YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Challenge accepted.
That’s the theme of the 2026-27 academic year at Youngstown State University, according to Jennifer Adams, university provost and vice president of academic affairs.
She said it’s in honor of all the challenges faculty members have already accepted and have moved forward with. She laid out the theme Thursday morning in her State of Academic Affairs address delivered in the auditorium of the Williamson College of Business Administration. Members of the faculty, administration, staff and board of trustees attended the address.
“Higher education is full of challenges now, and if we’re not all in that same boat rowing together, it’s going to be rough waters,” Adams said. “But despite all of the challenges, we work together. We communicate. We don’t hold back. We tell each other how we feel and what’s going on. We are going to be able to accept these challenges and go further.”
Adams, who was appointed provost in early 2024, said the first year’s theme was transparency and accountability.
“I hope that you’ve seen a difference in the way the Office of Academic Affairs is transparent,” she said. “We are willing to tell you anything that you want to hear, even if it’s not really what you want to hear.”
To gather faculty input, Adams established a provost leadership group of faculty members. She and those in her office ask the group members for their opinions and advice regarding different initiatives.
The second year’s theme was collaborative engagement, and the provost believes the faculty union and the university reached a new contract earlier this month because of the amount of collaborative engagement at YSU.
For this year, Adams urged faculty members to be the reason a student comes to YSU, stays at YSU and graduates from YSU.
Her speech, developed based on information submitted about what faculty members wanted to know, covered changes in faculty workload based on new state law, online courses and the Steubenville campus among others.
Regarding workload, tenured and tenure track faculty have always been responsible for teaching, scholarship and service, Adams said. Teaching will remain at 24 workload hours for those faculty members, but the state wants an accounting of what else faculty members do.
“So your responsibility, if you’re tenured or tenure track, there is a research expectation,” Adams said. “And here’s what’s beautiful about what this did for us: It made us sit down with the faculty and the chairs and figure out what is important in your department, what’s important for your program.”
YSU also is pursuing an R2 research designation for some departments. It’s a designation by the Carnegie Foundation that indicates high research spending and high research doctorate production.
Adams said some people are concerned about online courses.
“We are using online as a strategy,” Adams said. “It is a strategic initiative to grow our enrollment, and we are firmly in the space. We’re also using it to attract military students. Active-duty military students looking to advance in their career are looking at online bachelor’s and graduate programs, and this strategy has worked.”
It’s made a difference in enrollment, she added.
“If you take a look at our enrollment 10 years ago, we had about 280 students that were enrolled in online classes,” the provost said. “Today we have more than 2,600 students.”
Classes will start Monday, and fall enrollment is down about 100 students compared with this time last year. Some of the decrease is because of lower enrollment among international students, an issue faced by most U.S. universities because of federal changes.
There are more College Credit Plus and more continuing students this year compared with last year, however.
“But what we need to focus on is the first-time undergraduate. We have fewer,” Adams said. “That’s our bread and butter. That’s what we work with.”
This fall marks the debut of YSU Steubenville, which opened at the former Eastern Gateway Community College campus.
So far, 91 students have registered, a number Adams expects to increase in future semesters.
“This is extremely positive,” Adams said. “I’m very happy with this number. This is an area in Jefferson County that has not had an institution of higher ed for several years, and we showed up mid-recruiting, maybe late, after the recruiting cycle. We have not had a full recruiting cycle, and we still were able to get 91 students to register for these programs.”
If there is community demand, more programs will be added at the new campus.
“It’s a wonderful additional location for us, and it’s an opportunity,” Adams said.
She began Thursday’s speech with a moment of silence for David S. Morgan, a 25-year YSU music professor who died Saturday. The university flag on the campus peace pole will continue to fly at half-staff through Friday to honor him.
Pictured at top: Jennifer Adams, YSU provost and vice president of academic affairs.