New Year's Resolution for National-Louis University

In the spirit of the season, I offer these suggested New Year's Resolutions.

1. Make a budget and stick to it. National-Louis's biggest challenge in the short term is ensuring income exceeds expenses. To do so, NLU needs to watch its expenses and work hard to meet its revenue forecasts. Meeting revenue forecasts for this year is hard because of the downturn, but the Enrollment group is doing its best to turn the tide. Faculty can do its part by ensuring that their students have excellent experiences in their classes. The whole institution has done well holding the line on expenses, but sacrifices will have to be made for the budget that begins on July 1, 2011.

2. Start working out to increase endurance and gain muscle. NLU needs to build the strength of its academic programs and develop strong new ones. Following through on the recommendations of the Senate Academic Planning Task Force will help NLU strengthen its present programs and develop fresh, new programming that is academically sound, mission-consistent, appealing to students, and linked to the job market and workplace demands. Smart organizations know that when times are tough, one way to make improvements without raising expenses is to increase quality. NLU's excellent faculty is well equipped to do this. Faculty also need to be ready to collaborate with all stakeholders to begin development of new programs.

3. Get a part-time job for extra income. NLU needs to find new sources of income. Finding a new daytime tenant next year for the Chicago campus, when the high school is scheduled to move out, would be great. Our grants and contracts for this year are already at record levels, and we need to continue to build in this success.

4. Build up savings and investments. NLU needs to increase the size of its endowment. Institutional Development is also deeply engaged in improving alumni relations, leading to more giving, and taking advantage of the 125th anniversary celebration to move the institution forward. The Board of Trustees has also made some changes to our investment portfolio to increase yield and minimize risk.

5. Get along better with significant others. The Senate Task Force on Promotion and Tenure has worked very hard to build an improved Promotion and Tenure policy, which is designed to build the faculty NLU needs for the next 30 years. The administration has also worked very hard to build collaborative relations with faculty. Faculty need to get to know the new administration, provost, and president, and build strong, positive working relations going forward. NLU also needs to ensure it has good relations with staff and adjuncts. Finally, NLU needs to continue to do a good job of getting along with regulators and accreditors, such as IBHE, HLC, ISBE, NCATE, etc.

6. Go back to school. As a knowledge organization, NLU needs to not just stay up to date, but be a leader. Faculty and administrators need to stay informed about trends and forecasts in higher education. Faculty need to stay up to date in their fields, and get information on higher education from resources like the Chronicle, Inside Higher Ed, and other sources. We also need to ensure that our programs are up to date academically and linked to students career and life goals.

7. Do a fashion make-over. NLU has done make-overs at Lisle, North Shore, and Wheeling, but Chicago needs some work. In addition, our website really cries out for a change. Finally, a new marketing campaign is needed to get the word out about how great we are.

8. Build a retirement plan. NLU has an aging faculty, and a large portion will be retiring soon. NLU needs a strategy on how to manage this demographic shift. and also needs to examine whether an early retirement package will help the institution manage the transition and replace higher faculty salaries with lower ones.

9. Do a good job bringing up the kids. NLU needs to improve its development and mentoring of new faculty, especially given the large number of new faculty coming here over the next few years. Many universities have a Center for Teaching Excellence just for the purpose of mentoring and supporting all faculty. In addition, many faculty are still not receiving regular reviews per policy.

10. Focus on doing a great job at work. We are primarily tuition-driven, so we need to watch the fundamentals of that business. We have a stellar reputation, but there are some recent red flags about student satisfaction. Faculty need to engage with data, and use our successes as models for areas that need improvements. We also really need to improve student service, and for faculty that involves being responsive to students, for example, when they contact us by email. Responsiveness to students is especially important in clusters, where the faculty member may be the main or only contact with faculty.

11. Learn to use my computer. Well, we probably all use our computers, but we need to consider whether we are using technology appropriately to support learning. Every program needs to examine web enhancements, and we need to ensure that students are exposed to the technology they will need on the job. For example, in teacher education, we need to model the technology tools teacher will use in their classrooms. Teachers need to see and use smart boards, mobile devices, and other tools, and watch as their teachers use them. We also need to stop misusing email, and migrate to other kinds of electronic communication, such as blogs, wikis, and collaborative tools. And the Digital Commons needs to become a rich, vibrant place for faculty, students, and the academic community to find valuable content and resources.

12. Get a life. NLU has developed a workaholic culture over the years. Faculty with meetings in the morning and classes at night end up working multiple 12 and 14 hour days each week. Faculty are on email constantly. And NLU is facing a time of increased work as we do all of the things we need to get through this period and move forward with enhanced academics, stellar student services, new programs, and increased quality. Faculty need to ensure that they have time for family, personal and professional development, exercise, and fun so that they are fresh and ready to face our challenges and do a great job.

Academic Excellence at NLU

It seems like I think about NLU all the time in this role, and meet NLU stakeholders everywhere I go. I was recently in a video store, and it turned out that a clerk is in the elementary education program. He is just about to start student teaching, and in fact had just got the call about a placement interview when we talked.

He told me that he really valued the preparation he was getting at NLU, and praised the faculty again and again. In fact, he told me that he had transferred from Northeastern because our program met his needs much better than theirs. His enthusiasm and outstanding preparation bode well for the students he will serve during his student teaching and his entire teaching career. Schools need all the bright, motivated, enthusiastic, caring teachers they can get!

This anecdotal evidence shows again what we already know and has been borne out in Marketing's new research on NLU--a prime reason students choose NLU is because of strong personal relationships with faculty. Alumni affairs is also building strong relations with alums (which will lead to increased giving) by leveraging faculty relationships and building them over time. For example, the university is now webcasting faculty presentations to alums, starting with a presentation by Fletcher about his new book on academic rituals. That presentation got an excellent response from alums.

As we move forward into challenging times, we need to ensure that we retain the vigor and vitality of our programs and continue to ensure that students form strong, positive relations with faculty.

The Academic Planning Task Force is one way to ensure that faculty have a strong and vital role in academic planning, that programs remain vigorous, and that students are achieving our learning outcomes. The Promotion and Tenure Policy is a good way to ensure that an outstanding faculty will be here now and in the future.

Faculty needs to continue to monitor teaching load as well as service load to ensure that we have enough time to do our work of serving students and building strong programs. Faculty have too many non-faculty responsibilities right now, which makes doing our jobs a real challenge.

Senate Special Meeting January 5, 2011

Senate will hold a special executive session on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 1:30 PM at the Chicago campus, primarily to discuss the report of the Promotion and Tenure Task Force. The Senate will discuss next steps toward a new policy.

Dr. Chris Clemmer and Dr. Randee Lawrence of the Institutional Promotion and Tenure Task Force, are invited to the meeting as guests of the Senate to contribute their thoughts about the procedures described in the report as well as ideas on the transition plan for faculty already on the tenure track.

Dr. Susan McMahon, chair of the task force, has also been invited to the meeting.

The next regular session of the Senate is Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 11 AM. Senate will meet in Executive Session that day at 9:30 AM primarily to organize the agenda of the 11:00 AM meeting of the Senate.

University Leadership Council

ULC met today to approve the complete implementation plan for the calendar conversion and the semester hour conversion.

Faculty groups are already engaged in making curricular revisions to those programs needing changes to meet the requirements of the new calendar. The programs most affected are IDS, ABS, and the MBA. The appropriate Senate committees are ready to take on the necessary curricular approvals. The new calendar will take effect in Fall 2011.

The conversion to quarter hours will take place in Summer 2012. This later date is necessary because of the change affects more programs than the calendar project.

Chris Davis will be leading the implementation of both conversions. Chris, the Interim Provost, and I will discuss the proper support that Chris needs to implement smoothly. Probably a committee is not needed, but he definitely needs the support of the appropriate Senate committees/committee chairs.

Meetings, December 20-23, 2010

This is the last working week of the year, so there are very few meetings.

Senate Finance Committee, Monday, 8:30 AM, Phone. Contact Andre Guerra for details

University Leadership Council, Tuesday, December 21, 1-3 PM, Chicago

Faculty Senate, December 2010

Faculty Senate met on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at the Chicago Campus.

Faculty has been working very hard this year on a number of projects, including:

Calendar revision

Promotion and Tenure Policy

Academic Planning Process

The task forces working on the Promotion and Tenure Policy and the Academic Planning Process have both submitted their reports to Senate at this meeting. The Academic Planning Task Force's report was only an interim report. They will be submitting their final report to Senate and the Provost in early 2011. The Promotion and Tenure Task Force's report is the final report. Senate will examine that report in a Special Executive Session to be held the week of January 3. That meeting will be announced to the faculty on Thursday, December 23.

At the Special Executive Session, Senate will consider the report and discuss implementation with representatives of the Institutional Promotion and Tenure Committee. Senate will also discuss a plan to share details of the proposed policy with faculty at large.

University Leadership Council will finalize the implementation plan for the Calendar Project at its meeting on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 1:00 PM at the Chicago Campus board room.

Senate also heard a report from Faculty Welfare and Compensation Committee. FWCC reps met with the respective colleges last week, and are gathering faculty input, including reactions to proposed increases in load and faculty-generated ideas on ways NLU can reduce expenses in next year's budget. FWCC will submit a complete written report to Senate for its January 2011 meeting.

The complete Senate Highlights will publish to the Faculty Listserv on Monday, January 3, 2011. The next regular meeting of the Faculty Senate will be on January 19, 2011, at 11 am at the Chicago campus.

Diversity and Inclusion Council

Two members of the GLBTQA Coalition met with the Diversity and Inclusion Council to discuss NLU's Diversity Statement. The statement currently reads:

National-Louis University strives to achieve a diverse and inclusive community where every person is given the opportunity to be heard, respected, valued and welcomed. The University recognizes that diversity defines our individual and group lives. All members of the NLU community are expected to actively build a university environment enriched by contributions from diverse experiences, perspectives and backgrounds. Diversity, inclusion and social justice are key components of the University’s mission of Access, Innovation and Excellence.

Recognizing that it is difficult to have an all-inclusive list, we acknowledge the importance of these and all other aspects of diversity: ability, age, economic status, educational level, gender, national origin, language, political affiliation, professional status, race/ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation.

The Coalition requested the addition of the words "gender identity" and "gender expression" to the statement. This request comes in order to make the statement more responsive to the kinds of diversity we encounter these days. The Coalition for Safe Schools has stressed the importance of education schools including all kinds of sexual diversity in the diversity statements of educational institutions that prepare teachers. The Illinois State Board of Education has also identified gender identity and gender expression as worthy of mention in the new Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, which became law on July 1, 2010, and will become effective in July 2013. At that time, all teacher preparation programs and evaluations of teacher performance will have to meet this indicator, which is the first one of the more than 100 indicators in the new IPTS:

The competent teacher understands the spectrum of student diversity (e.g., race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, special education, gifted, English Language Learners, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity) and the assets that each student brings to learning across the curriculum.

Key Meetings December 13-17, 2010

Here are some key faculty meetings this week:

Tuesday: Diversity and Inclusion Council, 10 AM Chicago Campus

Wednesday: Faculty Senate, 11 AM, Chicago Campus

Holiday Parties are as follows:

Monday--Lisle

Tuesday--Elgin

Wednesday--Chicago

Thursday--Wheeling and North Shore

University Leadership Council meets Tuesday, December 21, at 1:00 PM, Chicago Campus

Faculty Welfare and Compensation Meeting

This committee has a very full docket this year. In addition to their regular charge, they have taken over the work of the former Full-Time Faculty Task Force. Their charge is to examine data and make recommendations about ways to close the gaps in our pay--both among faculty and among peer institutions.

In addition, the committee is keeping abreast of the benefits discussion. Faculty's reps on the Benefits Committee are from FWCC.

Finally, FWCC is taking a very active role in the budget discussion. As the university builds its budget for next year, the committee is investigating all of the cost savings measures proposed, gathering ideas on other ways to save costs, and ensuring that all cost savings measures are equitable and compatible with NLU's mission and values. They are also holding the administration accountable to ensure that administration itself shoulders its fair share of the savings needed.

FWCC will be sharing information on the budget, proposed cost savings measures, and the latest budget numbers with NCE and CAS at their meetings Wednesday, and bringing faculty input to the budget process and the administration.

Faculty are rightly concerned about all of these proposals, and I hope everyone participates actively in the college meetings on Wednesday.

Key Meetings, December 6-10

Here are some key university level governance meetings this week. Most meetings are open to faculty. If you have specific questions or issues that you want addressed, please contact me.

Faculty Welfare and Compensation (Monday, 2-4 PM, Chicago)--Open to all faculty

Academic Planning Task Force (Monday, 2-4 PM, Chicago)--Open to all faculty

Tenure and Promotion Task Force (Tuesday, 11 AM to 1 PM, Chicago)--Contact Sue McMahon

2011-2012 Budget Planning Meeting (Tuesday 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM, Chicago)--Closed

NCE Faculty Meeting (Wednesday, 9:30 AM to 12 noon)--open to all

CAS Faculty Meeting (Wednesday)--open to all

Senate committees that want their meetings added to this weekly schedule may contact me.

Research Needed

An NCE faculty member recently reminded us that faculty needs to do careful research and we prepare to engage on balancing the budget for 2011-2012. I am sharing her list with the whole community so that everyone can understand the questions that need answers, and provide relevant insight and research.

1. What is the percentage of university expenditure on administrative salaries and staff salaries and what on full time faculty salaries? How do our salaries stack up with the comparative statistics that are kept on universities like ours (e.g. what percentile are we at for faculty and administrators when compared to like institutions?) Our Faculty and Welfare reps should be able to provide this info(Can you help, Michelle and Linda?) I know the university no longer uses AAUP stats to compare administrative and faculty salary percentiles; there is another data base and we need to have our knowledge refreshed on this.

2. What would be the plan for approaching the deficit with administrative furlough days and other cost savings? We ought to know this, and the amount it would generate before considering any thought of faculty contributions.

3. What is all this “other time” that we are supposedly allocating elsewhere?
Who would be doing that work?

4. What are the projected financial savings anticipated from the new calendar?

5. What would be the university’s process for acknowledging the donation of services by faculty if we should come to that point? We would basically be donating 1/9 of our salaries to the institution and would need acknowledgement for tax purposes.

6. How would we retain our adjunct faculty for the “upturn” ?

Making It Through Financial Challenges

Many faculty members have questions about faculty rights and responsibilities during a period of financial crisis. Because so many institutions across the U.S. are facing difficult decisions because of budget cuts, AAUP has prepared a special FAQ.

www.aaup.org/aaup/financial/mainpage.htm

This FAQ provides a lot of clarification on AAUP's expectations, guidelines, policies, and advice on dealing with issues such as furloughs, sources of data, and appropriate roles of Senate, AAUP chapter, and faculty members.

Thoughts on Service to the Profession and Community

It seems like I spend all of my time on faculty business, but yesterday I had the honor of participating in a National Selection Committee to select Fulbright Scholars for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Fulbright Scholars are selected through a rigorous procedure in which applicants from the U.S. to go overseas are first screened by a U.S.-based panel. There are many panels for each country the U.S. sends Fulbrighters to, for each of the different types of awards (faculty awards, student awards, English teaching assistantship awards, etc.). This year, my panel selected participants to go to India as English Teaching Assistants--the same type of program I ran in Taiwan for two years as a Fulbrighter in 2006-2008. After my panel meets, our approved, ranked list is sent to the country for further consideration.

A similar process is followed for Fulbrighters coming to the U.S. In each location, panels are convened for each type or category of grant. Then approved lists are sent to Washington for further selection. Each year, approximately 800 Americans participate in the core Fulbright program. About 1800 students come to the U.S. on Fulbrights each year. U.S. students can apply for study in 140 countries, and participate in English Teaching Programs in 50 countries.

Even though I am very busy, I took on this responsibility (which involved reading 72 applications online) and working with a panel to narrow the pool down to 16. I did it because of the impact that Fulbright had on my life and on the ETAs in our program. I wanted to ensure that appropriate participants were selected, and my expertise in having run such a program was very helpful in making proper selections.

More importantly, I wanted to give back. Someone took the time to be on a panel to select ME for a Fulbright. So the least I can do is respond when I am asked to choose participants.

I am very concerned that this type of service will become less valued at NLU with the new load policy. Our engagement with the scholarly community is important because that is how the scholarly community is run--it's supported by our collective work and support.

Faculty can be sure that I will foreground the importance of service in both the P&T discussions (for the new policy) and in any discussion about load, changes to load, faculty responsibilities, and changes to faculty expectations.