Photo courtesy of Oakland University

Oakland University’s Board of Trustees (BOT) held the last meeting for the Winter 2024 semester on April 13.

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on campus, the College of Arts and Sciences achievements and a new medical science master’s degree were among the topics discussed. 

OU President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz began the meeting by congratulating the men’s basketball team for their accomplishments this season. Dressed in OU swag, the board of trustees invited attendees to celebrate the team after the BOT meeting.

Pescovitz also included a farewell note for the Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Britt Rios-Ellis, who will leave OU to become President of California State University in June.

President’s Report

A recap of OU’s accomplishments and rankings introduced the President’s Report.

“The Wall Street Journal ranked Oakland as the top university among its peers in Michigan,” Pescovitz said. “Oakland also ranks as the best value for investment among our peers and ranks first among public universities in Michigan for enhancing students’ social mobility.”

Pescovitz reported that OU has increased research expenditures while also receiving funding from state agencies like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. These achievements took place after a budget deficit due to COVID-19 three years ago.

“We undertook fiscal measures across the university to address our deficit and our budget,” Pescovitz said. “And recently, we were notified by Moody’s that we are A1 stable.”

Artificial Intelligence Understanding Task Force 

As part of a campus-wide strategic plan, OU has created a team of faculty, staff and students to address AI’s impact at the university. Graeme Harper, dean of the Honors College, presented the task force’s goals and progress.

“We also want to think about the enhancements we can introduce — and work with faculty and staff to introduce — at Oakland that may indeed be distinctive roles that we can take and lead on nationally and perhaps internationally,” Harper said.

Harper reported that the survey committee, which assessed faculty regarding their use of artificial intelligence in the classroom and research, reflect a minimal current use of AI. 

“This is the teaching question, and it was really, really simple. It was, ‘Do you use it? Do you feel comfortable with it? What do you use?’” Harper said. “More people are saying that they didn’t actually use it at this point, and to a certain extent, that they didn’t feel comfortable with using it yet.”

The next step, Harper said, was organizing activities and introducing speakers and workshop series for the next fall semester to learn how to navigate the use of these tools. One of the tentative speakers is the former head of Go-To-Market at OpenAI, Zack Kass.

“Kass will focus on the human potential of AI,” Harper said. “We want to start with a really positive message that what we’ve got here has the potential to enhance human existence.”

College of Arts and Sciences Critical and Creative Programs

A section dedicated to highlighting the progress and success of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) sheds some light on OU’s efforts to bridge the gap between right and left-brain skills.

Meaghan Barry, chair of the Department of Art, Art History and Design, and Gerard Madlambayan, chair of the Biological Sciences Department, reported on their respective departments’ achievements.

“Between fall 2015 and 2023, we experienced an 11.4% enrollment growth,” Barry said. “We were the top performer in the arts and sciences and only one of two departments in the college to experience growth during this time.” 

“We do not require a portfolio like many of our competitor institutions do,” Barry added. “We see this as an equity creator. It is an active decision that we are saying, ‘We don’t care where you come from, we care where you’re going, and we’re going to help get you there.’”

Barry highlighted the importance of creativity and flexibility in students and the programs they complete. Madlambayan also championed these factors as part of the departments’ success.

“We’re active in research and academics, but we’re also doing activities both on and off campus like the student organic farm,” Madlambayan said. “We have a lot of high school outreach, study abroad programs and provide local internships to our students.”

“Our faculty now are not just interested in writing grants to support research,” Madlambayan added. “They’re also interested in writing grants to support teaching and learning that leads directly to student success.”

O’Dowd, Wilson and Human Relations Awards Commendations

Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Glenn McIntosh presented the three commendations from the board for students receiving the Alfred G. and Matilda R. Wilson Awards as well as the Human Relations Award. Rios-Ellis also presented commendation for the Don and Jan O’dowd Graduate Award. 

Degree Proposal: Master of Science in Medical Sciences 

Victoria Lucia, director of graduate programs at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine (OUWB), presented the proposal for a new Master of Science degree in Medical Sciences. The program will allow students who terminate early from the Doctor of Medicine program to receive credentials in biomedical science.

“We would like to have this program so that we can better support the mission of our school, which is to graduate competent and committed physicians,” Lucia said. 

Approved by the board of trustees, the program will be a 57-to-67-credit program. 55 of those credits will be earned in the preclinical curriculum at OUWB. The remaining credits will be for completing a capstone research project.

New Items for Consideration/Action

Four faculty members addressed the board of trustees regarding labor conditions at OU in preparation for the upcoming contract bargaining process. 

“Healthcare costs us twice what it did a year ago. Our salaries have not gone up to keep up with inflation and all these salaries are lower than most of our peer institutions,” CAS associate professor Annette Gilson said.

“Please recognize our contributions and realize that we want to keep offering excellent classes and services, but we must be fairly compensated,” Karen Miller, CAS faculty member and former OU-American Association of University Professors (OUAAUP) president said.

“By enhancing faculty satisfaction, we strengthen our academic community and work towards fulfilling our mission of excellence and education and research,” Caitlin Demsky, OUAAUP vice president, said. 

“When the faculty and the administration stand together, when we trust and respect each other, when we collaborate to face challenges together, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish together,” Michael Latcha, OUAAUP president, said.

John Stewart, former state legislator, and Beth Stewart, executive director of the Michigan Philharmonic, addressed the board of trustees to request a 60th-anniversary celebration of Meadow Brook Hall. 

“We just want to say that any opportunity that we have to celebrate great musical venues where wonderful music performances have happened for over 60 years is a reason to celebrate,” Beth Stewart said. 

The meeting was adjourned without any further comments from the public.