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You may want to consider adding to your summer reading list an update on the activities of the Northeast Ohio Universities Collaboration and Innovation Study Commission (the Commission).

As you may recall, the Commission was created by the state legislature in late 2006 and has until the end of 2007 to issue a report to Governor Strickland and the leaders of the General Assembly. The legislatively created goal of the Commission's recommendations is to promote greater access and affordability for students and an overall improved quality of higher education in Northeast Ohio (O.R.C. 235.60.70). According to that legislation, the Commission – which is focused on the activities of The University of Akron, Cleveland State University, Kent State University, the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and Youngstown State University – specifically "shall develop a plan and may make legislative or other logistical recommendations for the following:

1. Strategic and purposeful collaboration among the institutions;
2. Partnering among the institutions of both undergraduate and graduate academic programs;
3. Sharing of at least some governance mechanisms, particularly as they relate to common basic functions, among the institutions; and
4. Development of a coordinated approach to the academic and administrative roles of public higher education in Northeast Ohio, while maintaining the separate identities of the institutions." (O.R.C. 235.60.70)

The University of Akron has four Commission members—President Proenza, Board Chair Dr. William Demas (appointed by the NEOUCOM board, which he also chairs), Trustee Richard Pogue (appointed by the Ohio Senate President) and Trustee Phillip Kauffman (appointed by the UA Board of Trustees).

To date, much of the Commission's work has focused on data gathering. To better organize its work, the Commission has formed academic and administrative subcommittees. The Commission also has engaged the services of Dr. Stephen Portch, former Chancellor of the Georgia Board of Regents and consultant to Ohio's Commission on Higher Education and the Economy, as a general consultant and facilitator.

All participating institutions have submitted extensive information regarding our collaborative efforts, both academic and administrative. The Commission is also challenging each university and NEOUCOM to put forward "bold ideas" about better collaboration, opportunities for administrative cost savings and ways that we can continue to connect to the economic imperatives of our region.

The Commission's current work plan calls for data gathering, formulating ideas on how we can better prepare students for and connect with today's economic and workforce needs, and a gap analysis that will lead to recommendations on improving the region's overall higher education delivery mechanisms.

As the Commission moves from a data-gathering mode to a process of considering recommendations for change, I thought that it would be helpful to provide you a general status report before you hear about it through other channels. I would also direct your attention to the Commission's Web site, where its minutes and meeting schedule are posted. Dr. Proenza and I will do our best to keep you apprised of the Commission's work in the coming months.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth J. Stroble
Senior Vice President and Provost and Chief Operating Officer