Health, Physical Education, and Recreation

The Health, Physical Education, and Recreation department offers a wide range of health and physical education courses as part of the University's curriculum. All Central State students are required to take HPR 1000: Health and Wellness and a one credit physical activity course. Students have free access to the Walker Student Wellness Center, which has a swimming pool, basketball court, racquetball courts, tennis courts, spinning room, aerobics room, and weight room. The University also boasts a large outdoor recreation field. Students may hike in Tawawa Woods, located just behind campus or take advantage of a spur of the Greene County bike trails runs onto campus and extends to Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton. Students may participate in the extracurricular sports program or compete for a place on one of the University's ten varsity sports teams.

CSU contracts with Sodexho Magic to manage the University's dining service which offers nutritional dining opportunities in four locations on campus—Mercer Café, Grill 155 in the Joseph D. Lewis Learning Center, Taco Bell Express in the Ward Center, and in the Faculty Dining Room.

Public Safety 

CSU's Public Safety Department is responsible for safety on the campus. CSU law enforcement officers are fully licensed by the state of Ohio. The University installed emergency blue lights throughout campus in 2007. Pedestrians are thus able to easily contact police at all hours of the day and night. In 2010 the University purchased a number of motorized police scooters to enhance police officers’ ability to move and maneuver quickly around the campus. CSU publishes its annual crime statistics online as required under federal law.

 3.D.2. The institution provides for learning support and preparatory instruction to address the academic needs of its students. It has a process for directing entering students to courses and programs for which the students are adequately prepared.  

 CSU provides learning support and preparatory instruction to address the academic needs of its students. Through University College, academic and student services provide a seamless environment that promotes student success. By closely coordinating the academic and support services offered through Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management, Athletics, and Student Affairs, the experiences of CSU students are strengthened and enriched.

Learning Skills Center

CSU’s Learning Skills Center provides skills development and tutorial services in both group and individual sessions to help students successfully complete their current courses. The staff also provide advising services to new freshmen who need additional academic support.

CSU also offers developmental courses aimed at helping students who are underprepared for college level work. The students are identified by their entering GPA and ACT or SAT scores. Working collaboratively with the University College's Learning Skills Center, CSU's English Department offers developmental courses in English to prepare students for upper-level courses. For example, the Department offers a Basic Writing and Reading Enhancement course (ENG 0950) as an integrated skills courses to help students develop college-level proficiency in reading and writing. This course is required of students whose ACT score or other admissions profile indicates a need for the developmental course. Similarly, the Math department offers three developmental courses in mathematics, such as MTH 0430: Fundamentals of Mathematics, which prepare students for College Algebra. The Music program offers Fundamentals of Theory, MUS 0950, to prepare students for Music 1101. As, consistent with its new strategic plan, the University's admission requirements are gradually modified to admit students with ACT scores above 17, the University will continue offering these courses through collaboration with community colleges in Ohio. These courses are identified with numbers below those of Freshman level courses, which are usually designated as a 1000 or 1100 sequence. The Chemistry program offers a course, CHM 1050, designed to help students who have not had high school chemistry or are in need of review before beginning the General Chemistry sequence which provides students with upper level knowledge and skills in chemistry.

Learning Communities

CSU’s Learning Communities Program is on the cutting edge and, like such programs at universities around the country, it seeks to help students succeed, and ensures they return the following year. Participants in the program take some of their classes together while working for their own success and the success of the group.

CSU’s Learning Communities is a voluntary program that gives incoming freshmen a step up in achieving academic success. Student involvement, motivation, engagement, and academic achievement are increased when participating in a Learning Community. Through the Learning Communities, CSU students take an active role in their education to achieve academic success. Participation in Learning Communities promotes a sense of cohesiveness, self-responsibility, and high standards among students. Students in Learning Communities receive academic advising, tutoring, mentoring, and participate in seminars, workshops, team building activities, and educational field trips. For the Fall of 2012, about 40% of students participated in a CSU Learning Community through the University College and the College of Science and Engineering’s Center for Student Opportunity.

Center for Student Opportunities 

The CSU Center for Student Opportunities represents a “One-Stop” office for students who seek not only support and additional resources but wish to participate in academic programs, activities and events. The mission of the Center is to develop opportunities for students to gain academic and career advancement by providing:

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  Scholarships and internships
  
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  Research, graduate and professional school preparation
  
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  Professional development
  
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  Tutoring
  
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  Summer bridge programs
  

3. D.3. The institution provides academic advising suited to its programs and the needs of its students.

CSU has a two-tiered academic advising process, the first is provided through the academic advising services of the University College, and the second is provided through academic departments in the four colleges. The University College advises all undeclared majors and new first-time students and transfer students with fewer than 30 credit hours. All other students are advised in departments in the colleges.

The University also offers general advising to students via specific events designed to improve registration and related services to students. For instance, students are advised during new student orientation, University-wide recruitment and advising events, Handle Your Business” programs organized by the office of Enrollment Management and Financial Aid. As part of institutional-level assessment, the Assessment and Institutional Research Office administers a Climate Survey to all CSU students to assess the availability of advisors and other services to students. Results of the survey are provided in later under Criterion 4.B.

3.D.4. The institution provides to students and instructors the infrastructure and resources necessary to support effective teaching and learning (technological infrastructure, scientific laboratories, libraries, performance spaces, clinical practice sites, museum collections, as appropriate to the institution’s offerings).

CSU supports effective teaching and learning through physical, modern technological infrastructure located in the various buildings on the main campus as well the CSU-Dayton location. The University also provides faculty and students classrooms and scientific laboratories, performance spaces, clinical practice sites, museum collections.. Infrastructure on the main campus and CSU-Dayton location, Afro-American Museum, CENS Rotunda, Robeson Center of Performing Arts, Stock Trading Room, etc. Additional description of the amount of investments on the physical infrastructure is provided in Criterion Five.

The Campus Master Plan guides our focus toward growth and renewal. Since 2003, CSU has paid consistent attention to improving the quality of life for students through its physical facilities. The Department of Facilities’ operating budget increased between 2005 and 2009 by $1.3M. Renovations were made to the H.Q. Brown Library, the auditoriums in Wesley and Smith Halls, and upgrades to the campus elevator systems to improve safety and fire recall functions. Improvements in lighting, HVAC, painting, and roof work to Jenkins Hall cost an estimated $1.2 million dollars in order to improve and install new cooling systems to several buildings on the main campus alone.

The demolition of several residence halls, a dining facility, and a science building demonstrates the University’s commitment to eliminating outdated or unsafe facilities and to provide space for new construction. In the footprint of the demolished residence halls and dining facility, a state-of-the-art science and education building was constructed, the Center for Education and Natural Sciences (CENS). As an enhancement to the living and learning environment, two new residence halls were completed in 2011. Through these efforts, CSU has the physical resources and infrastructure to support teaching and learning. Table 3.D.4. below provides a general overview of the physical infrastructure used primarily for instruction.

Table 3.D.4. CSU’s physical infrastructure used to support for instruction.

Through efforts of the Office of Information Technology, Senate Committee on Information Technology and various Colleges under the Division of Academic Affairs, CSU has systematically collected data on student and faculty access to technology. Available data is from 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011. Survey results show that during this time period, students and faculty reported that they were fairly satisfied with their access to technology. Detailed results of the technology survey are provided in Criterion Five. However, some students expressed concerns about access to wireless computer technology in open areas. The University will be exploring ways to improve wireless access in all areas of the campus including residential halls.

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  An Online Learning Committee was formed comprised of faculty, staff, and administrators that
  
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    Provided feedback and proposals for Online Learning policies and procedures
    
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    Identified future online learning trends and their impact on Central State University
    
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    Recognized potential issues to be addressed
    
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    Kept abreast of best practices in online learning
    
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    Participated in small focus groups to research and report/advise the committee on specific online learning topics
    
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    Helped ensure that courses delivered online addressed quality instruction, employ appropriate strategies, and effectively serve those who need access
    
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    Gathered and provided input from stakeholders regarding the current state of online learning at Central State University
    
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    Gathered data on online learning demand
    
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  Developed and adopted definitions and designations of online courses.
  
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  Created a proposal and routing procedure for online and hybrid courses.
  
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  Established a design and development process to ensure quality in online and hybrid courses.
  
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  Designed an online/hybrid planning grid to align course objectives with learning outcomes.
  
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  Produced an online/hybrid course interface based on research and best practices.
  
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  Collaborated with faculty senate committee to develop student online/hybrid course evaluation.
  
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  Developed a web-based student orientation to online learning.
  
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  Started Ohio Blackboard Users Group initiative.
  

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  Facilitate communication between educational institutions in the state of Ohio who use Blackboard as a learning management system.
  
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  Share knowledge and promote best practices in faculty development, instructional design, and Blackboard system management.
  
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  Collectively address issues or challenges as they arise.
  
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  Access to key subject matter experts.
  
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  Provided faculty professional development: Web-enhanced courses, Quality Matters rubric, Blackboard.
  
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  Initiated planning for first CSU online program – Criminal Justice.
  
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  Installed 11 “Smart” classrooms.
  
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  Virtualized student computer labs.
  

These efforts have increased the number of online courses provided to CSU students. They have also increased the interest of CSU students in online courses and increased enrollment in online and web-enhanced courses from nearly zero in 2011 to over 251 courses in the Fall 2012. The University expects these numbers to go up as more smart classrooms are established. Overall, CSU has invested over one million dollars in recent years in computer technology. College of Science and Engineering has invested over two million dollars in laboratory equipment and technology for students and instructors. Details of the types of science equipment have been provided under CSU’s response to Science facilities and laboratory equipment.

In addition to the physical resources described above, the H.Q. Brown Memorial Library building houses the University College and provides ample space for various teaching and learning activities. It also provides teaching and learning support materials. A library is also available at the CSU-Dayton location. In the last five years the size of the CSU library collections have increased or decreased depending on the type of holding. The size of print materials has increased by about 20%, while the size of electronic holdings increased more or less by 100%. For example electronic holdings increased from nearly zero in 2006 to 32,313 in 2008 and to over 62,925 in 2012, an increase of 94.7%. As a result of increased availability of electronic holding, the number of journals and magazines decreased by about 16%. The greatest increase has been in audiovisual material holdings, which increased by 182.9% between 2006 and 2012. There has also been a concomitant increase in online holdings. This allows faculty and students to have access to over 100 databases and over a million research articles through the Electronic Journal Center. The table below provides a summary of the size of library holdings at the H.Q. Brown Library which is located on the CSU main campus.

Table 3.D. 6: Size of Library Holdings on the CSU Main Campus from 2006-2012.

Additional information about the library and its functions as a teaching and learning resource is provided under Criterion Three Subcomponent 3.D.5 below.