BGSU president Mary Ellen Mazey addresses faculty, staff and students with the State of the University in the Donnell Theater. (Photos: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune)

A record $7 million external grant, a commitment to market salaries for faculty and
enrollment growth to 25,000 by 2020 were among the highlights of Bowling Green
State University President Dr. Mary Ellen Mazey’s State of the University
address Wednesday afternoon.
“We were very excited to learn this week that the Northwest Ohio Center for
Excellence in STEM Education at BGSU has been awarded more than $7 million from
the National Science Foundation,” Mazey revealed during her 30-minute speech in
Donnell Theatre of Wolfe Center for the Arts.
STEM stands for science, technology engineering and math, fields which national
leaders say the United States must excel if it is to remain competitive in the
world.
Mazey singled out Dr. Robert Midden, an associate professor of chemistry and director
of the center, for his leadership on the grant. The university will receive the
money over a period of five years. The grant is one of five awarded nationally.

After the address, Midden said the center will work with Sandusky Perkins and
Sandusky City Schools, building on an existing program at Perkins that Sandusky
schools have begun collaborating with and emulating because of its success. The
program is based in the lower grades to encourage students to build their
interest and skills in the STEM classes.
Midden said the university was a good candidate for the funds because of its previous
work with National Science Foundation grants. “We have had a good indication
that we were going to get the grant since June. Experience has taught us that if
they call and start asking questions it is a good sign. They called asking
questions.”
About 30 faculty are directly involved and many others involved in various
partnerships.
Mazey said the grant is an example of how the university plans to double its outside
grants and funding to $30 million a year,
Dr. Michael Ogawa, vice president for research and economic development, said the
goal will be a challenge because BGSU does not have a medical or engineering
component, which tend to receive larger grants.
More than a year into contract negotiations with the Bowling Green Faculty Union
Association, Mazey said she is “as eager as the association and its leadership
to finalize and implement this contract. We are committed to market salaries for
our faculty just as we have market salaries for classified and administrative
staff.”

Afterwards Mazey said the time it takes to negotiate a first contract is often
lengthy. She is hopeful that BGSU will take less than the two years it took at
the University of Akron.
With combined enrollment at the main campus and at Firelands just under 20,000, Mazey
said university officials have decided to increase the enrollment to 25,000 by
2020. That figure will include online enrollment. “Recruitment of new students
and retention of existing students must be the highest priority for all of us.”

Plans call for the incoming class of 2020 to have an average ACT score of 24, up from
22 today, and an average grade point average of 3.4, up from 3.27 this fall.
Mazey said reaching the goal will require changes in recruiting, realigning
scholarships and strengthening relationships with community colleges to increase
the number of transfer students.
Mazey also:
• Set a goal of 80 percent retention of freshman students. Retention was 70 percent
this fall, down from 72 percent a year ago.
• Implement a new BG Experience that will include an innovative general education
program with majors that include experiential learning and capstone experiences.

• Strengthen existing partnerships with international universities and explore new
ones.
• Further develop BGSU’s five Centers of Excellence.
• Noted the recent launch by students of a Legacy Campaign, designed to raise
$250,000 to create a new gateway to the campus. The fund has reached $10,000,
led by three gifts from students totalling $5,000 and a matching gift from an
alum.
• Said she has developed three new ways for faculty, staff and students to
communicate with her via monthly forums, special open office hours and a monthly
email update.
• Noted accomplishments of student athletes. “They are scholar athletes in the truest
sense of the term. They have the second highest grade point average in the Mid
American Conference.” She noted that the women athletes have won the MAC’s
Faculty Athletics Representative Achievement Award three of the last four years.

• Expects the new student health center, to be built and operated by Wood County
Hospital, will be ready to open in the fall of 2013.
• Said the next phase of the campus master plan will concentrate on revitalizing
academic buildings. Recommendations on long-discussed new fraternity and
sorority housing on campus are expected by the end of the year.