BGSU administrators, students tapped for ODK

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Bowling Green State University Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Gregory Christopher, six other administrators and 34 students were inducted into the University’s Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious leadership honor societies, on Dec. 4.

The initiation ceremony took place in the University’s Prout Chapel. BGSU President Carol Cartwright, also an ODK member, addressed the inductees and their guests.

The other administrators inducted were Dr. Bryan Cavins, assistant dean of students for leadership programs; Dr. Jodi Devine, associate director of academic affairs and director of the Honors Learning Community; Michael Ginsburg, associate dean of students; Dr. Emily Monago, interim director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs; Dr. Julie Snyder, interim director of the Ribeau President’s Leadership Academy, and Jodi Webb, senior associate dean of students.

The students are all juniors, seniors or graduate students. They were selected for membership based on academic achievement and demonstrated excellence and leadership in two or more of five categories: athletics; campus and community service, social and religious activities and campus government; journalism, speech and mass media; creative and performing arts; and scholarship.

Christopher, who also has the title of assistant vice president of student affairs, is in his fourth year at Bowling Green. He oversees an 18-sport program and has a budget of $16.5 million and 73 full-time employees. Bowling Green is one of only 13 Division I-A schools in the country to sponsor football, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s ice hockey.

Cavins earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at Bowling Green and began work at the University in 1998 as a hall director. As assistant dean, he is responsible for the planning and development of all campuswide leadership development programs, including the Honors Program, residential learning communities and the Center for Service-Learning. Having completed studies in recreation and leisure activities, he also serves as an instructor in the University’s School of Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies.

Devine is responsible for the University Honors Program and the Honors Learning Community. In cooperation with a faculty director, Devine directs a staff of six, coordinates the academic advising of more than 1,000 students and teaches an honors class titled “An Introduction to Critical Thinking.” She also develops and implements cultural and intellectual extracurricular programs for the honors students. She earned her doctoral degree from Bowling Green in 2001.

Ginsburg is responsible for directing all of the University’s nonacademic student discipline programs, including the training of all University staff involved in interpreting and administering the student code of conduct. He is also responsible for coordinating emergency services that are part of the student crisis and emergency on-call program. Having joined the staff in 1995, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Indiana University.

Monago has worked at the University since 1999 and early this year was named interim director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. As director, she supervises a staff of six and is responsible for the development and implementation of programs and services that enhance diversity education on campus. Those programs include conducting diversity workshops for students, faculty and staff, and developing and maintaining a Web-based diversity resource center. This past year, she earned her doctoral degree from the University.

Snyder, who has worked at the University since 1999 and earned her doctoral degree from BGSU in 2008, is interim director of the Ribeau President’s Leadership Academy. As director, she oversees a four-year scholarship program that currently has 115 students enrolled and working toward a bachelor’s degree. She is responsible for administering a $1.8 million budget. She is a member of the American Association of University Women and in 2006 was presented with a Faculty Award for Academic Excellence.

This past year, Webb was promoted to senior associate dean of students. Before that, she served as a residence hall director, assistant director of on-campus housing, director of Orientation and First-Year Programs and associate dean of students. She joined the University staff in 1991, immediately after completing her master’s degree in college student personnel at BGSU. She has received several awards while at the University, including an Outstanding Student Affairs Service Award in 1994.

ODK was founded in 1914 at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. Bowling Green’s chapter, or circle, was created in 1949, and more than 1,680 students, faculty, staff and alumni have been initiated since then.

Currently, more than 300 colleges and universities have campus circles. Inductees have included former presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush; journalist and broadcaster Walter Cronkite; associate justice of the Supreme Court Lewis Powell Jr.; NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, and scientist Jonas Salk.

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(Posted December 04, 2009 )