As the Ashland University staff and faculty are gearing up for another school year to await the arrival of students to campus, AU President Dr. Carlos Campo held an All-Institutional meeting for faculty and staff on Aug. 20.

The meeting consisted of a number of administrative leaders at AU giving reports about the departments and plans for the coming year.

Mayor of Ashland and AU alumnus Matt Miller spoke first about his plans to have a city walkthrough to celebrate the new arrivals to Ashland. The march starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1 and Miller encourages everyone to gather at the Athletic Facility near the corner of Claremont Road and King Road to attend.

“Today you are getting an invitation from the Mayor to join us as we do our first ever purple and gold invasion of downtown Ashland. When the students start arriving on campus, one of the first things we’re going to do is remind everyone of the important part they are in this community.”

The United Way coordinators of Ashland spoke on the goal for the upcoming AU campaign, which starts Sept. 3 through Nov. 1. The end goal for this nonprofit organization is to reach $46 thousand from AU to donate and support the surrounding communities.

One concern that has arisen from the AU campus and community lately has been the budget cuts that have taken place. During the meeting, however, the budgets were not discussed in full.

One thing that Marc Pasteris, AU’s Chief Financial Officer along with the institutional budget committee has to regulate is the cover ratio of the university’s debt which is currently 1.151-percent, which accomplishes their goal of staying under 1.251-percent.

The new provost, Dr. Amiel Jarstfer also had a chance to speak to the faculty and staff as a whole for the first time at AU. Although the provost’s position acts as a liaison between the faculty and administration, Jarstfer still likes to direct his attention to the students.

“Meeting the educational needs of our students, wherever they are, is the Ultimate Accent on the Individual,” Jarstfer said.

An update was also given on enrollment with all of the new undergrad students at AU. Entering into the 2019-2020 school year, the freshman class has 542 students and the university also received 112 transfers.

However, this number of incoming freshman is down from previous years as it was at 616 students in 2017.

The top three majors have shifted since last year, with nursing still as number one. Business Management and Biology are the next two most popular majors at AU.

In closing, Campo spoke about the future of the university and the improvements that are needed as well as the improvements that have taken place through the last few years.

“Ashland University in ways is the new great American University. We believe that we are tied to that America that sees service and freedom,” said Campo.