security Training Requirements

The Department of Energy is imposing new research security training requirements for PI’s, COI’s and key personnel prior to proposal submission https://www.energy.gov/ia/research-security-training-requirement

• • Effective for proposals submitted May 1, 2025, and thereafter.
  • Certification that Research Security training has been completed within 12 months prior to the date of proposal submission.
  • Research Security training must be renewed annually.
  • Research security training is/will be required for key personnel for acceptance of an increasing number of sponsored awards and subcontracts.
  • Strongly advise that all researchers complete the CITI Research Security training to avoid delays in award acceptance or proposal submissions.
  • Note that graduate students are considered as key personnel on research grants (post award) by most sponsors.
    • General definition: key personnel contribute in a substantive, meaningful way to the scientific development or execution of a research and development project.
  • A team of faculty and staff evaluated training options available on CITI https://about.citiprogram.org/. Completion of the following will be required for PI’s, co-I’s and key personnel.
  • Initial Research Security training: Researchers must complete ‘Research Security Advanced Refresher’.
    • Consists of a series of modules approximately 18 to 35 minutes duration with required Q&A for a total of approximately 3 hours.
  • After initial training is complete, annual training is required and must be renewed at least every 12 months.

• • • CITI ‘Research Security Training (Combined)’ – approximately one hour duration
    • Questions: Email RSPTraining@UToledo.edu or you can call 419.530.6171 https://www.utoledo.edu/research/rsp/rc/RCR_Training/RCRTraining.html

Report of the Graduate Student Association

Saad Andalib, Vice President of the Graduate Student Association (GSA) reported:

• Midwest Graduate Research Symposium
  https://www.utoledo.edu/graduate/success-center/mgrs.html

Final deadline for submitting a proposal was on March 16^th, 11:59 pm. Additional proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Total Proposals received to date:                    64

• Poster Presentation (45-minute session) 40
• Seminar Presentation (30-minute session) 08
• Seminar Presentation (15-minute session) 12
• Lightning Talk (5-minute session) 04
  
  

Judges and Volunteers Needed!
We have received 16 responses from those interested in serving as judges and 18 responses from potential volunteers. However, to ensure a successful in-person symposium, we still need around 30 to 40 judges and volunteers. We will be sharing the interest forms in the chat. Please consider

Midwest Graduate Research Symposium website: https://www.utoledo.edu/graduate/success-center/midwest-grad-research-symposium.htmla

Marketing
Additionally, the symposium was marketed at tabling events on the Main Campus, Engineering complex, and Health Science Campus in last few weeks.

Keynote Speaker
The Graduate Student Association is pleased to welcome back former Graduate Student Association President and City Council Member Dr. Brittany Jones as the 2025 keynote speaker.

• General Assembly Meeting
  Wednesday, March 26, 2025, 5:30 pm, HSC
  This will be the third meeting of spring semester 2025 and will be held in person on the Health Science Campus, Collier building, room TBD.

Standing Committee Reports
Report of the Curriculum Committee
GC Chair, Dr. Barbara Saltzman, on behalf of the Curriculum Committee provided the committee’s report:

The proposal listed below were reviewed by the members of the GCCC with recommendations to approve. [Council approved unanimously].

Action	College	Department	Proposal Title	Course Code
NCP	AR	Geography and Planning	GIS Programming	GEPL 4300/5300
NCP	CE	Teacher Education	Adaptive Development and Support Systems in Special Education	SPED 8450
NCP	CE	Teacher Education	Evidence-Based Practices in Special Education	SPED 8460
NCP	CE	Teacher Education	Collaborative Research in Advanced Special Education	SPED 8490
NCP	CE	Teacher Education	Introduction to Research and Measurement (RESM) and Graduate Assessment	RESM 7550
PCR	BU	Accounting	Accounting, MSA	BU-ACCT-MSA
PCR	AR	Geography and Planning	Geography, MA	AR-GEOG-MA
NCP	AR	Geography and Planning	GeoAI and Machine Learning	GEPL 4400/5400
NCP	AR	Geography and Planning	Geospatial Science Research	GEPL 4800/5800

The proposals listed below were reviewed and approved by members of the GCCC.

Action	College	Department	Proposal Title	Course Code
CCR	CE	Teacher Education	Effective Management of Students with Special Needs in Education	SPED 5340
CCR	BU	Accounting	Accounting Information Systems and Controls	ACCT 5310
CCR	BU	Accounting	Individual Taxation	ACCT 5210
CCR	AR	English Language and Literature	Old English	ENGL 5110
CCR	AR	English Language and Literature	Modern and Contemporary Drama	ENGL 5340
CCR	AR	Geography and Planning	Analytical and Computer Cartography	GEPL 4520/5520
CCR	EN	Electrical Engineering and Computer Science	Machine Learning	EECS 4750/5750
CCR	CE	Teacher Education	Research Seminar in Career and Technical Education	CTE 6900
CCR	CE	Teacher Education	Remediation Practicum	CI 6440

 

Report of the Membership Committee

None.

Information and Discussion Items

Chair Saltzman welcomed President Schroeder and invited to proceed as he wished whether responding to Council’s questions provided in advance or discuss other information.

Discussion with Interim President Matthew Schroeder

President Schroeder thanked the Council for inviting him and provided a few updates prior to responding to Council’s specific questions:

Carnegie Research 1

Congratulations to all faculty for their hard work and dedication to achieve Carnegie Research 1 status! It is important to be included among the prestigious group of institutions that are included in this category. We could not do this without our faculty. This has been a nine-year plus journey. This is a remarkable accomplishment that included support from graduate and research assistants and professional staff who support researchers. He is looking forward to seeing the graduate faculty of the Graduate Council at the University’s R1 Celebration on April 2^nd at 3:00 pm in Savage Arena.

Federal and State Mandates

There is tremendous amount of anxiety around the rapid, record-clip changes at the federal and state levels over the past couple of months. This will continue to keep us on our toes. We are paying close attention to executive orders especially the one pertaining to indirect costs associated with research grants and other changes regarding DEI and other changes within the State of Ohio. We know things will be different and are approaching with an open mind because as laws that are mandated and backed by the courts, we will be required to follow. However, creativity and common sense are necessary as well, as we are not going to compromise our values and beliefs as an institution, but will work within the law. The Department of Education, which may or may not be around a year from now, has made it very clear along with the State of Ohio that there can be no shenanigans, or they will tighten the purse strings as happened recently with Columbia University’s loss of ~$400 million in federal funding. We need to be careful and thoughtful in this space. No changes coming from the University until the bills become laws.

I have been intentional in opting for venues like this or face-to-face with faculty senate, student government or professional staff to have these conversations versus sending out a generic email. My intention is answer all questions, and if I cannot, I will let you know why.

The State of Ohio Senate Bills 1 and 6 will likely become law, perhaps with changes and we will have to figure out what that looks like so that all our students feel safe and welcome in an environment that celebrates differences. That will look a little bit different than what it does today, but we must continue to keep our students top of mind.

President Schroeder paused for Council questions and/or suggestions on these topics.

Discussion:
Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss thanked President Schroeder for clarifying that UToledo is not jumping to conclusions with early adaptation of not fully and final state bills.

President Schroeder responded that he has communicated this directly with his cabinet, the leadership Council, which includes the Deans. Elliot Nickeson in Compliance is working with all the college and support units both academically and clinically, to look at four P’s (people, policies, processes and programs) to assess our present status, beyond a DEI office. Donor-funded scholarships that were tied to race-based or gender have been updated over the past two years, based on the Supreme Court decision. In lieu of calling out a race, some preferences to high schools were used. These will again need to be reviewed and updated again, as we learn that preferences are not permitted. We are in assessment phase to abide by the law.

Position Search Updates

• President
  Unaware of the status.
  
  
• Provost

Interviews are being conducted. There were 50+ applicants, parsed down to the interview stages. No decision will be made until a permanent until a permanent president is identified. The positions are staggered for ultimate decision by the newly named President. We are choreographing and staggered, ultimate decision by President. More to follow.

• Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs
  A position profile was developed but there was a void tied to COMLS and the amount of research especially within the NIH space to what the college is currently doing and will be doing and growing along with current clinical trials. The position is being updated it is being updated to reflect to highlight the differentiating factor, a college of medicine, between UToledo and other institutions. The search firm is updating the profile, to be followed by interviewing candidates later in April.
• Neff College of Business and Innovation Dean
  Continues to move forward. Search committee members have indicated there is a strong pool of candidates. Because COBI is one of our most externally facing colleges, we need the right leader.

Questions from the Graduate Council presented to the President:

1. Graduate student TA stipend and tuition budgets. These funds are now part of college budgets. As graduate tuition continues to escalate at 2-3% per year, we will be unable to meet our tuition costs for funded students in the next 5 years. Is tuition waiver money fungible? If not, what is the process for requesting an increase in the allocation?
   
   

President Schroeder explained that with an assumption of around 2 -to -3 % increase at the graduate level for tuition, with the compounding effect of an assumed static or downturn in enrollment environment with potential headwinds around budget, where there not be sufficient resources to continue to fund graduate assistants at the level or the number needed as an R1 research institution.

Our goal is to maintain R1 status. To do so, we need to prioritize. First, we have about 449 tenure-track faculty. Shout out to the faculty!  The amount of productivity is from faculty in this group is amazing. The average was around $142K last year. Significant for a small, but mighty group. It must be acknowledged this is probably not sustainable, especially as we continue to receive additional awards. Throughout discussions in Washington D.C. about indirect costs, I support our research leaders, provost and deans in their assessment to continue to submit proposals. Their review may be slowed down at the national level at NIH and NSF; however, we must keep the research machine moving and graduate assistants play an important role in the research endeavor. Therefore, research and graduate assistants need to be prioritized.

The five-year financial plan is being updated and recast and this needs to be an assumption in that plan. I encourage Dr. Dan Hammel and Dr. Scot Molitor to make sure this becomes a priority. We cannot maintain R1 status over the next three years without our graduate assistants. Some would argue that stipends and tuition waivers are below market. These would be higher priorities from academic affairs.

Discussion:

Dr. Tomer Avidor Reiss agreed that while there needs to be enough Ph.D. students to do research to maintain R1 Carnegie status, the other side is that we need to properly fund seed grants and R15 grants.

President Schroeder clarified that stipends and tuition fee waivers are two separate budgets, with stipend from a compensation/benefit source and the tuition fee waiver from a tuition source.

Again, this would need to be a priority from Academic Affairs. This is in reference to tuition waivers associated with small grants. If above $100k, faculty are asked to put the tuition in the budget, which is essentially eating the small budget. Removing that from the grant will not damage the institution because UToledo is losing the indirect once tuition is put into grant that has a ceiling. Benefit for faculty very high.

President Schroeder summarized his institutional knowledge as a few years ago Research and Sponsored Programs strongly encouraged faculty to put tuition into their grants. Faculty had issues with that. Also, some start-up packages might not have been as robust as they should have been. That was a way the university was able to strengthen startup packages. Why did we move away from the university from covering?

Dr. Avidor-Reiss replied that he did not know.

Dr. Dan Hammel responded that the situation is that there is limited funding to cover tuition grant-funded students. The Provost has a clear opinion about the NIH grants. Consider that the situation during fall 2025 may be very different than the situation we are currently facing.

Even if indirect-cost funding amounts were to drop, some institutions might move that cover direct costs. If NIH has a significantly reduced budget and only pays 15% indirect costs, then very difficult decisions will need to be made on how to proceed. This is an ongoing issue.

President Schroeder asked the Provost’s opinion on NIH.

Dr. Hammel replied that he thinks the way Provost Molitor viewed the situation is that given what our tuition currently was, and that we have already waived the out-of-state tuition, our tuition  Given our graduate tuition, adding that NIH has raised R15 training grants from $100K to $125K, it puts them over the limit that the university established to cover tuition in the grant. If tuition is say, $14K that puts $14K additional dollars onto the grant, but the grant still has $11K additional dollars. Some of this was done due to increasing costs of inflation. I know you disagree with that, but you can continue to have that discussion amid the changing landscape. My assumption if indirect costs are greatly cut, things may move to direct costs.

Dr. Patty Relue’s question is related to the first question relating to graduate assistant support and stipends. The stipends in Engineering have been flat since 2018 making it difficult to compete with other institutions, as they are below market with other institutions in the region and state. As tuition and inflation increases, the tuition waiver increases as well, thus, we are funding the same number of students because we have not been increasing our stipends, but we will run out of tuition money to be able to pay the tuition waiver attached to the stipend. Will there be a conversation with the Provost to support graduate education?

President Schroeder replied that his expectation is that during budget development through 2030, the Provost should collaborate closely with the Deans to prioritize research because it is the goal of this office and the BOT that we maintain R1 status.  Prioritizing means we must go all in on research, as we continue to work to stabilize enrollment, we must ask what we will stop doing. We cannot be uncompetitive tied to graduate assistantships. We must attract Ph.D. students to various programs. That must be a budget assumption. We must start planning that these trajectories we are on are going to change and it is not going to be business as usual. It is my expectation that Tony Bourne, Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management, the Provost , Deans, and others working through the budget development process to make this a priority for the University.

2. Currently, tuition rates are tagged to programs and not courses. For students in an online program who opt to take a class on campus, the remainder of their program is changed to the in-person tuition rate, either in state or out-of-state. For BS students that dual enroll in MS level courses or graduate students that need to take an UG level course, they also run into problems with how they are billed. Is there a compelling reason to keep tuition charges tagged to a program of study as opposed to the method of delivery or level of the course?

President Schroeder responded that he would encourage the Provost, Registrar, and Chief Financial Officer, and Enrollment, to get together to update and determine what needs to be tweaked so as not to incur the same system issue year after year.

Dr. Relue added that it is her understanding that on the BS/MS side, those students can take up to nine credit hours and double dip across the two degree programs, but if they try to take more hours, such as 12 credit hours, because they really want to accelerate their master's degree program, all of the undergraduate courses that they still have to complete will revert to graduate level tuition.  So, as we are trying to accommodate some of our students who are coming in with a significant amount of CCP credit who might want to get a master's degree in the time that they're here, as opposed to just picking up a minor or something like that to fill their time, it would be nice to be able to allow them to do their nine credit hours that are going to be part of their BS and let them continue taking graduate level courses and paying graduate level tuition

but letting the rest of their program of study be billed at the undergraduate level. That is a bit of a barrier for us to be able to build out accelerated BS/MS degree completions.

President Schroeder paraphrased for clarifying the issue. Because of the popularity of college credit plus, undergraduate students are earning more credit hours at the high school level than typically seen ten years ago. Time-to-degree is not only important to The University of Toledo, but is going to continue to be a high priority for the State of Ohio to get young people into demand jobs. And because of the large number of credits they are transcripting at the high school level, they are quickly burning through those nine hours and they still have capacity at the undergraduate level to push to twelve or more. But, because we have predetermined a cap at nine credit hours, when they go above nine, it is triggering at a graduate level rate.

Dr. Relue stated that was her understanding because we only allow them to take nine credit hours at the undergraduate tuition rate because it is also counting toward the undergraduate degree program and that is one of the benefits of the BSMS pathways.

And if the student takes more than credit hours at the graduate level, my understanding is it will trigger them into full graduate master’s level tuition for the remainder of their undergraduate degree program.

Dr. Eileen Walsh agreed that the nine credit hours can be a barrier in Nursing as well.

Dr. Bashar Gammoh was in agreement that there are students who have the capacity to take more than nine credit hours and the College of Business and Innovation would like to have the flexibility to do so while still at the undergraduate level.

President Schroeder noted that whether it is a state requirement or not, the State of Ohio is drafting its biennium operating budget for FY 27 that we have at least one undergraduate degree program that can be completed in 90 credit hours. This means time-to-degree is critically important. He will inquire about this barrier with the Provost and copy GC Chair, Barbara Saltzman and Dan Hammel, how can we address to push ceiling up higher. Dr. Saltzman can share back with the Graduate Council.

Dr. Dan Hammel clarified that ‘Pipeline Programs’, referred to by the State of Ohio as ‘Combined Bachelor’s/Master’s Programs’, the nine credit hour limit is the double counting limit is mandated, and the students receive undergraduate tuition for those nine credit hours at the graduate level. The State is clear about that. They are vague about the idea of undergraduates taking additional graduate courses. This is something in general that has been discouraged at UToledo. Pipeline creates opportunity.

Further, if a student takes additional graduate level coursework, they should be billed at the graduate rate, and it should not affect billing for their other undergraduate classes. We do need to be careful about overstepping a line about t graduate level credits an undergraduate can take before graduating with a bachelor’s degree. In some places there are very strong opinions about the fact that that this should not be happening at all.  We need to be very clear about what the state will allow.

President Schroeder sought clarification on opinions against and its major talking points.

Dr. Hammel responded that there are people who believe strongly as a matter of principle that there must be a clear separation between undergraduates and graduates and never the two shall meet, so to speak in terms of coursework. Although we already know we have 4000/5000 level classes that have additional requirements for graduate students. While, not necessarily opposed, pipeline programs are an option for extremely qualified undergraduate students. It is something we could find out about quickly. Programs that are accredited should be checked for accreditation barriers to students without a bachelor’s completing graduate courses.

Dr. Relue provided a specific scenario when allowing additional graduate level courses would benefit Engineering students particularly during their last semester where they have senior design, that is often a two-semester sequence, they could take master’s classes rather than filling their schedules with classes they don’t need to take in order to remain full-time.  For those students, if they could load up on their master's classes, they could be two-thirds of the way through their master’s degree at the time their BS is conferred.

President Schroeder added that the higher education landscape is crowded and most look the same on paper until you dive in.  UToledo is an exceptional research public university with a portfolio of programs with underlying courses that provides us with tremendous nimbleness. This is evidenced with the BS in material sciences that was approved this month by the BOT to package curriculum together and get to market quicker than most schools. has an advantage with our portfolio of programs for a research public university. A typical UToledo student is coming here to lock in on an undergraduate or graduate degree at a low cost and in the most expeditious way possible. Most have some type of aid. On the surface, the combined bachelor’s/master’s programs provide an opportunity to differentiate ourselves, unless there are potholes or obstacles I am not aware of.

Dr. Relue responded that speaking on behalf of her experience with Engineering, she is not seeing any potholes.

President Schroeder indicated he would follow up and respond to Barbara Saltzman, Dan Hammel and Provost Molitor who can then close the loop with Graduate Council.

Dr. Bashar Gammoh pointed out that students want value-added degrees to enhance their value and the College of Business wants to market to its audience accordingly.

Dr. Hammel noted that while there are opportunities to accelerate the degree process, we must maintain standards, requiring conversations and decisions at the individual program level. Similar opportunities are afforded at the state level with the JD + 3, which may be moving into other disciplines. We may not want to be the first in line, but certainly second or third to enact 3+3 with another type of professional program. This would be a tremendous opportunity for our students.

President Schroeder echoed Dr. Hammel’s sentiments and deferred to the faculty on curriculum development. Beyond the JD + 3, if there are other opportunities the state is encouraging or suggesting, we can differentiate ourselves as one of the most nimble institutions in Ohio and beyond is to help accelerate a student’s journey while keeping the amount of indebtedness down, making sure that we are not compromising our product.

The value of our degree should increase. 83% of the degrees we produce directly correlate to in demand jobs that the State Of Ohio needs in terms of workforce.  He stressed the cadence be picked up to be in a nice position in terms of outcomes and interest from prospective students to come to UToledo.

Dr. Hammel asked President Schroeder whether the average indebtedness for a bachelor’s degree student at UToledo was at $27,000.

President Schroeder replied yes, it is just under $27,000 over eight semesters (a four-year period) looking at just federal student loans. Date source may have been IPEDS. We have one of the lowest amounts of debt for an undergraduate degree not only in Ohio but in the tri-state area. While this is still a lot of money for young people, compared to ivy league schools and flagships, this is a remarkable value. According to Lightcast data, there is a good chance a typical student will pull in $56,000-$83,000 a year.

These are solid talking points for prospective UToledo students.

3. Recent R1 classification is an important accomplishment, and it is clear for UT’s staff, administration, faculty, and students. There are activities scheduled for the celebration in the following weeks. However, after having conversations with people in the community, the message of this tremendous accomplishment is not clearly comprehended. As an institution, do we have any comprehensive program planned to remediate the community’s situation? Any marketing efforts? Local media outlets covered the news, but the coverage did not reflect the importance, immensity, and relevance for UT.

President Schroeder expressed excitement on UToledo obtaining R1 research status. Unfortunately, outside of campus, not many people know that UToledo received this designation. I believe UToledo and University of Dayton were the two institutions in Ohio that added this prestigious award. Dr. Saltzman and I will share a two-page summary of how we have marketed and communicated this award. We should all be reminded to have a one-minute speech on what it means to be R1, and that we are one of only 87 universities in the country to have this very high research productivity ranking. Last year our awards were at $72.2 million with a significant number of graduate student graduates. We need to do a better job of affording all our faculty and staff talking points, because we can only market so much centrally. UToledo just dropped the ‘Power To do Innovative Research’ today.

Because higher education will not be business as usual on the federal level, Dr. Hossein Sojoudi asked what faculty should do to diversify portfolios other than government agencies?  He also suggested that UToledo not act on changes the federal government has hinted are going to take place.

President Schroeder stressed the importance of keeping research submissions going and supporting our faculty in doing so. Presently, we are outpacing our submissions from last year. In our part of the country there is roughly $500 million spent on corporate research and development. We must listen to what industry wants and needs to seek opportunities outside of NIH and NSF grants to do a sponsored program with industry to open up alternative funding sources, depending on sector and our research.

Like with the Glass Innovation Hub, the $31 million we received was truly driven by UToledo. We are going to bring in a glass scientist, and we were able to get five corporations, Owens Illinois, Owens Corning, Libbey Glass, First Solar, and Pilkington together to help achieve that award and the funding associated with it. Appropriations are highly competitive, so faculty using language that narrowly tailors an appropriation to the University of Toledo is going to be more important than ever right now.

If the indirect percentage is changed, it is doubtful it will be 15%, but also likely not to remain at 52 ½ or 56%, we would need to shift more to the direct costs rather than indirect costs. This would be in line with Ohio State University and others in the state.

Dr. Hossein Sojoudi also inquired whether there is a task force comprised of representatives from the Research Council and Graduate Council and others to prepare to respond to changes and ramp up activities and initiatives like the Glass Innovation Hub.

Dr. Dan Hammel indicated this would reside in the Office. With Dr. Connie Schall’s upcoming retirement, we are losing significant experience and expertise in this area. Replacing the Vice President for Research is a crucial hire this summer.

Dr. Connie Schall commented that Dr. Frank Calzonetti is working with our Government Relations folks on the issues referred to with changing indirect costs. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur works effectively across the aisle and will continue to advocate for opportunities for the university.  Both the Office of Research and the Provost’s Office need to be strategic with investments to strengthen continued R1 status.

President Schroeder thanked Graduate Council.

Old Business
None.

New Business
None.

Adjournment
There being no further business, the Council adjourned at 2:08 pm.