Leaders of The University of Toledo and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Ohio Council 8 and AFSCME Local 2415 will celebrate a new collective bargaining agreement at a luncheon tomorrow.

The event to celebrate the signing of a new three-year agreement will begin at noon Thursday, Dec. 18 in the Mahogany Room of the Radisson Hotel at The University of Toledo with a ceremonial signing of the contract at 1 p.m.

Members of AFSCME, which represents about 1,900 employees on the UT Health Science Campus, and the UT Board of Trustees both approved earlier this fall the agreement that runs from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2017.

The contract calls for wage increases of 2.5 percent in year one and 1 percent in both years two and three and changes monthly health-care premiums to 20 percent as UT works to make premiums uniform across all collective bargaining units and employee groups.

The agreement provides employees and their dependents expedited primary care appointments at UTMC health-care facilities. It also establishes labor-management committees that will work to drive improvements in patient care and satisfaction.

The creative work of Peter Hoffman, a nationally syndicated cartoonist who created the “Jeff Cobb” comic strip, has been donated by his family to the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections at The University of Toledo.

Pete Hoffman drew this self-portrait for the cover of a 1994 issue of the UT Alumni Magazine.

The collection consists of nearly 5,000 drawings by Hoffman and documents more than 20 years of his work. Hoffman, a UT alumnus, died in 2013 at age 94.

The collection includes Hoffman’s original drawings for the Cobb strip from 1954 to 1978, as well as illustrations he did for another syndicated strip he produced from 1950 to 1978 titled “Why We Say.” Both strips were syndicated by General Features Corp. and ran in more than 100 newspapers in the United States, Europe, South America and Canada.

The Canaday Center had acquired a small collection of Hoffman’s drawings in 1985.

“This addition expands greatly the center’s holdings on one of the University’s most creative graduates,” said Barbara Floyd, director of the center. “Hoffman’s drawings are incredibly detailed. They show such precision and carefulness in execution. They are examples of the high style of graphic illustration when comic strips looked almost like photographs, as compared to today’s looser style.”

Hoffman began drawing as a child while enrolled in Warren School in Toledo. His first published work was a drawing of cowboys and Indians he submitted to the Toledo Times newspaper when he was 4 years old. He continued to take art classes at Scott High School when he was a student there.

At UT, he received a bachelor’s degree in advertising and marketing in 1941, and served as art editor for the University’s yearbook and staff cartoonist for The Campus Collegian newspaper from 1937 to 1941.

After college, Hoffman worked briefly in the advertising department for Tiedtke’s, the popular downtown Toledo department store, and served in the Army Air Corps, where he also illustrated several wartime publications.

When Hoffman returned home from England where he served during World War II, he became a ghost illustrator of “Steve Roper,” the nationally distributed comic strip created by Toledo cartoonists Allen Saunders and Elmer Woggon. He held that job from 1945 to 1954.

The cartoonist was known for his comic strip, “Jeff Cobb,” about an investigative newspaper reporter.

It was during the time that he was illustrating “Steve Roper” that he started the “Why We Say” strip, which he wrote as well as illustrated, that explained the meaning of common words and phrases.

He also became interested in developing his own narrative strip, which led to “Jeff Cobb.” Cobb was a handsome investigative reporter for the fictional Daily Guardian newspaper. Hoffman not only illustrated the strip, but he researched and wrote each one, which were based loosely on real crimes. In the later years of the strip’s publication, Cobb became known for the patch he wore over one eye, the result of an arson investigation that played itself out in the pages of the strip.

The collection donated to the Canaday Center is being organized and will be open to researchers after it is processed and a guide is prepared.

The center also plans an exhibit of examples of Hoffman’s work for later in 2015.

Due to a water main break near UT’s Main Campus, the location of the Dec. 12 Presidential Search Committee Meeting has moved to the Faculty Club in the Radisson Hotel. The meeting will begin at 8 a.m.

Upon convening the meeting, the Committee will enter Executive Session to discuss the employment of a public employee with Executive Search Firm Witt/Kiefer.

In a final celebration of the 50th anniversary of the former Medical College of Ohio, The University of Toledo will open a time capsule that was sealed at MCO Dec. 14, 1989.

The ceremony will be held Monday, Dec. 15, at 9 a.m. in UT Medical Center Four Seasons Bistro.

The Medical College of Ohio was created Dec. 18, 1964, with the signing of legislation by Ohio Gov. James A. Rhodes. Paul Block Jr., co-publisher of The Blade, was an ardent advocate for the college and later became the first chairman of the school’s board of trustees. After a name change, the Medical University of Ohio merged with The University of Toledo in 2006.

Memorabilia dating from 1965 to 1989 is expected to be in the time capsule.

“This is the final event of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Medical College of Ohio,” Vern Snyder, UT vice president for institutional advancement, said. “It celebrates the growth of what it was 50 years ago to what it is now as the UT medical campus, all the changes it has made, the advances of technology, and the amount of research that’s done on the campus.”

Dr. Nagi Naganathan, UT interim president, and Dr. Chris Cooper, dean of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences, will speak at the brief ceremony hosted by Dr. William Davis, director of the UT General Practice Residency Program and associate dean of continuing medical education.

“At the event, we plan to display the memorabilia that’s in the time capsule for everyone to see,” Snyder said. “We are also planning to bring some other artifacts from the MCO archives that we used in the anniversary dinner in June.”

Cupcakes will be available for University students, faculty, staff and physicians throughout the day in celebration of the college’s milestone.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Dec. 16, 2014)
13 ABC and FOX Toledo (June 1, 2015)

The University of Toledo is changing the way international students study in the United States, with the help of a few community colleges.

A new program called the UT-Community College Internationalization Consortium will kick off in fall semester 2015. It brings together four community colleges in Ohio and Michigan — Henry Ford College, Jackson College, Schoolcraft College and Columbus State Community — with eight higher vocational colleges in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hebei, and Hunan provinces in China.

The Chinese students who participate in the program will spend their first two years of college in their home country and their last year at one of the community colleges, receiving both a Chinese diploma and associate’s degree upon completion. They will then spend their next two years earning a bachelor’s degree at UT.

** MEDIA OPPORTUNITY **
A delegation from Shanghai Dianji University will visit UT as part of the new program on Friday, Dec. 12 meeting with UT leaders at 10:30 a.m. in Room 1300 of the Health and Human Services Building on Main Campus.

“I think if you really want to be educated for the work force of the future, you’re going to have develop your global competence,” said Dr. Ron Opp, UT associate professor of higher education and a member of the consortium’s UT Oversight Board. “You’re going to have to have the ability to communicate interculturally; that’s going to be the nature of work in a global economy.”

In China, higher vocational colleges are postsecondary schools similar to community colleges in the U.S. Each college tends to have a niche — whether it’s environmental sciences, engineering, business or another subject. Each community college in the consortium will be matched with two vocational colleges based on their niche.

Many community colleges want to have more international students, but often don’t have the resources four-year schools have, Opp said. That’s where UT comes in with its Center for International Studies and Programs that helps students with their visas, setting up bank accounts, housing, improving their English speaking skills, and more.

The consortium will begin by accepting five students from each Chinese college in the fall of 2015, 10 students the following fall, 15 the following year, and so on. By 2018, the first 40 students will be enrolling at UT for their bachelor’s degree programs.

The consortium also will include leadership programming with faculty and administrators from all of the colleges involved to learn more about the partner institutions, with individuals here traveling to China and vice versa.

Another aspect of the consortium is that some faculty from the community colleges involved will teach at the vocational schools in China. Those who do will get assistance with their flight, housing, and living expenses.

“It may be more helpful in the long run that we get our faculty over there to see how China is developing,” Opp said. “Because once you get over there and you see what’s going on, you realize how important developing global perspectives is.”

Opp said the goal of bringing faculty members to China is that they will bring their experience back to UT and the community colleges.

For more information visit utoledo.edu/csjhs/higher_education/consortium.

Media Coverage
WTOL 11 and 13 ABC (Jan. 12, 2014)

More than 50 unique projects will be on display Friday during The University of Toledo’s Senior Design Engineering Project Exposition.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be noon to 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12 on the first floor of Nitschke Hall on Main Campus.

The exposition showcases projects created by more than 220 graduating seniors from the bioengineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, engineering technology, computer science and electrical engineering programs. Projects are part of the required senior design/capstone project where students form business-consulting units to develop a solution for a client’s technical/business challenge.

Benjamin Davis, an associate professor at The University of Toledo College of Law, is available to comment on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report to be released today on the CIA’s interrogation and deportation program.

Davis

“Whatever is said by present or former senior officials about the release of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence executive summary of the torture report, we must remember that the issue is not the report but the underlying torture,” Davis said. “That torture besmirched the reputation of the United States and their actions betrayed the public trust these officials are sworn to uphold.

“The United States is bound by the absolute prohibition against torture. This report lets us know that crimes of great depravity were committed at the highest levels. Criminal accountability for these officials crimes remains elusive, but is absolutely essential.”

Davis, a faculty member at UToledo since 2003, is a contributing editor at the SALTLAW Blog. He has been addressing accountability for torture since early 2004 in law review articles, online articles, as a Board Member of the Human Rights Committee of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), and as a Member of the American Society of International Law (ASIL).

To schedule an interview contact Rachel Phipps, assistant dean for communications, at 419.530.2628 or Rachel.Phipps@utoledo.edu.

Media Coverage
Trouw (Dec. 10, 2014)
Dagsavisen (Dec. 11, 2014)

PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE MEETING

Friday December 12, 2014
Driscoll Alumni Center, Board Room
8:30 a.m.
Upon convening the meeting, the Committee will enter Executive Session
to discuss the employment of a public employee
with Executive Search Firm Witt/Kiefer.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETINGS

Monday, December 15, 2014
Driscoll Alumni Center, Schmakel Room
10:30 a.m. Clinical Affairs Committee Meeting
12:00 p.m. Lunch will be provided for the Trustees in the Driscoll Board Room
1:00 p.m. Academic and Student Affairs Committee Meeting
2:00 p.m. Finance and Audit Committee Meeting
3:30 p.m. Trusteeship and Governance Committee Meeting

BOARD OF TRUSTEES SOCIAL DINNER

Wednesday, December 17, 2014
The Toledo Club, West Point Room
5:30 p.m. Social dinner with spouses/guests

Any questions may be directed to the University Communications Office by calling (419) 530-7832 or via email at jonathan.strunk@utoledo.edu.

Joan A. Stasa
Secretary, Board of Trustees

The following meeting has been postponed until December 12, 2014
PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE MEETING

Thursday, November 20, 2014
Driscoll Alumni Center, Board Room
2:00 p.m.
Upon convening the meeting, the Committee will enter Executive Session
to discuss the employment of a public employee
with Executive Search Firm Witt/Kiefer.

Any questions may be directed to the University Communications Office by calling 419.530.7832 or via email at jonathan.strunk@utoledo.edu.

The University of Toledo College of Engineering will announce a substantial multi-year gift from Toledo-based engineering, architectural and construction management firm SSOE Group to further nurture entrepreneurial mindsets among UT engineering graduates.

A gift announcement event will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, in the Thomas & Elizabeth Brady Engineering Innovation Center located just south of Nitschke Auditorium.

“Not only has SSOE greatly contributed to the design and beauty of so many buildings at The University of Toledo, but the firm has long been a great partner of the College of Engineering,” said Dr. Steven LeBlanc, the college’s interim dean.

LeBlanc said the gift will go toward supporting UT’s Engineering Technopreneurship Initiative, a specialized training program designed to assure that engineering graduates develop an entrepreneurial mindset, whether they would choose to pursue their careers within established organizations or in startups.

“SSOE is pleased to continue our long association with the UT College of Engineering with this multi-year commitment to the University and the Engineering Innovation Fund,” said Tony Damon, CEO and president of SSOE.

Bob Howell, SSOE’s CEO-elect, re-emphasized the company’s continued support of the University. “We have relied on the college to provide us with the professional talent we need to deliver world-class projects for our global clients since Al Samborn, ’39, founded the company here in Toledo in 1948. We are confident our contribution will help underwrite the development of young engineering talent with the innovative spirit and skills necessary to continue to produce world-class engineering graduates at UT.”

SSOE’s gift will be used to design, assemble and implement a sustainable framework starting the freshman year while promoting the areas of design, entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. The framework will initially be centered around an enhanced freshman design experience, LeBlanc said.

“SSOE is an international organization headquartered in northwest Ohio, and this leadership gift speaks to its commitment to the future of this community,” said Vern Snyder, UT vice president for institutional advancement.

“I want to thank Tony Damon, Bob Howell and all at SSOE who support The University of Toledo through gifts like this and, just as importantly, through the hiring and career development of UT graduates,” said UT’s Interim President Nagi Naganathan. “This is an example of how two organizations can work together to elevate innovation and entrepreneurship and caliber of the professional work force in our region to the benefit of the entire community.”

Media Coverage
FOX Toledo and NBC 24 (Nov. 18, 2014)
The Blade (Nov. 20, 2014)