In his second year of presidency, Dr. Carlos Campo recently shared his vision for the university at the All-Institutional Meeting on Aug. 22. His goals include continuing to increase the number of faculty and strengthening the campus climate.

Starting in the fall of 2015, Campo became responsible for taking on issues that the university was facing after former president Fred Finks resigned.

Though the past two years have seen various cuts to the Ashland faculty and administration, Campo said the university “is on the rise” and has hired 56 new employees.

“The 56 new employees are a reflection of a number of needs at the institution,” Campo said. “Some were new needs for academics, some were staffing needs, others were assessment related, but all were related to our strategic plan.”

Another major change for the school year is the schedule for finals week. These changes came after student feedback suggested having a more spread out exam schedule in order to spread out both testing and study time.

Last year, an overwhelming amount of exams were scheduled for the same day. Now, the university hopes that the new schedule will meet student needs.

“From what I heard, there were particular academic issues,” Campo said. “They wanted to make sure that students did not have too many finals doubling up on the same date. Some folks really had a [large] number of finals on a single day, so they [wanted] to spread those out.”

Last year, one of the biggest focuses for Campo was creating a greater connection between the community and the university.

He believes he accomplished this goal by forming strong relationships with not only local Ashland businesses, but also the Ashland community members.

This year, Campo hopes to expand that mission and also bond more with AU students as well as the faculty and staff to get to know individuals on a more personal basis.

“We don’t do enough of getting together as a community,” said Campo. “Faculty will get together, staff will get together- even students will, but as an entire community, we don’t really spend enough time together. So that is one of the things that we are going to do. We are really looking for these other opportunities where it is not so formal.”

In the past, Ashland University has been notoriously known as a suitcase campus. One of Campo’s goals for AU is to make staying on campus over the weekends more compelling to students.

Campo is actively engaged with the Campus Activities Board this semester (CAB), who has begun planning more events for students on campus, as well as events that involve both the university and community as a whole.

“We also say that if there are particular events that are reflective of an extracurricular activity that you are involved in, always think about inviting us,” said Campo. “We can’t always say yes, but we do want to know if your sorority is doing something, or a group that you’re with is putting something on. We are hoping to meet most the entire freshmen class at a picnic barbecue that we are [hosting] this Friday.”

Campo places a high importance on student involvement and encourages all individuals to jump in and embrace every opportunity the year will bring.

“We are looking at more opportunities for students to stay involved with the academics on campus,” said Campo. “We are looking for more mentorship opportunities between faculty and students, [as well as] staff and students, in addition to all of the CAB stuff that you are seeing as well.”

Ultimately, Campo is ready to tackle any and all obstacles for the months ahead and wants to make both the fall and spring semester as enjoyable as possible for students.

He is very optimistic about the future; he strongly believes this will be a wonderful year and the relationship between not only himself and the students, but also the community will be stronger than ever he said.

Campo offered his best advice to incoming freshmen for a fulfilling and rewarding first year.

“Get involved and stay involved,” said Campo. “Get involved in something that is not really in your comfort zone. Push yourself because you are going to find a new group of friends and a new group of ideas that you have not ever considered before. So get involved, get committed, and really dig in to what Ashland is all about.”