A little more than a year after his first public address, University of Akron President R.J. Nemer is celebrating — and encouraging the university and city to join him.
The cause for celebration? Growth. Specifically a 9.7% increase in first-time, first-year students, a number he said led colleges across Ohio. That number sits alongside increases in student population across academic cohorts, such as undergraduate and graduate students, and an increased retention rate.
“Our census number has grown, but we have also renewed energy in our unique identity,” Nemer said Wednesday afternoon in a State of the University address at the Akron Press Club.
“We’re being authentically Akron.”
While his 2024 speech centered on strengths and struggles, Wednesday’s event focused on wins he oversaw as well as his vision for the university’s brand and future.
That branding, the “More Yes” campaign, was front and center in Nemer’s address. He called it more than a tagline to share with prospective students. It’s a “holistic concept” of what Akron’s flagship institution of higher education is and does.
“Let’s commit to a revitalized University of Akron built around identity, authenticity, history and collective culture,” Nemer said. “Those values are in the core of the Akron brand, and it is on us to live that in every interaction.”
Wins in first year on the job cause for celebration
Nemer said the university’s areas of growth — besides increased enrollment — included:
- Garnering recognition with younger generations after Streamer U’s digital success
- Reducing campus footprint, including the sale of properties
- Decreasing the budget deficit by 50%
- Championship success for athletics, including men’s basketball, indoor and outdoor track and women’s indoor track
- Starting construction of a brick and concrete project on Buchtel Commons walkway
- Funds acquired for renovation of the Polsky building
Nemer also pledged to not let these wins interfere with the priorities he’s set for the next year. He listed five areas he and other campus leaders will focus on:
- Continued enrollment growth
- Improved finances
- Reputation
- Personal development for faculty, staff and students
- Campus beautification
The key to these priorities? Continuing to expand the student population and keeping them in Akron through graduation.
To that end, Nemer said he was beginning to expand the university’s recruitment efforts beyond the counties adjacent to Summit County, a different approach than in the past. He said the university recently expanded its recruitment to the Columbus area, asking prospective students to “visit that school up north; not that far up north.”
University of Akron finances trending in right direction but not balanced yet
With increasing student enrollment as the tip of the spear, Nemer said the second most pressing priority is balancing the budget. When he took the job, Nemer said, the University of Akron routinely ran a deficit of $25 million to $30 million.
“We were able to cut that operating deficiency from $28 million down to $14 [million], so 50% cut in the first year,” Nemer said. “Over the next two years, we will plan to continually turn that to get to a point of it being level.”
Once the budget is balanced, he said, the financial focus will shift to replenishing university reserves. A major part of that initial drop in deficit spending was restructuring and cutting degree programs and selling off parts of the university’s footprint such as the Medina campus, Quaker Square and the Martin Center.
Nemer said there are no planned layoffs in the immediate future. That follows a Reduction in Force initiative he started soon after taking office that, while not leading to any layoffs, led to several faculty members leaving through voluntary buyouts, a move that rankled some on campus.
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Sports ‘hyperbole’ at center of Nemer’s desire for university to win
Locally famous for his transition from high-powered sports agent to university president, Nemer can’t leave behind the competitiveness that comes with athletics.
When he was dean of the college of business, he said he pushed his staff to aim higher than being ranked among Northeast Ohio’s top three — out of four — destinations for obtaining business degrees.
“You enter any tournament to win, right?” Nemer asked the Akron Press Club audience hypothetically. “So we’re here. We’re here to win, not just locally, but globally.”