UPDATES FROM THE
OFFICE OF THE PROVOST

Greetings,

My message this month focuses on celebrating our ICARE value for entrepreneurship and highlights a number of initiatives and work that exemplify this value and our drive for innovation.

Entrepreneurship

I am excited to announce the formation of the Drone Institute. We will launch the Institute with our first special topics course in the spring of 2022.​​ Introduction to UAS (Drone) Technology and Licensing, includes course topics such as UAS (Drone) Operating Rules, Aviation Weather, Airspace Classification, Safety Procedures, Flight Operations, Maintenance, Photography Basics, and Sectional Chart Reading in preparation for the FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Exam. This course will include hands-on flying with real drones operating under Part 107 pilots to learn basic maneuvers and operations of quadcopters (drones). This course is conducted by qualified trainers and Part 107 UAS pilots with several years of experience.

The Drone Institute will be part of the School of Business and will allow students to continue to develop and mature in STEM education. This initiative allows the University to continue to go after funding in the STEM areas to support the vision and mission of the Institute.

Plans are underway to develop training for students to earn their Remote Pilot License with an eye toward developing a drone certificate package, badging programs, and a formal degree program. The Drone Institute will partner with Club and Recreation Sports to become part of the National Drone Racing League. This entrepreneurial initiative was brought forward by Assistant Professor, Owen Fritz in collaboration with Charlie Massi from Club and Recreational Sports. Thank you Owen and Charlie!

I want to thank Assistant Professor Kevin Cashen, Tiffin University’s Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) for his commitment to bridging athletics and academics. Kevin was instrumental in bringing forward our Spring Scheduling Pilot to support the student success of our athletes. Professor Cashen recently participated with other renowned faculty experts in the NCAA Division II FAR Fellows Institute held October 1 – 3, 2021. Working with other athletic representatives to develop an enhanced understanding of the roles and critical functions of Division II FAR, Kevin constructed an action plan to assist conversations with various campus constituents to focus on short and long-term initiatives related to student-athlete success, retention, and/or athletic governance on campus.

This academic year we will focus on the recruitment and retention of our students. For the last couple of years, we have been studying the impact of our student body composition and academic success. Athletic and Tiffin Arts students represent more than 70% of our student body. Given the nature of student-athlete travel/competition and our G-MAC conference membership, we need to address a course schedule that promotes academic success by reducing the number of times students miss class due to athletic competitions.

Recent conversations between the Faculty Athletic Representative, Athletics, Academic, and Student Affairs have led to a recommendation to pilot a course schedule structure change to a Monday/Wednesday, Tuesday/Thursday instruction model. Initially, Friday will be reserved for classes that typically meet on Wednesdays, for meetings, and for student-athletic travel/competition. While this will not eliminate students missing class, it will reduce the number of occurrences leading to better student learning outcomes.

At the end of this newsletter is information on the Tiffin Innovation Program (TIP) that is launching this fall under the direction of Ron Lonzo, Vice President - What’s Next. TIP is a three-month program designed to inspire and educate entrepreneurially-minded students. Starting in January 2022, selected on-campus and online students will meet once a week to learn how to develop and launch an innovative start-up company. Established and high-profile entrepreneurs will be guest speakers in the program, including Danial Jameel, Founder & President of Ready Education, a leading student engagement platform for higher education. Danieal is a TU Trustee and is very invested in this project.

In Other News

Dr. Schumacher announced at the President's Leadership Team Meeting the formation and standing up of the Center for Intercultural Excellence. The Center is a key priority for continuing to build on our strategic initiatives around Celebrating Cultural Uniqueness, diversity and inclusion. I am pleased to share that Dr. Sharon Perry-Fantini will be joining Nadia Lewis and Dr. Julia Porter in leading the center. The Office of Equity, Access and Opportunity will report into the Center and Nadia Lewis will be the head of the Center as Vice President for Human Resources and the Center for Intercultural Excellence.

As Associate Vice President for Intercultural Community Engagement, Dr. Perry-Fantini will continue to lead the Expansion and Opportunity Pillar of our Celebrating Cultural Uniqueness work, including compliance, CCU celebrations and student engagement. The Office of Equity, Access and Opportunity will continue to be part of her portfolio of responsibilities.

Finally, Friday Oct 29, 2021 will be our annual Faculty Dinner celebrating teaching, scholarship, and service. We are looking forward to celebrating the accomplishments of our faculty and will be recognizing two new award categories for faculty mentoring and diversity and inclusion excellence. The evening begins at 6:00 pm in Osceola Theater.

Enjoy the remaining days of October. I am grateful for the contributions of all of you to the mission and vision of Tiffin University. Regards, Pete

Something special happening in your life? Let us know so we can celebrate with you: officeoftheprovost@tiffin.edu

The Pfieffer Library has seen the busiest start to a fall semester since we began tracking data on our services in 2015. From August 23 to September 30, we have delivered instruction to 14 classes, reaching 322 seated students. Many thanks to our faculty for bringing us into your classrooms! We have sessions scheduled into October, but if you still need to schedule a visit, we do have time available as we move through the last half of the semester. Email Brigitte Galauner (galaunerbk@tiffin.edu) to set up the visit. In addition, if you have individual students struggling with research and you believe they might benefit from a one-on-one meeting with a librarian, you can send them this link to schedule with us: http://library.tiffin.edu/consultations/schedule. We offer both daytime and evening appointments and are happy to provide additional research-focused support for struggling students.

The first six weeks of the semester had 267 students from Arts and Athletics logging a total of 1,422 visits in the library in order to fulfill their study table requirements. This amounted to 2,360 hours of study time just in the library! Students also reserved our quiet study rooms 78 times for a total of 178 hours. That is more than three times the number of room reservations we had for this same period in 2019, which until 2021 had been our highest volume year. Study table traffic has increased by more than 35% from 2019 data.

Tiffin University’s Office of Career Services and Alumni Relations hosts TU alumna, Jacqueline V. Twillie MBA ‘09 in our second professional development series, Navigating the Career Jungle. The first session focused on LinkedIn and Digital Networking and had over 50 participants. Our next two sessions are October 20 and December 1 at 11 am and will focus on Upskilling and Skills for the Future and Achieving Entrepreneurial Success. All are welcome to participate, register here to join us!

Career Services is excited to again host in conjunction with the Ohio Council of Criminal Justice Educators, the Annual Tiffin University School of Criminal Justice Career and Internship Fair. The event is on November 3 rd from 10 am-12:30 pm in the Heminger Center. Career Fair Prep is taking place in the Gillmor Lobby October 25 -28. Students can stop by the Career Services table for information on preparation topics such as networking advice, professionalism, and proper attire, resume editing, and more! We currently have 30 CJ/SS organizations registered for the event! Please join us on November 3 to welcome these dedicated recruiters and encourage your students to attend and learn about all the wonderful opportunities available!

The Center for Faculty Support & Teaching Innovation hosted lunch for all new full-time faculty and their mentors in October with a discussion focusing on ways to conduct a mid-term course review instead of waiting to hear what students think until the end of course evals. New faculty also heard from Juli Hurston with important information on disability services and accommodations. Thanks for joining us, Juli!
The Faculty Center currently has three discussion groups meeting monthly. The Team-Based Teaching group is planning components or whole courses with team-based approaches to launch in the spring semester. The Active Learning Strategies group is researching and sharing one good concrete classroom strategy to share in each session. The Adult-Learning Theory group is planning a fact-finding tour to determine how TU serves adult learners well and where we have gaps.

The Center, in collaboration with COEL, is planning an open Zoom meeting for adjuncts to hear their ideas for faculty support and development and to further educate them on the Yuja software.

Finally, we are teaching faculty about the Taskstream portfolio builder for all future promotions. If you haven’t seen the tool yet or want to talk about your pathway to promotion, let’s set up a time to talk – facultycenter@tiffin.edu

Please welcome Tyler Ivory and Mike McKay to the COEL team. Tyler, an Academic Technologist, comes to us from Uhrichsviile, Ohio by way of Valdosta State University. Mike, an Online Learning Designer, currently resides in Las Vegas but is considering moving to Tiffin.

Did you know that through a partnership with AVENU learning, TU is offering Spanish-language online courses in Latin America? Enrollments are surpassing projections with 90-course enrollments for Fall I and Fall II.

Did you know that Online Enrollment for Fall II is up slightly, with over 70 new starts? For the combined Fall Semester, over 200 new Online Graduate students have enrolled at TU, the highest total of the past several years.

The Registrars’ office has finalized the Fall 2021 Candidate list for Commencement which has been submitted to the Faculty Secretary for approval on October 27th by full faculty. The list will also be presented to the Board of Trustees at their November meeting.

Registration for Spring 2022 begins next week for traditional undergrad, online, and graduate programs.

Adjunct Professor Keven Rinaman in the School of Arts and Sciences has published a textbook: 3DU: A Guide to 3D Printing in Every Classroom: Simple and Affordable Ways to Start 3D Printing in ANY Classroom, No Matter What Grade or Content Area! On Amazon

Kylie Stocker, Instructor of English in the School of Arts and Sciences has been featured in the Student Spotlights: https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/english/graduate-programs/student-spotlights.html in her Ph.D. program in Rhetoric and Writing at Bowling Green State University. This is an honor for her and Tiffin University to be showcased as an exemplary student.

Due to efforts by our new faculty member, Prof. Dean Butler, Perrysburg Police Division has specifically requested a TU student to complete an internship with them in Spring Semester 2022.

Ariana Seanor, a member of the US Capitol Police and a 2019 graduate of the BCJ programs in Forensic Psychology as well as Homeland Security and Terrorism, will be receiving the Congressional Gold Medal along with her colleagues for their service to the nation during the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol. She will be speaking via Zoom to Dr. Victor's Psychology of Violence and Aggression about the insurrection and its aftermath.

Prof. Scott Blough, Tiffin University Chief Information Security Officer and Executive Director of the Center for Cyber Defense and Forensics will be leading the Maritime Cybersecurity track at the 2021 Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS) at the University of Huston College of Technology, November 1-5, 2021. The annual symposium hosts experts from around the world in the fields of government, industry, and academia to discuss and establish research agendas that will address the maritime industry's toughest problems. Prof. Blough served as the National Co-Chair when Tiffin University hosted the symposium in 2017.

Ph.D. students are currently in active dissertation research on the following topics :

• A Comparative Examination Of Student Emotional Competencies Among Graduates Of Business Leadership Programs And Global leadership-focused Programs.
• Perceptions Of Telework Employees: Organizational Culture And Leadership Style Influence On Job Satisfaction And Motivation In The Virtual Setting When Algorithms Are Part Of The Game.
• A True Experiment Exploring How Global Leaders’ Beliefs On Algorithmic Decision-Making Influence Their Choice.
• Self-Efficacy Effects Of Senior International Officer (Sio) Roles In Institutional Intellectual Property (Ip) Management

Six Ph.D. students are currently developing white papers to support the development of a new Emotional Intelligence survey instrument in the following areas:

• Communication and Emotional Intelligence
• Critical Thinking
• Objectivity
• Curiosity & Openness to Diversity
• Diplomacy
• Ethics

The Sports Management Club visited the leadership team from the Toledo Walleye and Toledo Mudhens Sports Organization at the Huntington Center on October 13. We currently have two students who now work for this professional sports organization. And, several students are pursuing an internship to work in the ticket office and the promotions and game management departments for Spring 2022.

Through the fifth of ten rounds of the Business Strategy Game, three TU teams have appeared in the global top 100 rankings a total of 12 times. (The teams are scored on four different factors ((Overall score, Earnings per share, Return on average equity, and Share price)) each round of the game.) The Game is currently being "played" by 3816 teams from 213 colleges and universities, globally.

The Creative Arts Institute will present its fall theatrical production, “These Shining Lives,” by Melanie Marnich, on October 21-23 in the Osceola Theatre in the Gillmor Student Center. There will be evening performances at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, as well as a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets, are free for TU students and $5 for general admission. Tickets can be reserved and purchased at tiffinmusic.com/theseshininglives.