NAVIGATING OSU

What’s Happening Now?• Overview of the University’s Structure

• Understanding with whom and how you should interact within that structure

• How to make friends and influence people at the University

Infinity itself looks flat and uninteresting. Looking up into the night sky is looking into infinity—distance is incomprehensible and therefore meaningless…. [It] was anything but infinite, it was just very very very big, so big that it gave the impression of infinity far better than infinity itself.

-Douglas Adams; The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy

Act 1: The IdeaLet’s say you have an idea for an event, policy change, program or life-changing, mind-blowing rollercoaster ride of an initiative of one sort or another.

Where do you start with this idea?

Aiming Your IdeaTreat Your Idea Like a News Story• What – is that you want to do

• Who – benefits and needs to be involved

• When – what is the timeline

• How – what is needed to complete your project

Start Here. Obviously.

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Aiming Your Idea• Who – benefits and needs to be involved

• How – what is needed to complete your project• Stakeholders

• Responsible Parties

• Interested Parties

• Collaborators

• Beneficiaries

Aiming Your Idea - Example

Parts of OSUUniversity Community

Student LifeAcademics

Governance

Admini-stration

Athletics

Structure of Ohio StateWhy should we care?• Changes happen through channels of the

structure that affect all of us

• Enable project and event planning

• Gain support in useful areas

• Create contacts to help oneself and one’s organization

Board of Trustees

President

Senior Management

Council

Council of Deans

University Senate

Senate Committees

Presidential Councils

Organizational Charts

Senior Management CouncilVice President for Student LifeExecutive Vice President and ProvostAdministrative Director and Assistant Senior Vice President of Government RelationsCounselor to the PresidentSenior Vice President for Business and FinanceChief Financial OfficerVice President for University CommunicationsSenior Vice President and General CounselVice President for Strategic Enrollment PlanningSenior Vice President for Health SciencesChief Executive Officer, Wexner Medical CenterSenior Vice President for Alumni RelationsPresident/CEO OSU Alumni Association, Inc.Secretary, Board of TrusteesPresident, The Ohio State University FoundationSenior Vice President for Advancement

Vice President for Outreach and Engagement

Vice President and Executive Dean CFAESSpecial Assistant to the PresidentSenior Vice President for University CommunicationsSenior Vice President for Administration and PlanningVice Provost for the Office of Diversity and InclusionVice President and Enterprise Executive for Energy and the EnvironmentVice President for Human ResourcesChief Information OfficerSpecial Assistant to the PresidentVice President of Government AffairsJoint Vice President, Institutional Affairs for Battelle and Ohio State University Vice President for Research

Using Org Charts• Can be found on most division/offices

websites

• Aim just below the top for first contact

• Remember, there may be charts within charts

Caveats• Sometimes groups do similar/overlapping things• FOD & FML

• Not everything appears online/on an org chart• Ask in your first meeting

• Sometimes there will be other interested student groups/academic units = collaborators

ASK!

First Meeting• Set it up letting them know the topic

• Come with some sort of take away • Try to have as many questions already answered

• Have an agenda, but be flexible

• Leave with a to-do list

Routes to Completion

PolicySupport •Petitions, Benchmarking…

•Collaborators

Committees •University Senate Committee•Other Committees

Passage •University Senate/Senior Mgmt•Board of Trustees

Project/EventIdeation •Plan

•Collaborators

Support •Academic Unit/Administration•Funding

Execution •Getting it done

Types of Money• Donations – Earmarked, usually

• Revenue – Athletics, Intellectual Property, Sales

• Fees – Student Activity, Residence Hall Activity…

• General Fund