On Feb. 8, at a regular Student Government meeting, John Carroll President Al Miciak shared goals and updates of the University’s strategic plan going forward. 

Miciak began the forum by commenting on the mask mandate, saying that it would likely phase out over the next few weeks assuming there were no Superbowl superspreader events on campus. A recent COVID-19 Task Force decision reflected this, announcing that masks are now only required during classes.

Next, Miciak shared that John Carroll is applying to the Ohio Board of Nursing to establish a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. 

“We would hope to have an answer as early as this summer or fall on the approval of a Nursing BSN program at John Carroll,” the president said. 

Miciak also announced that John Carroll will be receiving some archival material from the wife of the late Tim Russert ‘72 who formerly hosted “Meet the Press” for over 16 years and is the namesake for John Carroll’s Tim Russert Department of Communication.

“The second priority in the Strategic Plan is really around student experience,” Miciak said. “A lot of this has to do with your experience in the classroom, but also in Residence Life…We’re renovating Dolan Hall this summer, so Dolan will open for Fall of 2022, and Pacelli will go under renovation, so we’ll really have renovated all of our housing stock on campus.”

Turning to new construction, Miciak shared plans for “Phase 2” of the Grasselli Library, including an additional $15 million in renovations. 

“There will be more hammocks and bean bags, I’m sure,” Miciak joked. Phase 1 of the renovations included the Mastrantoni Family Student Success Commons. 

Additionally, Miciak talked about the plans for a new field house. Although the project is in early development, Miciak suggested that the location of the new field house has been decided already. 

“We’ll begin construction for the Field House that will start in the Belvoir parking lot all the way up to Millor Hall,” Miciak said. “At that point, or at some point, maybe this summer or next summer, Millor Hall will come down and the field house will come toward the back quad. That’s an exciting space, it will have a connecting space to the Lombardo Center, so it’s not just an indoor sports facility.” 

Though it’s unclear what new facilities the field house will include, the Administration has hosted several workshops to gauge student priorities both for renovation of current buildings and potential new projects. 

Another aspect of the Strategic Plan that Miciak shared was a goal for further “Inclusive Excellence.” Miciak said he would be exploring, “How do we drive more diversity on the campus in curricula, in our student populations, and the faculty and staff populations?

“We have seen, on the enrollment side, our applicant pool is 25% non-white, persons of color this year. That is up from 15% five years ago, and a couple percent every year since. We’re moving in positive directions, but probably not far enough and not fast enough… On the staff and faculty hiring side, we do spend considerable effort trying to identify candidates from underrepresented backgrounds to invite them into our applicant pool.”

Finally, the president added that the University is looking at additional redevelopment options. While no decisions have yet been made, Miciak shared that the administration is considering several ideas involving the area around Fairmount Circle possibly including “redevelopment for upper class housing, off-campus living for Juniors and Seniors,” though no specifics were divulged.

“We’re open for ideas. If you’re around me long enough, you’ll hear me say, ‘We have more money than we have great ideas.’ We don’t have more money than we have bad ideas or good ideas, we need great ideas.” 

When asked about adding a bar on campus, Miciak joked, “There’s one across the street!”