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| The Independent Collegian | Wednesday, November 1, 2017
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Business
College of business trains Chrysler workers By Salma Abuyasein Staff Reporter
During the last six weeks, the University of Toledo College of Business and Innovation has collaborated with the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Toledo Assembly Complex to prepare more than 2,200 workers to build the next generation Jeep Wrangler, which will be launching sometime later this year. The program, which is known as the “Toledo Way,” consisted of six weeks of eight-hour days of hands-on technical training. The sessions were led by Anand Kunnathur, professor in the department of information, operations and technology management and associate dean for special projects in the UT College of Business and Innovation. “All 2,200 trainees were put through training in safety and environmental, quality control and people development, behavioral and focused improvement areas,” Kunnathur said. The classes were taught by instructors from the Univer-
sity of Toledo and Northwest State Community College. “It would have been impossible for us to execute this training while also preparing for an important vehicle launch without the cooperation of the UT and Northwest State Community College staff,” said Chuck Padden, Toledo Assembly Complex plant manager. Kunnathur said there was a great deal of enthusiasm among the trainees and that this training was positioning them to be part of the workforce of tomorrow while being applicable right away at TAC. “Each of the six four-hour sessions were sprinkled with theory, discussions, interactive activities, group (team) projects and instant rewards,”
Kunnathur said. This isn’t the first time that the Toledo plant and UT have worked together for training support. They also formed a collaboration back in in 2013. “I am very thankful for the logistics support provided by our partners, namely NWSCC, in taking care of the physical arrangements for the training and for the dedicated trainers who worked 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on each training day, delivering 8 hours of training each day,” Kunnathur said. Gary Insch, former dean of the College of Business and Innovation, said Jeep is one of America’s most iconic brands, and the College of Business and Innovation is proud to be its partner and is committed to its success.
“All 2,200 trainees were put through training in safety and environmental, quality control and people development, behavioral and focused improvement areas.” Anand Kunnathur Professor in Department of Information
Administration
State representative speaks at UT Faculty Senate By Olivia Rodriguez Staff Reporter
The University of Toledo Faculty Senate hosted State Representative Dan Ramos to discuss the issues of higher education and having students’ voices heard in politics. This forum was held Oct. 26 in UT’s Student Union where financial aid, the priorities of state representatives and post-secondary enrollment options were discussed. Before the forum, the audience discussed a state tax bill that would help students afford textbooks and a bill allowing teachers to receive certifications from for-profit groups. They did not like the bill about for-profit groups certifying teachers because “there have been a lot of quality issues with the teachers that come out of this program,” according to Diane Miller, associate vice president for government relations. Linda Roullard, president-elect of Faculty Senate, asked if a com-
mittee meeting has been cancelled because of a lot of people testifying. “If the bill is controversial and they don’t think they have the votes, they’ll take the bill off the [senate] committee; if there’s a member who introduces a bill and they’re not particularly a fan of it or they don’t like the bill, it usually gets one hearing,” said Jared Holt, director of government relations, in response to Roullard’s question. When discussing why there isn’t more focus on higher education, Ramos talked about the mindset of the senators. “If your priority is lowering taxes, then you’re going to lower taxes. If your priority is overhauling K-12, then you’re going to overhaul K-12. If your priority is higher education, then you’re going to do more for higher education,” Ramos said. Ramos discussed why the senate had reservations about removing the tax with UT’s faculty. “‘Skin in the game,
Withdrawal
from page 1
Hogue was removed and replaced by Linda Speer Oct. 13, one week after the university received the letter, wrote Gaber in a statement to the UT community. In response to the withdrawal, FormerInterim Program Director Linda Dill was also replaced by April Gardner, according to the physician assistant website. The accrediting body wrote that “the lack of institutional oversight contributed to the inability of the program to accurately and succinctly provide evidence of an ongoing selfassessment process.” Senior institutional officials were also not familiar with Dill’s role as interim program director and were not able to say whether she provided appropriate leadership. There was also no clinical coordinator, according to the letter. ARC-PA also found that the program did not provide students with an adequate education. Some clinical students said they gained “superficial knowledge.” Another reason for the decision is the program’s certification exam pass-rate as 100 percent of the program’s students passed on the first try in 2012, but this changed in 2013 to 95 percent, 85 percent in 2014 and 92 percent in 2015. This year has been better for the physician assistant program however, with 98 percent of graduates passing the exam, Speer said. The accrediting program also said the pro-
nothing counts unless you have skin in the game.’ These are the most dangerous words I have ever heard in higher education,” said Ramos. Ramos went on to reveal the effects of the “skin in the game” phrase: there was a derailment of attempts to lower the cost of education to add more scholarships and other education costsaving measures. Faculty Senate discussed if having students go to Columbus to testify could help get the state senate to do something about removing the textbook sales tax. “I think it might; my only caution is making it seem like that’s the thing that makes college unaffordable,” Ramos said. Roullard said she was pleased with how the discussion turned out. “We had the Faculty Senate forum to engage more faculty and to foster discussion on issues related to higher education,” she said. The next Faculty Senate forum will be held in the spring semester.
“We differ in opinion on the ARC-PA account and we believe we did have the right number of people they required at the time...” Linda Speer Physician Assistant Studies Department Chair
gram lacked full-time employees. “We differ in opinion on the ARC-PA account and we believe we did have the right number of people they required at the time,” Speer said. “Also as an institution that has education for many other professions, we also can and do tap resources from other programs that are not part of that department.” The university is expected to submit an appeal to ARC-PA by Friday, Speer said. “We believe that we are making a strong case that the program was in much better shape than based on what the document said,” she said. “The evidence to substantiate compliance with the accreditation standards was present in our materials, such as course syllabi and student manuals but was not presented to them in an organized way.” According to the document, the physician assistant program was not capable of rapid corrective action. But, Speer said the program is going to demonstrate this is not the case by correcting these issues as fast as possible.
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Lecturer discusses genderbased student debt inequality
By Jessica Harker Opinion Editor
Research published by the American Association of University Women found that since 1976 the cost of college tuition has risen by 135 percent, while the median household income has only risen by 12 percent. The result is a rise in the amount of student loans, and therefore a rise in student debt. Last Saturday, The Women of Toledo along with the Toledo chapter of AAUW hosted an informative event, Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans, in the Driscoll Alumni Center at 9:30 a.m. AAUW is a non-profit organization advocating for equality for all women and girls. According to Michelle Radtkin, the president of AAUW Toledo branch, the goal of the event was to bring awareness to the new information and to form a community action plan. “There’s more women in higher ed than ever before,” said AAUW Toledo branch secretary Anna Brogan-Knight. “We know that women used to be excluded from high education, and one of the first research presentations by AAUW was to debunk whether women were to be made infertile by higher education, so it’s been a long road.” Women make up roughly 50 percent of all college populations, according to BroganKnight, and not only has the rise in number of students relying on loans increased, but the research shows that the debt is often disproportionately distributed. “Student loans are becoming more and more common. $1.3 trillion in student loan
Adjuncts from page 1
“I’m fortunate that the University of Toledo, and my department specifically, treats me very well. They were sensitive to my schedule, I feel very welcomed here,” Royston said. Last semester in the English department, one of the largest employers of adjuncts at UT, 23 adjuncts covered 49 classes in fall 2016 according to Catherine Chengges, administrative coordinator. In Spring 2017 Chengges said that number dropped to 10 instructors teaching only 14 classes. This means that in the English department alone, 13 instructors were unemployed in the spring and almost 80 percent of classes taught in the fall were no longer needed. “You don’t have that sort of job security. I know this is a one year position...but it’s a little scary not to know like where I am going to be next year,” Royston said. Adjuncts who work professionally outside of the university as teachers elsewhere don’t face this problem as severely. One such instructor is Montissa Wallace, a part-time instructor in the communication department who also works at 107.3 The Juice as the production director. However, Wallace still expressed issues with managing her time between working at the station and working at UT, going so far as to tape part of her show early so that she can stay later in class before going to work. Cook and his wife Alysha are both employed as adjunct professors at UT, a unique situation that has its own challenges, highlighting issues surrounding trying to start a family as an adjunct. “My wife and I are actually expecting. She’s due in one month, so luckily it’s at the end of the semester,” Cook said, “Next semester we’re trying to plan so that one of us is home
debt and women account for two-thirds of that.” Brogan-Knight said. Black women were shown to have the highest amount of student loan debt with 50 percent of black women who graduate from college currently in repayment, according to the research. “Black women, by far, take out the most student loan debt. That goes along with the rest of research that we know. If women make a little less than men then black women and Latino women make even less.” Brogan-Knight said. After the presentation of research by BroganKnight, two previous UT students shared their personal struggles with student loan debt. According to a study published by LendEDU earlier this year, the University of Toledo ranked 121 out of 220 for the lowest student debt for four-year public institutions in the U.S. The study found the average student took out $24,437 in student loans for the 2016-17 school year, pointing to the national issue AAUW showcased through its findings. “Talking about research this is something I really, really enjoy because AAUW national is doing a phenomenal job coming up with all of this research.” Radtkin said. Radtkin explained that the organization always includes an advocacy summary to provide solutions and take the research beyond just numbers. “It’s interesting to have this conversation and look how we can apply this and take a look at how we can use economic development to empower women in Toledo,” she said.
all the time with the newborn. Of course we don’t get any maternity leave or anything like that.” However, Cook expressed that the department has been very understanding in working with him and Alysha in the case of her having the baby early. One of the biggest concerns when having a child is healthcare costs. With both parents not considered to be full-time employees, neither Cook nor his wife have coverage through any university. This semester, however, because Cook is teaching nine credit hours, instead of the usual eight-hour limit for adjuncts, he said he was given paperwork for coverage but has not looked into it. The credit hour limit allows the university to not offer health care to adjuncts in accordance with the Affordable Care Act. Cook explained that he had not looked into the benefits because it would be a “significant portion of your paycheck to be paying out for healthcare.” Because part-time instructors do not have access to health insurance, they often pay for it out of their own pockets. This can be almost impossible with a minimal income and constantly changing national healthcare policies. According to an article by CNBC, the average annual deductible for individual healthcare plans was $4,358 in 2016. As far as the University of Toledo, adjuncts reported that the situation is not better or worse than other schools. According to college factual, UT actually only uses 31 percent part-time instructors, which is down from the national average of 51 percent.
All adjuncts stated that issues facing adjuncts are not unique to UT but are part of a national issue. “The job market is very tough, it’s tough. I feel completely fortunate that I got this position,” Royston said. “I got very lucky that there was a job within driving distance teaching Shakespeare and I know that’s not the norm.” Though the department is good, the need is there, as evident by Cook teaching nine credit hours his first semester at UT just to cover all the Composition I and II courses for the fall semester. An article by Forbes found that the problem with relying on adjuncts tends to focus on the issue that they have less time and resources available to them. “The workload can easily get overwhelming,” Cook said. A limited amount of office space leaves many adjuncts without a place to meet students. Coupled with working multiple jobs on various campuses, many adjuncts are simply not able to dedicate their time to the students. “The English adjunct is of course going to be a little bit different – grading is very intensive,” Cook said. “I am probably looking at an easy 50 hours a week altogether. It’s an interesting situation to be in.” Despite the nationwide issues that adjuncts face, two things seem to unite them all: a love for teaching and a desire to be full-time. “I love being here and I love what I teach,” Wallace said, “Eventually, I would like to teach more.” A sentiment shared across the board.
“My wife and I are actually expecting. She’s due in one month, so luckily it’s at the end of the semester...” Patrick Cook Part-time English Professor