BOARD OF TRUSTEES - Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees ... John Butler, Wheeler Coleman ... Committee Chair Marshall commended those that put this together and recognized

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS, STUDENT AFFAIRS

AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE

November 17, 2016

Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Personnel Committee -i- November 17, 2016

No item in this report for release prior to 11 a.m. Thursday, November 17, 2016

A G E N D A

NIU Board of Trustees ACADEMIC AFFAIRS, STUDENT AFFAIRS AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE

11 a.m. – Thursday – November 17, 2016 Board of Trustees Room

315 Altgeld Hall

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

2. Verification of Appropriate Notification of Public Meeting

3. Meeting Agenda Approval .......................................................................................... Action........... i

4. Review and Approval of Minutes of August 25, 2016 ................................................... Action.......... 1

5. Chair's Comments/Announcements

6. Public Comment*

7. University Recommendations

a. Request for New Emphases ................................................................................. Action........ 13

b. Request for Deletion of Minors ............................................................................. Action........ 14

c. Request to Delete a Program ............................................................................... Action........ 15

d. Request for Deletion of Emphasis and New Degree Program ................................. Action........ 16

e. Appointments-Faculty and Administrative Employees ............................................ Action........ 17

8. University Report

a. Professional Excellence Awards for Faculty and Staff ..................................... Information........ 20

b. Oversight of Academic Programs .................................................................. Information........ 22

c. Residential Life Update ................................................................................ Information........ 24

d. Presidential Commission Update .................................................................. Information........ 25

e. Program Prioritization Update ...................................................................... Information........ 26

9. Other Matters

10. Next Meeting Date

11. Adjournment

Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Personnel Committee -ii- November 17, 2016

Anyone needing special accommodations to participate in the NIU Board of Trustees meetings should contact Ellen Andersen, Director of Special Events, at (815)753-1999, as soon as possible.

*Individuals wishing to make an appearance before the Board should consult the Bylaws of the Board of

Trustees of Northern Illinois University, Article II, Section 4 – Appearances before the Board. Appearance

request forms will be available in the Board Room the day of the meeting. For more information contact

Kathleen Carey, ([email protected]) Recording Secretary to the Board of Trustees, Altgeld Hall 300, DeKalb,

IL 60115, 815-756-1273.

http://www.niu.edu/board/bylaws/index.shtml

Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee 1 November 17, 2016

Minutes of the

NIU Board of Trustees Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee

August 25, 2016

CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

The meeting was called to order at 10:25 a.m. by Chair Robert Marshall in the Board of Trustees Room,

315 Altgeld Hall. Recording Secretary Kathy Carey conducted a roll call. Members present were Trustees Robert Boey, John Butler, Wheeler Coleman, Matthew Holmes, Cherilyn Murer, Tim Struthers, Board Chair

Marc Strauss and Committee Chair Robert Marshall. Also present: Mike Mann, Jerry Blazey, Lisa Freeman, Al Phillips, Anne Kaplan, Brad Bond, Jeff Reynolds, Anne Birberick, Anne Hardy, Rebecca Babel, Suzanne

Degges-White and UAC Greg Long, Cathy Doederlein, Leanne VandeCreek.

VERIFICATION OF QUORUM AND APPROPRIATE NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING

General Counsel Blakemore indicated the appropriate notification of the meeting has been provided pursuant to the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Mr. Blakemore also advised that a quorum was present.

MEETING AGENDA APPROVAL

Chair Marshall asked for a motion to approve the meeting agenda. Trustee Strauss so moved and Trustee

Boey seconded. The motion passed.

REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Chair Marshall asked for a motion to approve the minutes of May 19, 2016. Trustee Strauss so moved and

Trustee Boey seconded. The motion passed.

CHAIR’S COMMENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Chair Marshall welcomed back faculty and students, and welcomed those new to the institution. He noted the energy and excitement around the campus. He charged the campus to pitch in and keep the energy

going despite the budget challenges.

He continued that there are two approval items and three information items. The action items include a

recommendation for a specialization in Community College Leadership within the Doctorate of Education in Adult and Higher Education program, and the collective bargaining agreement with the Metropolitan

Alliance of Police. The first information item is an opportunity to recognize the emeritus professors. The

designation of emeritus is routinely granted by the university and the Board of Trustees to tenured, ranked, faculty members who retire from the university in good standing. Some of the benefits in addition to the

title recognition include continued access to NIU e-mail, free parking on campus, invitations to certain special events, and award ceremonies. Additionally, there are two presentations. Brad Bond, Dean of the

Graduate School, will share on NIU’s connection to Fulbright and Rebecca Babel, Director of Financial Aid, Ann Hardy the Director of the Scholarship Office, and Jeff Reynolds Director of Academic Analysis and

Reporting will present the work of the Institutional Aid Task Force.

PUBLIC COMMENT


Chair Marshall asked Mr. Blakemore whether any members of the public registered a written request to

address the board in accordance with the state law and Board of Trustee bylaws.

General Counsel Blakemore indicated that there were no requests for public comment.

Chair Marshall thanked him and recognized the members representing the University Advisory Committee;

Professor Leanne VandeCreek, and then also our Faculty Senate President Dr. Greg Long. He asked if they had comments.

Dr. Long acknowledged the emeritus faculty members and thanked them for their years of service to the

university. The university could not accomplish what it has accomplished without their work. He noted that more than half of the individuals on the emeritus list are full professors and of the individuals that have

retired, the 32 individuals there, they represent a little over 5% of our tenure/tenure track faculty on

campus. He said it represents a significant loss to NIU. Their history and accomplishments are transitioning but NIU will continue to go forward with the recognition that losing this many individuals to retirement

presents a challenge for us.

Chair Marshall thanked him for his comments.

UNIVERSITY RECOMMENDATIONS/REPORT

Agenda Item 7.a.

Request for New Specialization

Committee Chair Marshall asked Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. Freeman to present the university

report.

Executive Vice President and Provost Freeman thanked Trustee Marshall and welcomed everyone back to the new academic year. She expressed being inspired by the enthusiasm felt from the people who are

coming to our campus for the first time as new students, as new faculty, and as new staff members.

The first action item under university recommendations is the request for a new specialization, a

Specialization in Community College Leadership within the Ed.D. in Adult and Higher Education. This program has been supported by Community College Presidents and Provosts from around the state of

Illinois. Dr. Freeman asked the chair of the Department of Adult and Higher Education, Dr. Degges-White,

to make a few comments before the university recommendation was read.

Chair Degges-White thanked Dr. Freeman and shared her enthusiasm for being able to offer this degree program. Over the past few years, the Adult and Higher Education (AHE) program has delivered cohort

model doctoral degree programs at Harper College, Elgin Community College, and several other community

colleges in the area. Due to reduction in faculty over the years and having limited models focused on particular colleges, we received a challenge from Dean Bond to develop an on-line program for community

colleges. As the number of faculty grew in AHE, we were able to develop this program. The curricular model was developed using input from community college leaders. This is a three year program with a cohort

based model. It will be developed as a specialization and we will propose differential tuition with the ability to be able to offer it around the world for the same cost as NIU in-state tuition.

Executive Vice President and Provost Freeman read the recommendation: The university recommends that the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee endorse this request and ask that the

president forward it by means of his report to the Board of Trustees for approval at their next meeting on September 15th.

Chair Marshall asked for a motion.


Trustee Murer moved and Trustee Coleman seconded. Discussion followed.

Trustee Butler asked whether or not this would be an Ed.D. and if Dr. Degges-White could explain the dissertation of practice?

Chair Degges-White explained that a dissertation of practice is basically the model of a dissertation but rather than the research question, the way Ph.D. type dissertation is framed, it is applicable research at

the site their working at already. The same rigor but a different application and a different research methodology.

Trustee Butler asked to be walked through the program as it would be for a student with a master’s degree

who is an administrator at a community college. Will courses be offered at NIU?

Chair Degges-White stated that the program is going to be a fully on-line program with a one week face-

to-face intensive at the Naperville campus each summer. Naperville was selected as there is adequate housing and easily accessible restaurants. We had a pilot this summer with a one week intensive for six

people interested in beginning the program once it becomes a specialization. Courses will be sequenced

and students will take two courses per semester. Each course will be an 8 week course and will not overlap. The hope is that it will be less overwhelming with this structure, so students can focus on continuing their

jobs while pursuing their education. As it is three years, it begins in the summer and goes through the end of the third summer. With the exception of the three one week summer intensives, it would be completely

on-line.

Trustee Butler responded that this is an excellent program. He continued by commending Executive Vice

President and Provost Freeman and President Baker for the work done in establishing this program. He noted that there are many potential advantages for NIU to offer this program and thanked all for their work

on it.

Committee Chair Marshall commended those that put this together and recognized the important segment

of the degree for student affairs trainees. He emphasized the importance of community college hires having this level of education.

Trustee Butler asked when the degree would be offered online.

Chair Degges-White said that the program is currently being offered via the pilot she referred to earlier. We had six students that signed up for this and they were in open classes this summer. Currently, we

have a collaboration with the Department of Education, Technology, Research, and Assessment to get the research course designed for what the students need. Dr. Scott Paska will be teaching a course beginning

in October. It is ready to roll.

Committee Chair Marshall noted if there was no further discussion he would call a vote. The motion passed.

Board Liaison Mann asked the committee chair to take a quick roll call. Committee Chair Marshall asked

Ms. Carey to call the role. All board members confirmed they were present. Board Liaison Mann confirmed with General Counsel Brady that there was no need to revote on the first recommendation.

Agenda Item 7.b. Collective Bargaining Agreement Executive Vice President and Provost Freeman continued to agenda item 7.b. which was a collective

bargaining agreement with Metropolitan Alliance of Police Chapter 292. This is a collective bargaining unit

that represents approximately 13 employees in the classification of police sergeant at NIU. This is a four


year agreement that is retroactive effective from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2018. The start date

represents the time when it went into arbitration. The recommendation to the Board of Trustees is that the terms and conditions of this agreement are consistent with university policies and guidelines. The university

recommends that Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee endorse this request and ask that the president forward it by means of the president’s report to the Board of Trustees for approval at its

meeting on September 15, 2016.

Committee Chair Marshall asked for a motion. Trustee Coleman moved. Trustee Strauss seconded the

motion. The motion passed.

Agenda Item 8.a. 2015-2016 Faculty Emeritus Recognition Executive Vice President and Provost Freeman noted the number of information items requested by the Board of Trustees or those that occur routinely at this time in the academic year life cycle. The first is the

recognition of our faculty emeriti. Both Faculty Senate President Dr. Long and Committee Chair Marshall

recognized the impact of these excellent members of NIU’s community. Dr. Freeman added her recognition to this long list of individuals who served NIU in distinguished faculty roles dedicated to all aspects of the

university mission. They are being granted emeriti status with their departments, ranks, special status, and dates as indicated in the board report.

Agenda Item 8.b. NIU Fulbright Presentation Executive Vice President and Provost Freeman moved to item 8.b., a presentation by Dean Bond about

NIU’s interactions with various Fulbright programs. This is a point of pride for the university and I thank

Trustee Marshall for requesting this presentation on behalf of the board.

Dean Bond presented a summary of the Fulbright program including a history of the program. He noted the two buckets of programs for U.S. citizens. The first for U.S. citizens involves going abroad to do

research, an English teaching assistant program, the Specialist program, and programs for U.S. scholars.

Research and teaching is the largest one. It is the type of program most are probably most familiar with.

The other bucket of programs in the Fulbright area are for international citizens. They mirror, although not perfectly, the programs for U.S. citizens. There are programs for international students, visiting research

students, and student fellowships. These are the programs that NIU has a consistent number of students

from that every year attend to be degree recipients. Additionally there are foreign language teaching assistant programs that are available to international students and for international scholars there are also

research programs.

At NIU this year we have three students who are going on Fulbright fellowships abroad. Hannah Eboh who is a master’s student in Geography is headed to Dominica to do research for her master’s thesis. She is

also working with a government agency to work on wave finding during times of natural disaster. Shannon

Thomas is a master’s student in the department of Anthropology. She is headed to the Philippines to do research in an ethnic community that is undergoing a lot of change because of the encroachment of the

tourism industry. Ang Charczuk graduated in May of 2015 with an undergraduate degree in foreign languages. She is certified to teach in public schools of Illinois and she is an English teaching assistant in

Spain.

Regarding Fulbright NIU faculty, there is one NIU faculty member this year, Dr. Jui-Ching Wang from the

School of Music who leaves shortly to go to Indonesia for nine months and do research and teaching. She would have joined the meeting today, but is currently at a conference. Her colleague Greg Beyer in School


of Music was a Fulbright fellow last year. He is a percussionist. He studied Brazilian drumming in Brazil.

Giovanni Bennardo, a cultural anthropologist, spent the previous year in Venice teaching and doing research. Brian Sandberg from the Department of History, two or three years ago was a Fulbright scholar

in France. The research that Sandberg did in France has resulted in a recently published book.

Currently at NIU we also have international students, Fulbright fellows who are here on our campus. There

are nine Fulbright fellows who are here seeking degrees this year. We have four foreign language teaching assistants. The Center for Southeast Asia Studies uses Fulbright foreign language teaching assistants

(FLTA) a lot to do introductory language courses. This year FLTA’s are from Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. We typically have two to four FLTA’s every year. We have one Fulbright student

researcher who is on campus currently and may have one or two others yet to come. These individuals are usually doctoral students in foreign countries and they are being sponsored through Fulbright to do research

with some of our faculty for a year.

There are also Fulbright scholars; these are faculty members at other institutions who come to work with

our faculty. We are going to have a few very soon.

Fulbright programs are administered through the state department, through the Bureau of Educational and

Cultural Affairs, and then the bureau then subcontracts out with some non-governmental organizations. Probably most notably is the Institute for International Education (IIE) and we have a very good working

relationship. IIE runs almost all of the Fulbright fellowship programs as well as the competitions. They help to get the students into the country. These are the international students who come to study for

degrees. IIE is also responsible for employing institutions to run gateway orientation programs. There are five institutions each year scattered across the country that run these programs and NIU just completed its

second year of gateway orientation for Fulbright scholars. We had 70 students from 52 countries here on

campus a couple weeks ago for four days of orientation to U.S. and orientation to U.S. academic culture.

Committee Chair Marshall asked if there were questions or comments.

Trustee Murer asked whether Fulbright scholars are limited on what age they can be, for example, a

Fulbright scholar could not be over 35. Dean Bond replied for Fulbright fellows or students that is correct, but not for scholars. They clarified that scholars refers to faculty.

Trustee Coleman asked whether these are traditionally one year programs or if they can go beyond that?

Dean Bond replied that for scholars it is up to one year, but degree seeking students have the normal

degree completion time. The FLTA’s are one year and U.S. students that go abroad is one year. Trustee Coleman asked whether scholars get their normal pay. Dean Bond replied yes, that gets negotiated with

the institution. He continued that faculty with global focus, will try to align their Fulbright research travel with a sabbatical. Also, there is supplemental pay from Fulbright, although it is not quite what faculty get

paid.

Committee Chair Marshall asked whether Fulbright was predicted to grow. Dean Bond said that NIU

students who apply for Fulbright have a faculty advisor and we have faculty who have done these programs before, so they have a lot of enthusiasm and love to work with students. NIU has discussed having 8

applicants a year for the student programs. There is a lot of emphasis on having Fulbright students at NIU and sending NIU students abroad.

Committee Chair Marshall thanked Dean Bond for his presentation.

Executive Vice President and Provost Freeman noted that she wanted to call particular attention to the fact that Dr. Jon Winston Carnahan, former Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is listed

on the emeriti list with a retirement date of July 1, 2015. He actually remained with the university in service as we looked for a Chemistry chair over the course of the past year. When he was really ready to hang up


his hat and join his family and play golf and play his wonderful guitar in venues around campus, he passed

away very suddenly and unexpectedly. With many university officials, I attended Dr. Carnahan’s funeral service and one of the most moving presentations was from an international student who had gotten his

doctorate with Dr. Carnahan. He and his wife were at NIU and had children, and brought those children to the laboratory who spend holidays with the Carnahan’s, and went to the baseball games coached by

Carnahan. I would like to take a moment for all of us to remember Jon.

Agenda Item 8.c. Institutional Aid Task Force Report Dr. Freeman proceeded to item 8.c., the Institutional Aid Task Force report. This is a presentation that

some of you may have seen previously at the August retreat of our leadership across the university. It represents a herculean effort with many positive outcomes undertaken by the individuals who will be

making the presentation and as well as others who collaborated successfully for the benefit of our students.

Director Hardy thanked Board Chair Strauss and the trustees for inviting them to talk about the scope of

the work of the Institutional Aid Task Force. She also thanked President Baker, Executive Vice President and Provost Freeman, and Vice President Phillips for their guidance and support on this project.

Director Hardy provided a history of the creation of the task force. President Baker charged the Task Force

to recommend and implement holistic solutions for the use of institutional aid. Working with President

Baker’s vision the task force steering committee determined that the work would result in an enhanced student experience, optimize use of funds, and maximize use of resources in relations to our strategic goals

which will ultimately impact recruitment and retention. Director Hardy recognized the steering committee and thanked them for their time and dedication to this project.

The steering committee created four working groups. In total there are about 20 members of working

groups representing faculty and staff across the university. Areas represented included, the Foundation,

Athletics, Academic Affairs, DoIT, and coincidentally we do have a Fulbright fellow who is serving as our project manager intern. Our membership is fluid. We bring in campus experts when we need. We add new

members all the time as we have conversations. The working groups have put in countless hours so far in four focus areas; assessment and data analysis, budget processes and funding sources, strategic planning

and technology, and business processes. Director Hardy asked Director Babel to take over the presentation.

Director Babel noted that they are still working and do not have all the results yet. They have learned

many interesting things along the way, and have created a compendium of information that has hundreds of documents and thousands of pieces of information. Currently, the steering committee and the sub

groups have access to the information, as well as the president, the provost and the vice president for

administration and finance. It is continually being added to. There is an abundance of data, but it has not been pulled all together yet. There is an intersected data point, but it has not been analyzed yet. Starting

the two weeks prior to the start of the school semester and during the start of the semester, my office has to focus its attention on meeting with students and processing documents. It is not easy to say that we

have not been able to work on it over the last few weeks, but it is a very fluid process.

The task force is working together with program prioritization, with the budget process, and with the

Academic Equity Gap project. Those are also, very broad, university wide projects that are asking many of the same questions and have a lot of common data. All of these projects all need to inform each other,

and have been working very collaboratively. All of these projects are represented on the steering committee, in the academic equity gap group. The committee is looking at students of color, first generation

students, and Pell recipients. We know that 78% of our undergraduate student body fall into one of these

categories. Director Hardy continued that there has to be a cohesive intersection for all of these projects and they are working on being multi-dimensional, looking at policy in a top down way.

They are working to involve all colleges, all departments, and all decision makers.


Director Babel shared many of the fascinating things the task force has learned thus far. There are 700 different points of scholarship decisions and over 100 different authorities making scholarship decisions. A

huge directory and flow charts have been created and are mind boggling when you look at them of all the different ways funding and scholarship decisions are made at the university and the various intersection

points of people who are making those decisions.

Director Hardy continued to describe the current funding environment of NIU. For example, a college

freshman starting at NIU this fall living in a Stevenson double, which is our medium priced residence hall, $10,766. Their basic tuition and fees without materials is going to be $12,213. That is a total bill for the

year of $22,979. That is without material fees for classes, books, health insurance, transportation, incidental cost of education; and to offset that, maximum external financial aid for the high need students who have

gone through the federal methodology process and have been determined their family has no capacity to

pay, will have $4,720 in the Illinois MAP grant, $5,815 in the Pell grant, and about $5,500 in student loan for $16,000 of resources. That leaves us short over $6,000 in hard, direct charges not including books or

health insurance. It goes up to about $9,000 when you add in books and health insurance that either has to come from the family who has been federally determined to have no capacity to pay, or from NIU, or

from donors, private outside groups.

In 2003/2004, our total full-time, full-year cost for a student living on campus was $11,472 and now we’re

at the $22,979 so we’ve have an enormous increase in cost. In that same time period, the total cost, that 13 year time period, the total amount of external aid has gone up about $1,800. The Illinois state monitory

award has gone up $600 in that time frame and the Pell grant has gone up about $1,200 in that time frame. Student loan, maximum amounts students can borrow have not increased at all in that time frame.

So dollar for dollar our neediest students have experienced about a $9,000 increase in need over that time

period. But the median income in Illinois has only risen about 3% in that time period. The old “you can work yourself though college” simply does not exist in our current economy. This is very difficult

information. The task force is looking at all kinds of indices that might help us even describe a family’s willingness to pay over a number of different time periods and we are going to talk about a net tuition

revenue model that we are creating with the hope that it is going to be a core model that will be used by

this project, used by program prioritization, and be used in different components of it by the budget project.

Director Hardy continued that the project got started late fall and we are utilizing the process improvement and operational effectiveness transformation method in place by the university for all new projects. The

task force is defining the problem, measuring, analyzing, and improving. This is a long term project. We

have completed a great number of things that we know will impact positively FY18. That is Phase 1. We will enter Phase 2 and Phase 3, 4, 5, 6, this is a long term project.

She continued to share a few things that have already been done. A comprehensive catalog of all our

awards was created. And as noted, across 62 departments, there are 750 funding sources for scholarships and grants that have over 110 account managers and nobody is doing anything the same so it was a very

daunting task to collect that. Also created, an aggregate report to delineate aid categories, which means

we can run this report by anything, a merit scholarship, a MAP grant and look at indicators such as GPA, EFC, total family income, ethnicity, year in school. Although we can run this report now, there is still a lot

of analyzing and cataloging to do.

This spring we partnered with the NIU Foundation to include campus awards with the initial financial aid.

That was a really big step and a big business process change. It makes the award letters that we send out to students that much more correct and results in less of us going back to make changes and perhaps take

away previously offered aid to students. We completed a business process and technology gap analysis. There is about 20 steps from getting a gift to making an award to a student. At every one of those 20

steps we identified a problem where something could go wrong. Based on that, we made a recommendation to purchase a software solution called Academic Works. This is a cloud based solution that we hope will


help not only students but will help our staff manage their process better. Academic Works is going to

create a student centered scholarship experience. Instead of going to the financial aid office and then to their department and then their college office and then maybe then to honors and fill out several different

scholarship applications, students will have one place to go for all scholarship applications. Faculty and staff who administer scholarships will have access to the information they need to make decision about

scholarship recipients. They will know if students have received other aid. They will know the financial

status of those students and they will have all of that information in one place. This is providing a centralized oversight to this decentralized process. Above all what we want to do is improve our fund utilization. Over

the past few years, NIU has only utilized just above 50% of available expendable foundation funds. It is our goal to be exceeding 80% of those funds and we believe this tool will really help us get there.

There are a few other things that are in progress, although implementing Academic Works is the number

one. We are planning to go live with that system by the end of the semester again to impact the 2017/2018

academic year for scholarship recipients. Part of that process involves reviewing all of our donor guidelines to make sure that our departments are in compliance with the guidelines as specified by the donors. We

also are in the process of creating scholarship policy. We have not written scholarship policy. When new staff come on board and new faculty are involved in this, they do not know what to do. We are creating

these policies and we are creating training guides as well. We are going to be conducting a tuition waiver

review. A lot of our funding is in tuition waivers and we want to make sure that we are doing the best that we can with each of those categories. And finally, we have consolidated the financial aid and scholarship

office. They were previously two separate offices and I am happy to announce that we are the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office. We will serve students better and be able to use our human and fiscal resources

much better.

Director Babel noted that strategic use of aid can do many things. It can maximize revenue. We know that

we can actually shape a class according to the mission and the goals of the institution. We know that we can provide access to students. We know that we need to come up with policies and plans that will drive

the stability and growth of NIU and we know that we have a lot of competing priorities that we are trying to balance. In order to do that we need the data and the analysis to do that. Many questions have to

inform this process. What is the mission of the institution? Who are the students that we are trying to

attract? What are our priorities? This is a lot of the conversation that had to take place over time and outside of this group. Director Reynolds will talk about the net tuition revenue model we have been working

on.

Director Reynolds commended Directors Babel and Hardy, who have taken really the leadership role in this.

There is a very large team that is working, it is a very diverse team. I am working on the assessment and data analysis portion. I suggested a granular grass roots approach, bottom up as opposed to top down or

across the institution in terms of processes. And the question for consideration include; are we utilizing existing resources of institutional aid, institutional aid being financial aid, including things like graduate

assistant waivers, employee waivers, items like that. Also, are we using it in an optimal way within a given fiscal year?

One way we can go ahead and take a look at this is of course by looking at every single student’s registration in terms of their courses. The anchor of the data analysis is really the course section and not necessarily

the student. I will give you an example, for an undergraduate student taking five core sections, five courses if you will, we are going to look at five rows of course data and literally the data elements in this are not

only what is the course section, college, the Carnegie classification, but the demographics of the student.

Fees relative to that course section, as well as fees relative to the undergraduate, graduate, law, student at large, what we call career of the individual. The billing cycle of that individual. Very quickly we realize

that the data is not just in one area in the student system or in the financial system, but it is across independent data sources. What I have done is work with IT colleagues, really four developers, and we

have produced initial data sets. We will do it across say three, four, five fiscal years to go ahead and get a sample and then we will do data summary and analysis and actually see what is the tuition revenue coming


in from a given collection of course sections registered by undergraduates, graduates, laws, and student

at large.

I have mentioned student at large as a different example because I will provide a case scenario for this classification. For example, a graduate student could have a waiver, therefore, we need to be cognizant in

terms of if you will have negative externalities. A decrease in graduate assistantships effects instructional

capacity in a department, so tenure-tenure eligible faculty can go ahead and dedicate their activities towards not only teaching, but also research and service. Literally the capacity of this is data set, we are

talking about 160,000 rows of data. This is preliminary as we do not have results yet. There is a lot of data discovery and summary statistics.

One of the next steps will be to look at the equitability given the student cohorts that we are evaluating.

We are given the efficiency of the resource allocation that we have within a fiscal year, then we can match

up gross revenue, less the discounts that we dedicate that is the net tuition revenue. We take that net tuition revenue, the revenue side and we go ahead and take a look at programmatic costs and we say are

we officially price pointing a given degree program, a given major, a given emphasis. We can do this flexibly at the graduate level as Chair Degges-White mentioned. On the revenue side, are we price pointing our

degree programs efficiently relative to the market but also in the sense of keeping an eye on equitability

and also on efficiency of resource allocation.

Director Babel noted that once the model has been finalized and the data has been set, then our ultimate phase is to build a model on it. We have worked on a prototype of this, we are building a model so that

once we determine the student’s ability to pay, willingness to pay, the effect of price point on enrollment; we can model out changes in scholarships. This will allow us to determine the impact for the next five

years on net revenue and on enrollment.

Director Hardy said financial aid leveraging is a component of enrollment management and is an art and a

science. As more and more data is discovered and analyzed and we have more conversations with all of our stakeholders across the campus, we have realized this art piece needs to be discussed and determined.

We cannot continue to be all things to all people if we want to use our institutional resources wisely. Every

time we have a conversation it generates more questions. So we really need to know what kind of institution we are? We know who we serve but who should we be serving and who do we want to serve? Those are

different questions. How does anything we do impact or how does aid impact specific populations as it relates to strategic enrollment? Do we disadvantage average students? Are we giving our money to needy

students or to high achieving students? What about those middle income students that Rebecca was

describing earlier? How does aid impact diversity? To answer that question what kind of diversity are we talking about? Academic, ethnic, other types of diversity? Finally how does academic and financial access

relate to admission and retention criteria? There are so many questions. These are just a few. I think we generated about four pages of questions, but this is just something to get the conversation started and to

get everybody thinking. That concludes our formal presentation but we would be happy to entertain questions.

Board Chair Strauss said that the work is wonderful and he thanked the people who have participated in the project to this point. It allows us to start to be able to frame the way in which we consider a number

of issues that are fundamental to our survivability as an institution. While it is called financial, how to deal

with scholarships, the data that relates to variable costing and whether we have proper pricing model for the products that we’re offering are equally as important. I like this in a way though, the way in which you

would conduct a drug study where you could have an interim result that’s so positive that there are things that you want to do before the study is complete and while we need the rigor of having the linear thought

process that’s involved in the entire way that you have laid out the work, I do hope that what we’ll do is

figure out whether we have opportunities that are immediately available and take advantage of them. I don’t know that we have the luxury of time to take three or five years to be able to come up with the final

conclusions and to answer all of the questions, but we have some questions that are very fundamental and


I hope we can focus on answering those questions and finding the things that it’s possible for us to

implement more quickly. But when I heard this presentation the first time, I was struck by both the complexity of it, the initiative taken by the people who have been involved in it to see some of the avenues

down which this can be located and impressed by the progress that we’ve been able to make in a relatively short period of time. I hope we’re able to keep up the momentum that we already have for the project.

Trusted Murer echoed Trustee Strauss’s commendation to the presenters and to your committee. She asked two questions, one may be just rhetorical, but should it have surprised me and did it surprise you at how

many questions had been unanswered and that for an institution that has been around for over 100 years. It is not a brand new concept to public universities and private universities. So that is my first question, did

this surprise you and should we have been surprised that there was so much work to be done in this area? And the second question relates to what role, if any, did Lipman Hearne have on assisting you? We know

that we spent a great deal of money on their consulting services to enrollment and wondered if they helped

to accelerate your process?

Director Hardy replied that this goes back to that intersection with our other campus projects; program prioritization. That was the first time our institution has undertaken something like that. That has provided

an opportunity to have that data available and to really start digging into that and determining the priorities.

Following that, the conversation became how does that apply to financial aid. How do we determine priorities for financial optimization? As for the other question, we have used some data and Director Babel

you gave a great example in the last presentation of some of the data that we were asked to present with the Lipman Hearne study and how we are able to use that to inform some of our tasks here.

Babel noted that Vice President Weldy may also want to speak to this. When Lipman Hearne was here we

started asking, but Lipman Hearne was here for a very concentrated, very short period of focus time. We

had initiated a project to look at a net tuition revenue mode prior to Lipman Hearne and actually the year before had instituted a new methodology for awarding institutional aid based on net tuition revenue rather

than a cost budgeting module for which we had always used. That shift was made the fall before Lipman Hearne came. Certainly data that we gathered, we have leveraged and it has helped us ask questions, but

I would not say that they were a direct impetus into this project. We were all surprised in some, a lot of

things had been happening too narrowly. It is all one bottom line for the student and the university. Those conversations are not productive separately. It has been more of the intersection of conversations. Over

the years, and in particular when budgets were not as strained and students were not as needy, individual things would get proposed. They would be great ideas, they would be important priorities for the university,

resources would be devoted, and that thing would get done and then a year or two later there would be

some other really great thing that would get done and it would be evaluated and done. This is the continuity of looking across all of the projects and looking across the budget model, looking at revenue at a college

level and a student level, looking at pricing at both tuition and financial aid, and it is the intersection of those conversations that is new in this project.

President Baker stated the Lipman Hearne contract had concluded prior to the initiation of this group,

although some of the data did cascade forward. The Angel Touch program, where we gave money to

students that had relatively low debts, was a product of that. As I recall, it was under $2,000 and we had over 100 students that were eligible for that and the vast majority took it, stayed in school, and did not

need more financial aid going forward. That helped us experiment with some of the tactics, but this group has taken on a whole different level of analysis and a systemic one. They have developed data and data

sets that did not exist with Lipman Hearne so they were working with kind of a 1.0 and this is now moving

on to 3.0.

One of the meta-themes I see coming out of this is the maturation of the institution and the willingness to collaborate across divisions. We just had two merge. They have reached out to other divisions across the

institution, as well as to colleges, and we worked more in isolation prior to this. This is a big cultural move forward that is going to pay a lot of long term dividends. President Baker thanked this leadership team for


all of their hard work. It is not unusual to go through this kind of adolescence phase. I have seen it at my

prior institutions, where particularly in publics, they had a pretty good balance with federal and state support. They were not forced to go in and look at all the pieces and how they fit together, and then as

state budgets were cut dramatically and financial aid, federal and state did not keep up, it started putting more and more pressures on internal sources. Whether it be appropriated dollars or foundation dollars,

donated dollars, and at some point institutions would get to the point we got to; which was we got to look

at how to coordinate all of this and really spend our dollars to get to the optimal outcomes and the mix of optimal outcomes that we want. This is another big lift and these leaders have really taken it on and built

community across the university. My thanks again to them.

Trustee Butler asked whether the data shared earlier, in terms of the total amount that is invested in aid and scholarships, does that include Foundation resources?

Director Hardy replied, yes, that does include Foundation resources.

Trustee Butler asked if they could share some of the data from the presentation with the committee in a memo form as that will enable them to have better conversations internally and externally about student

need.

Director Hardy replied, yes, we can create a data packet for you.

Trustee Coleman commended them for their work and presentation. The work that you are doing will help

us turn the tide as it relates to enrollment because this is directly tied to enrollment. Affordability will determine whether or not a student will stay in our school or whether or not a student will attend our

school. I am alarmed by report of 700 funding for scholarships and 110 account managers. Without an end

game or end target how do you recruit certain types of students for our institution? I have often raised a question of how the University of Missouri can come into Chicago and get some of the best, the best of the

best, as it relates to African-American students and get them to go to Missouri and provide them with four-year scholarships and we cannot attract those students to NIU. I do not understand it, but considering our

current circumstance where there is not a concerted effort to target certain students and to attract those

students to our institution. I am wondering what Illinois State is doing in terms of attracting students to their institution. I suspect they are trying to address the affordability issue to get the type of students that

they are getting and having success at it. We have to figure this out. I am not sure if I am hearing the action plan as it relates to possibly compressing the number of account managers or the action plan as it

relates to getting everybody on the same page and having common standards or processes and that kind

of stuff. Can you elaborate a little more on that?

Director Hardy replied, yes, that is definitely part of the action plan in bringing on Academic Works. We will set up standardized means of applying for scholarships and how the departments are able to access that

data and make those decisions. In conjunction with that, developing policies and the training so that everybody is on the same page. Previously, a department would not have known, for example, a student

had already received a full scholarship and then maybe they thought that student was the best and the

brightest, so offered another award resulting in a $5,000 refund because they did not have access to that information. The new system will provide access to that information and we will be providing training to

how to utilize the information to make those decisions.

Trustee Coleman asked when the system will be leveraged, so that information is shared to process awards.

Director Harder replied it would be available for FY18. They are working right now to build all those 700+

opportunities out. Planning for it will be live in December for our students.


Committee Chair Marshall asked if there were any other comments. He asked if they could include the list

of questions that is being pulled together in the data memo that is shared. The questions are also very important. He commended the team for their continued work on the project.

OTHER MATTERS

No other matters were discussed.

NEXT MEETING DATE

The next meeting of the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee will be November 17,

2016.

ADJOURNMENT

Chair Marshall asked for a motion to adjourn. Trustee Strauss so moved and Trustee Holmes seconded.

The motion was approved. Meeting adjourned at 11:38 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Carey/Liz Wright Recording Secretary

In compliance with Illinois Open Meetings Act 5 ILCS 120/1, et seq, a verbatim record of all Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees meetings is maintained by the Board Recording Secretary and is available for review upon request. The minutes contained herein represent a true and accurate summary of the Board proceedings.


Agenda Item 7.a. Action November 17, 2016

REQUEST FOR NEW EMPHASES

New subdivisions of existing undergraduate programs are called emphases. Emphases, require the

approval of the Board of Trustees. If the board approves these additions, the university will report them in the Annual Listing of Changes sent to the Illinois Board of Higher Education in June 2017. These requests

come to the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee after receiving approval from the curriculum committees at the department, college and university levels and the concurrence of the provost.

Emphases within the B.S.Ed. in Elementary Education

Emphasis 1: Bilingual/ESL Emphasis 2: Elementary Mathematics Education

Emphasis 3: Reading Teacher Emphasis 4: Special Education

Description: The university proposes to offer four emphases within the B.S.Ed. in Elementary Education: Emphasis 1: Bilingual/ESL, Emphasis 2: Elementary Mathematics Education, Emphasis 3: Reading Teacher,

and Emphasis 4: Special Education.

Rationale: Numerous changes are proposed for the Bachelor of Science in Education in Elementary Education. Specifically, the changes proposed are: the inclusion of four areas of emphasis; direct admission

to the program; and specification of courses to satisfy general education and licensure requirements. These

changes are requested in response to demands placed on the program (both internally and externally), as an attempt to focus resources on areas/fields of competence, and to distinguish the program from other

elementary education programs found in the State of Illinois.

Costs: No new resources are needed to implement the proposed emphasis. The courses and faculty needed to offer this emphasis are currently in place.

Recommendation: The university recommends that the Academic Affairs, Students Affairs and Personnel Committee endorse these requests and asks that the president forward them by means of the President’s

Report to the Board of Trustees for approval at its meeting on December 15, 2016.


Agenda Item 7.b. Action November 17, 2016

REQUEST FOR DELETION OF MINORS

Public university governing boards have the final authority to delete minors within programs. These

requests are brought to the Academic Affairs, Students Affairs and Personnel Committee of the Board of Trustees after receiving approval from curriculum committees at the department, college and university

levels and the concurrence of the provost.

Minors in Electrical Technology, Energy Technology, Environmental Management Systems, Manufacturing Technology, Productivity, and Safety

Description: The university proposes to delete these six minors.

Rationale: Deletion of these minors is based on feedback from Program Prioritization and low enrollments.

Recommendation: The university recommends that the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Personnel

Committee endorse this request and asks that the president forward it by means of the President’s Report to the Board of Trustees for approval at its meeting December 15, 2016.


Agenda Item 7.c. Action November 17, 2016

REQUEST TO DELETE A PROGRAM

Public university governing boards have the final authority to delete programs. These requests are brought

to the Academic Affairs, Students Affairs and Personnel Committee of the Board of Trustees after receiving approval from curriculum committees at the department, college and university level and the concurrence

of the provost.

B.S.Ed. in Health Education

Description: The university proposes to delete the B.S.Ed. in Health Education degree program offered by

the School of Health Studies within the College of Health and Human Sciences

Rationale: Deletion of the B.S.Ed. in Health Education is based on feedback from Program Prioritization and low enrollments. Additionally, student needs in this area are better met with a Physical Education

major with a Health Education minor.

Recommendation: The university recommends that the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel

Committee endorse this request and ask that the president forward it by means of the President’s Report to the Board of Trustees for approval at its meeting on December 15, 2016.


Agenda Item 7.d. Action November 17, 2016

REQUEST FOR DELETION OF EMPHASIS AND NEW DEGREE PROGRAM

All deletions of emphases within a degree and new degree programs require the approval of the Board of

Trustees. Further, new degree programs require the approval of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. The following request for a deletion of an emphasis and request for a new program have received all of

the required curricular approvals at the department, college, and university levels (with the exception of the Academic Planning Council which will meet to discuss this item on November 14, 2016), and the

concurrence of the provost.

Deletion of the Emphasis 2: Rehabilitative Services in the B.S. in Health Sciences

Description: The university proposes to delete Emphasis 2: Rehabilitative Services within the B.S. in Health

Sciences program.

Overview and Rationale: A request for the removal of the emphasis in Rehabilitation Services (emphasis

2) from the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences degree program is requested for two primary reasons: (1) the B.S. program is being positioned to more directly respond to the needs of pre-professional allied

health care students, particularly those planning on entering the fields of physical therapy, medical laboratory sciences, and nursing and (2) within this context, it is not readily apparent to students that the B.S. in Health Sciences is an appropriate degree for those interested in rehabilitation and disability but who

are not planning on entering a professional allied health care field. In place of Emphasis 2: Rehabilitation

Services, the B.S. in Rehabilitation and Disability Services is being requested. The new degree better reflects

the focus of the program (rehabilitation and disability services) and increases the likelihood that prospective

students who are looking for a disability-related degree will find the program.

Creation of the B.S. in Rehabilitation and Disability Services

Description: The university seeks approval for a Bachelors of Science in Rehabilitation and Disability

Services degree program to be offered on campus. This program will be housed in the School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders within the College of Health and Human Sciences.

Overview and Rationale: A request for the removal of the emphasis in Rehabilitation Services (emphasis

2) from the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences degree program is being sought. In its place, the B.S. in Rehabilitation and Disability Services is being requested. The new degree better reflects the focus of the

program (rehabilitation and disability services) and increases the likelihood that prospective students who

are looking for a disability-related degree will find the program.

Costs: No new costs are anticipated with this program. Existing resources will continue to be directed to serve the needs of this program.

Recommendation: The university recommends that the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Personnel Committee endorse this request and asks that the president forward it by means of the President’s Report

to the Board of Trustees for approval at its meeting on December 15, 2016.


Agenda Item 7.e. Action November 17, 2016

APPOINTMENTS - FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATIVE EMPLOYEES

Recommendations for minor revisions in the Board of Trustees Regulations Section II, Subsection A. are

proposed. Revisions listed below range from minor word changes to accommodating university’s and employee unions’ needs, and include revisions suggested by the Ad Hoc Governance Committee at its

meeting on October 20, 2016. Appropriate rationale is included with each proposed revision. Additions to the text are shown in red font and eliminations of text are shown with strike through of such text.

1. Visiting Appointments

Current

The president or designee is authorized to make visiting faculty appointments to approved positions in accordance with Board Regulations as necessary and justified by prudent financial management. Visiting

appointments shall be made for persons employed outside the university or on temporary leave from such employment or retired from such employment. Visiting appointments shall be for a specific period of one

year or less. There shall be no presumption of renewal or extension of visiting appointments. Each visiting

appointment is a separate, noncontinuous appointment. Visiting faculty shall not be eligible for tenure.

Proposed The president or designee is authorized to make visiting faculty appointments to approved positions in

accordance with Board Regulations as necessary and justified by prudent financial management. Visiting appointments shall be made for persons employed outside the university or on temporary leave from such

employment or retired from such employment. Visiting appointments shall be for a specific period of one

year two years or less. There shall be no presumption of renewal or extension of visiting appointments. Each visiting appointment is a separate, noncontinuous appointment. Visiting faculty shall not be eligible

for tenure.

Rationale

1. When an academic unit is conducting a search to replace a retired or resigned tenured or tenure-track faculty member, a visiting faculty member may be hired for a year to cover the duties of the retired or

resigned tenured or tenure-track faculty member. However, under the current regulations, by the end of that one year, if the unit is unable to replace the departed faculty member of if another regular

faculty member also retires or resigns, the academic unit cannot continue or renew the existing visiting

faculty for a second year, and has to search for and hire a new visiting faculty and train that individual; this is neither productive nor efficient. The inconsistency created under existing regulations negatively

impacts students as well as creates inefficient consumptions of university resources.

2. Central Management Services (CMS) allows tenured and tenure-track faculty to go on medical leave

continuously for 2 years, and in such cases, academic units find it difficult to hire visiting faculty for one year at a time to cover the duties, especially research and scholarly activities, of the tenured and

tenure-track faculty on medical leave.

3. In some disciplines where it is difficult to recruit for tenure-track positions, especially candidates from underrepresented groups, academic units would like to hire candidates who have not completed their

doctoral degrees into visiting faculty positions, and at times these candidates need more than a year to complete their doctoral degrees while fulfilling their visiting duties at NIU before they are eligible to

be considered for tenure-track positions. Hence, the current policy discourages departments from

developing and then hiring faculty candidates from diverse backgrounds. ______________________________________________________________________________


2. Temporary Appointments

Current

Temporary appointments shall be for a specific period of one year or less. There shall be no presumption of renewal or extension of temporary appointments. Each temporary appointment is a separate,

noncontinuous appointment. Instructors or other persons appointed on a temporary instructional faculty

contract shall be limited to no more than five full-time consecutive temporary appointments. However, the president or designee may authorize an extension of this limit with justification on a case-by-case basis.

The president or designee is authorized to make such appointments in accordance with Board Regulations and as necessary and justified by prudent financial management.

Proposed

Temporary appointments shall be for a specific period of one year or less. There shall be no presumption

of renewal or extension of temporary appointments. Each temporary appointment is a separate, noncontinuous appointment. Instructors in the bargaining unit or other persons shall be appointed on a

temporary instructional faculty contracts according to their collective bargaining agreement. shall be limited to no more than five full-time consecutive temporary appointments. However, the president or designee

may authorize an extension of this limit with justification on a case-by-case basis. The president or designee

is authorized to make such appointments in accordance with Board Regulations and as necessary and justified by prudent financial management.

Rationale

Limiting temporary appointments, especially in the case of union instructors, to five full-time consecutive appointments, and then renewing them to be eligible for another five full-time appointments on an

individual basis increases transaction costs and is also unnecessary. Union instructors’ rosters and academic

units’ programmatic needs for instructors as specified in the collective bargaining agreement already take care of limiting temporary appointments as necessary. Apart from instructors there are other temporary

appointments for external grants purposes, and therefore, it is recommended the temporary appointment category is retained as it is and the proposed clarification is made about temporary appointments for

instructors.

_________________________________________________________________________

3. Adjunct Appointments

Current The president or designee is authorized to make adjunct faculty appointments as necessary and in

accordance with Board Regulations. Ordinarily such appointments will be limited to individuals who are not employees of the university; however, it may be desirable to make infrequent exceptions in the case of

noninstructional personnel who occasionally teach university courses in specialized areas. Adjunct appointees shall enjoy the normal benefits and working conditions of the faculty with the following

exceptions: They will be appointed on an annual or semester basis, will not be eligible for tenure, and will

not be permitted to participate in the State Universities Retirement System unless they occupy a concurrent university position and then only as justified by that concurrent position. Ordinarily, adjunct appointees will

not receive a salary.

Adjunct appointments shall be in addition to regular authorized positions since they do not involve regular

financial obligations. Appointees may be utilized in teaching duties, on thesis and dissertation committees, as consultants for or as codirectors of research projects or public service programs, and in other activities

in support of university programs.

Exceptions to the use of adjunct appointments, particularly in the case of institutional appointments for salary, shall be approved by the president and such exceptions shall be reported to the Board.


Proposed The president or designee is authorized to make adjunct faculty appointments as necessary and in

accordance with Board Regulations and Human Resource processes. Ordinarily such appointments will be limited to individuals who are not employees of the university; however, it may be desirable to make

infrequent exceptions in the case of noninstructional personnel who occasionally teach university courses

in specialized areas. Adjunct appointees shall enjoy the normal benefits and working conditions of the faculty with the following exceptions: They will be appointed on an annual or semester basis, and will not

be eligible for tenure., and will not be permitted to participate in the State Universities Retirement System unless they occupy a concurrent university position and then only as justified by that concurrent position.

Ordinarily, adjunct appointees will not receive a salary. Adjunct appointments shall be in addition to regular authorized positions since they do not involve regular financial obligations. Appointees may be utilized in

teaching duties, on thesis and dissertation committees, as consultants for or as codirectors of research

projects or public service programs, and in other activities in support of university programs. Adjunct appointments for teaching credit courses shall be less than 50% FTE.

Exceptions to the use of adjunct appointments, particularly in the case of institutional appointments for

salary, shall be approved by the president or designee and such exceptions shall be reported to the Board.

Rationale

As a result of the elimination of the “Affiliate” employee classification, NIU needs another employee classification to accommodate those who teach non-credit courses (such as those for Outreach Services,

Community School of the Arts, and individual colleges’ external programming units) or credit courses on a limited employment percentage (less than 50% FTE) basis.

Currently, all those moved from Affiliate classification are included in the “Instructor” employee classification, which is a union category for those who teach 50% FTE or more. Therefore, the instructor

category is not suited for this purpose.

“Applied Artist” is another category, which is being used to appoint musicians and artists who teach credit

or non-credit courses for less than 50% FTE appointment, and they are currently classified as Supportive Professional Staff (SPS). However, SPS employees should not be given teaching-only appointments as union

instructors are eligible for such appointments. With the revision of the Adjunct Faculty classification as proposed, the Applied Artist classification can be eliminated and can be classified appropriately as adjunct

faculty.

Recommendation: The university recommends that the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Personnel

Committee endorse this request and asks that the president forward it by means of the President’s Report to the Board of Trustees for approval at its special meeting on November 17, 2016.


Agenda Item 8.a. Information November 17, 2016

PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS FOR FACULTY AND STAFF

The university sponsors a number of programs designed to recognize excellence in faculty and staff

performance. One faculty member received the Board of Trustees Award, selected by a committee chaired by the Executive Vice President and Provost. One faculty member is recognized as a Presidential Teaching

Professor, selected by a faculty and alumni committee chaired by the Vice Provost. Two faculty members are also recognized as Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professors, selected by a faculty

committee chaired by the Vice President for Research and Innovation Partnerships. Two additional faculty members are recognized as Presidential Engagement Professors, selected by a committee composed of

members of the Outreach Advisory Committee, a dean, a student, and faculty chaired by the Vice President

of Outreach, Engagement, and Information Technologies. Another three faculty members received the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, and one instructor received the Excellence in Undergraduate

Instruction Award, through a selection process initiated by students and reviewed by student advisory committees in each college, with the final decision made by the university-level Committee on the

Improvement of Undergraduate Education. The Operating Staff and Supportive Professional Staff Councils

each selected four employees for recognition following a university-wide nomination process coordinated by a subcommittee of each council.

2016 Board of Trustees Professorship Award

Amy Newman Professor, English

2016 Presidential Teaching Professor

Toni Van Laarhoven Professor, Special and Early Education

2016 Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professors

Swapan Chattopadhyay Professor, Physics

Omar Chmaissem Professor, Physics

2016 Presidential Engagement Professors

Andrew Otieno Professor, Engineering Technology

Teresa Wasonga Professor, Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations

2016 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award Recipients

Jason Hanna Associate Professor, Philosophy Jeanne Isabel Associate Professor, Allied Health and Communicative Disorders

Qingkai Kong Professor, Mathematical Sciences

2016 Excellence in Undergraduate Instruction Award Recipient

Jason Akst Instructor, Communication

2016 Operating Staff Outstanding Service Award Recipients

Brenda Hart Office Administrator, Marketing Ruperto Herrera Applications Programmer Analyst, Information Technology

Lynne Meyer Office Support Specialist, Foreign Languages and Literatures


Lise Schlosser Office Manager, External Programming, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

2016 Presidential Supportive Professional Staff Award for Excellence Recipients

Gregory P. Barker Director, Testing Services

Melissa Burlingame Research Associate, Center for Governmental Studies William C. McCoy Director, BELIEF Initiative, College of Business

Mark McGowan Editorial Associate, Institutional Communications


Agenda Item 8.b. Information November 17, 2016

OVERSIGHT OF ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

Northern Illinois University engages in numerous processes to monitor the quality of its academic degree

programs and to inform planning and decision making about the programs. Processes internal to the university include program review and the assessment of learning outcomes, which are required of all

programs by our regional accreditor the Higher Learning Commission and by the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Processes that include external constituencies or external indicators include the reviews of

doctoral departments by outside evaluators, external reviews of dissertations, accreditation, licensure and certification examinations and advisory committees.

Internal Processes

Program Review: NIU has a long-standing history of conducting thorough reviews of its academic programs

and research and public service centers through the program review process. In the past, all programs

were reviewed every eight years on a schedule determined by the university. As of 2015-2016, this schedule has been modified to better align with accreditation cycles for programs with disciplinary and/or college

accreditation. The default review schedule for programs that do not have disciplinary and/or college accreditation remains every eight years. Departments scheduled for review prepare in-depth self-study

documents, which incorporate information from the sources cited above as well as other data collected by the program and data provided by offices from across the university. The program review documents are

appraised both by the provost’s staff and then by a faculty committee, the Academic Planning Council. The

council makes recommendations about the programs to the provost. The findings, recommendations and actions that result from the university’s review of programs are reported to the departments and colleges

as well as the NIU Board of Trustees and the Illinois Board of Higher Education. The programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences scheduled for review in 2015-2016 were the: B.A./B.S. in Economics M.A. in Economics Ph.D. in Economics B.A./B.S. in History M.A. in History Ph.D. in History The programs in the College of Visual and Performing Arts for review in 2015-2016 were the: B.S. Ed. In Art and Design Education M.S. in Art B.A./ B.S. in Art M.A. in Art B.F.A. in Studio Art M.F.A. in Studio Art B.A. in Art History Ph.D. in Art Education B.A. in Theatre Studies B.F.A. in Theatre Arts M.F.A. in Theatre Arts B.A. in Music M.M. in Music B.M. in Music


Performer’s Certificate in Music The IBHE also requires that the university review organized research and public service centers on a regular schedule. During 2015-2016, the following centers were reviewed:

Art Museum Center for Burma Studies

The information submitted to the IBHE to meet its reporting requirement for 2016 has also been forwarded to the Board of Trustees under separate cover.

Assessment of Learning Outcomes: All NIU degree programs engage in the systematic assessment of

student learning, and the overall assessment process is linked to program review. All degree programs have University Assessment Panel approved assessment plans that outline the methods, processes and

time frames for the implementation of the plans. Each year, every program prepares an annual assessment

update that provides a snapshot of the last 12 months related assessment activities, the evidence gathered from the activities and the actions taken on the evidence. These updates are submitted to the Office of

Accreditation, Assessment, and Evaluation that conducts a review of the updates using standardized rubrics, provides feedback to the individual programs and prepares a consolidated report on the extent to which

the criteria for the updates were met. The assessment process also incorporates a review and/or revision

of the overall plan to ensure that the plan reflects the programs’ current practices. In year four of the program-review cycle, the whole assessment plan is submitted for review and (re)approval by the University

Assessment Panel. The panel uses a standardized rubric and reporting form to provide feedback to the programs.

External Processes

Accreditation: Accreditation is a “process of external quality review created and used by higher education to scrutinize colleges, universities and programs for quality assurance and quality improvement” (Overview

of U.S. Accreditation, CHEA, 2009), and more than 26 specialized agencies accredit NIU programs across all seven academic colleges. Accreditation is earned through a comprehensive process that involves self-

study, peer review, site visits and action from the accrediting agency’s commission affirming that threshold

standards have been met. All of NIU’s programs that have sought accreditation are fully accredited by their specialized accrediting agency.

Licensure and Certification Examinations: Graduates from NIU’s accountancy, athletic training, clinical and

school psychology, counseling, law, teacher education and health sciences programs take licensure or

certification examinations that permit them to practice in their discipline. The results of these examinations give programs the means to benchmark NIU graduates’ performance against state and/or national

performance rates.

Advisory Committees: Many programs and departments engage in periodic discussion with alumni, employers and/or professionals in the discipline who comprise their advisory committees. These individuals

provide feedback related to the performance and competencies of the program’s alumni, curricular content

and new trends in the discipline, which is used in numerous ways to ensure that programs are preparing students with contemporary knowledge and skills.

In combination, all of these processes provide NIU with the means to provide ongoing comprehensive and

multifaceted oversight of its undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs.


Agenda Item 8.c. Information November 17, 2016

RESIDENTIAL LIFE UPDATE

The residential living and learning environment offers a variety of opportunities for students to develop a

sense of belonging, engagement, and openness to diversity, shaped by an award-winning residential

curriculum. Students who live on campus have access to educational and social programs and services

including tutoring labs, the University Writing Center, computer labs, and leadership opportunities. One

specific opportunity highlighting a strong collaboration between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs &

Enrollment Management is the numerous Living-Learning Communities available for residence hall

students.


Agenda Item 8.d. Information November 17, 2016

PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION UPDATE

Dr. Vernese Edghill-Walden, NIU Chief Diversity Officer, will briefly update the AASAP Committee on the

work of the five Presidential Commissions, which includes the Presidential Commission on Persons with

Disabilities, the Presidential Commission on Interfaith Initiatives, the Presidential Commission on the

Status of Minorities, the Presidential Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and the

Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, during the 2015-2016 Academic Year as well as

upcoming events for 2016-2017.


Agenda Item 8.e. Information November 17, 2016

PROGRAM PRIORITIZATION UPDATE

A brief update on recent developments in NIU’s Program Prioritization process will be given by the

Executive Vice President and Provost.

Documents

BOARD OF TRUSTEES - Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees ... John Butler, Wheeler Coleman ... Committee Chair Marshall commended those that put this together and recognized