The NLU Faculty Senate met on April 20, 2011.
President’s Report
President Nivine Megahed discussed accomplishments for moving the University forward. Key interim and vacant positions have been filled (e.g., provost, VP for marketing). Better metrics are in place for managing enrollment, and NLU is beginning to see results. For nine weeks, applications have been higher than at the same time last year. The strategic planning process will address moving academics forward and focus on what must be accomplished over the next five years.
Dr. Megahed reported that approximately 20 faculty have accepted the early retirement offer. There will be a university-wide event to honor their legacy.
A question was raised about interim positions: Do those individuals who served in interim positions stay in the administration once permanent hires are made? The President asked that this question be tabled until June.
A CAS resolution recommending an administrative pay cut led to discussion about equity in view of faculty being asked to teach an additional course, no summer overages, and higher insurance costs. President Megahed responded that it is necessary now to look at how all resources are allocated rather than across-the-board pay cuts. This includes how faculty time can be allocated to help the University, i.e., less service, research, etc., during this budget crunch. This is a temporary situation and faculty should work with their deans to determine how to allocate their time.
Provost’s Report
Dr. Quinn outlined ways the institution is moving forward academically, including creating the Learning Commons, the undergrad and NCE grad advising centers, conversations about gen ed and adult learners, NLU’s online learning strategy, an improved academic planning process, the calendar conversion, and the credit hour conversion. Dr. Quinn announced that in May, several open forum meetings will take place to gather faculty input on the Strategic Plan.
Senate brought up the issue of student discipline and how necessary information about policy in general as well as individual students is communicated to the appropriate faculty, including adjuncts. It is apparent that correct policy and procedure are not clear to everyone. Administration promised that appropriate training will be provided to faculty and adjuncts. Senate will invite appropriate administrators to the May meeting to provide more information.
Faculty Welfare and Compensation Committee Report
Linda Gibbons reported that the FWCC continues to respond to faculty concerns. FWCC representatives on the Benefits Committee, along with Human Resource personnel Tom Bergmann and Holly Battaglia, worked together to make the insurance benefit increase as equitable as possible for all employees. She thanked Mr. Bergmann and Ms. Battaglia for their collaboration. The committee has submitted to the Administration a compilation of ideas on increasing workplace satisfaction for all employees without additional cost. The Administration is considering the suggestions
Graduate Advising Center
Steve Neer, Director of Advising, Assessment, and Development, presented an overview of the NCE Graduate Advising Center, which will launch in mid-May. Seven professional advisors located at the Chicago, Lisle, and Wheeling campuses will staff the center. They will travel to other campuses and off-site locations and work evening hours as needed. They will advise students on degree requirements and program deficiencies, serve as main points-of-contact for students, and lead retention efforts.
Academic Planning Subcommittee Report
Rebecca Lake reported on the work of the Academic Planning Subcommittee of Senate. The Academic Planning Task Force will work to implement a revised system for new programs and program revisions in Fall, 2011. Then they will work toward developing a new, simplified system for program reviews for implementation in Winter, 2012. To accommodate the change, the 10 program reviews remaining for this academic year will be postponed to Fall, 2011. Program reviews scheduled for AY 2011-2012 will be postponed until the launch of the new system. Programs will be able to choose from the old or new requirements, depending on the amount of work they have already done preparing their reports under the old system. These steps will allow for ample faculty input, especially from college academic planning units, and ensure that NLU moves forward with appropriate deliberation. More information on academic planning will be shared at the Faculty Association meeting
ULC Representative
Dr. Steve Thompson was elected by Senate to fill a vacancy on ULC. (Because of administrative changes since the Senate meeting, Senate will review ULC membership at its next meeting.)
Forthcoming Meetings
The next Senate meeting will be Wednesday, May 18, 2011, at 11:00 AM on the Chicago Campus. The Senate will meet in executive session at 9:30 AM that day, primarily to organize the agenda of the 11:00 AM meeting. Senate has agreed that all attendees of Senate meetings identify themselves by name when prompted by the NLU Meeting Place system, and those names will be announced aloud by the system to all meeting participants. Callers who do not identify themselves will be asked to hang up and reconnect, saying their names when prompted. As always, Faculty Senate meetings are open to all members of the NLU Community.
Senate agreed that the NLU Faculty Association Meeting will be on Friday, May 20, 2011, at 1:00 PM. Details on locations and teleconferencing are forthcoming.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Faculty Association Spring Meeting May 20, 2011
The National Louis University Faculty Association spring meeting will take place, as previously announced, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM CDT on May 20, 2011. In order to minimize the cost of parking in Chicago, the meeting will originate from the North Shore campus, with teleconferencing to Chicago, Wheeling, Lisle, Elgin, and all remote locations via NLU Meeting Place. Powerpoints will be broadcast using Centra. A separate meeting announcement will contain instructions for connecting to NLU Meeting Place and Centra.
This is a particularly important meeting because of the challenges facing our institution. As we all know, the sharp drop in enrollment and tuition revenue has forced the Administration to take a number of harsh measures, including increased load and reductions in force. At the same time, the Administration has launched a number of initiatives they believe will improve service to students, increase enrollment, and improve operational efficiency.
Senators, other faculty leaders, and I have worked very hard to represent faculty voice in a very challenging time, and this meeting is important for gaining an understanding about the impact your representatives have had in representing the faculty voice.
Obviously, it has not been possible to avoid the effects of a $10 million revenue drop on faculty. Nevertheless, despite numerous obstacles, Senate and other faculty leaders have brought faculty voice to bear on many decisions, and continue working to make sure that unaddressed concerns will be acted upon in the future.
During this meeting we will review the impact we have had despite the obstacles, and will design ways to ensure that faculty voice is represented as NLU attempts to rebuild over the summer and next year.
Though we have faced many challenges, Senate and I continue to advocate, and, in fact, have had considerable impact on many decisions. At the meeting, we will provide updates on:
• Administration’s promise, at Senate’s request, that the load increase be temporary as we work next year to replace the current disputed load policy with a policy mutually satisfactory to faculty and Administration.
• Respect for the tenure process and tenure in making decisions about reductions in force.
• Insistence on timely communication to affected faculty of reductions in force (rather than delaying).
• Addition of a second option to the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive.
• Improved faculty input into benefits, including restoring the Benefits Committee.
• Reduction of increases in insurance costs, and a fairer allocation of the increase to all employees.
• Faculty input and improvements to the Academic Calendar revision.
• Increased opportunity for faculty input into the Strategic Plan (such as coming open meetings on the draft plan)
Other areas have been less successful, as we all know. We will address those areas at the meeting and develop plans to continue to press for satisfaction.
The meeting will include reports from President Megahed, Provost Quinn, and several senators. There will be time for Q and A, and if time remains, for small group discussion on these important matters:
• Faculty input on the Learning Commons
• Faculty input on the Graduate Advising Center
• Faculty input on increasing enrollment
• Faculty input on the Strategic Plan
• Faculty governance of Academic Planning
I look forward to your active participation in the meeting.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Agenda, NLU Faculty Senate, April 20, 2011
Call to Order (11:00 a.m.)
Approval of Minutes of March, 2011 Minutes
Acceptance of the Agenda
Reports (11:05 a.m. to 12:15 .p.m)
· President’s Report, Dr. Nivine Megahed (11:05 a.m. to 11:25 a.m.)
· Provost’s Report, Dr. Christine Quinn (11:25 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.)
· Financial Report, Kent Kay (11:45 a.m. to 12:00 noon)
· Steve Neer, Graduate Advising Center (12:00-12:15 p.m.)
Faculty Welfare and Compensation Committee Report, Michelle Turner Mangan and Linda Gibbons (12:20 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.)
· Election of New ULC Representative (12:45 p.m. to 12:50 p.m.)
Executive Session: Senate will meet in executive session at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 20, 2011, primarily to organize the agenda of the 11:00 a.m. meeting.
Next Senate Meeting: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 11:00 a.m. at the Chicago Campus.
Academic Planning and Admission Requirements
Senate is engaged on two key projects for the remainder of this year, revision of the academic planning process and revision of admission requirements.
The academic planning process was reviewed by a shared-governance task force jointly appointed by the Interim Provost and Senate. It delivered a report on the revision of processes for new program development, program revision, and program review. The report was turned over to a Senate subcommittee to finalize the recommendations and design an implementation plan. The subcommittee's intention is to implement the new procedures for new program development and program revision in fall, 2011. The revisions to the program review process need to be aligned with current college practice. Therefore, the subcommittee, and Senate, are considering suspending program reviews for next academic year while the program review process is reconsidered in light of college practice. The intent is to create a unified system of rigorous academic review that is non-duplicative at college and university levels, in order to simply the number of reports programs have to develop each year.
Admission requirements are being reexamined collaboratively with the office of the registrar, Senate Academic Standards Committee, and college-level bodies (e.g., college admission and retention committees). This work is ongoing and we anticipate it will be ready for Senate's attention at its May meeting.
Key Meetings, April 18-22
Monday, April 18 Faculty Welfare and Compensation, 1:30 PM. Contact Linda Gibbons and Michelle Mangan Turner for dial-in information.
Tuesday, April 19 Senate Academic Planning Subcommittee, 2:00 PM, Chicago. Contact Renee Judd for dial-in information.
Wednesday, April 20 Faculty Senate, 11 AM. Chicago Campus and dial in from all locations: 888-338-6900 meeting ID 199099. In addition to the usual reports, Steve Neer will be the guest of the Senate to discuss plans for the Graduate Advising Center.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Faculty Senate Highlights March 2011
It is with great sadness that I prepare these Faculty Senate highlights. National Louis University is facing a time of great challenge, and the changes are difficult for all of us. I would ask all faculty to be supportive of one another as we deal with the challenges, and always consider the long-term good of the institution and the faculty.
Faculty Senate met on March 24, 2011. These highlights contain additional updates as new information emerged. Senate members will provide additional information at NCE and CAS meetings this week, and bring faculty input from those meetings to Senate and the Administration.
March Senate Highlights
The President and the Provost discussed the university budget for next year. Budget heads have been asked to make cuts from their budgets to make up the shortfall in revenue, which has grown from earlier estimates in December. As a result, there will be reductions in force and changes to load. All faculty reductions in force will be communicated to individuals on April 1, 2011. Staff changes will be announced in May. Faculty load for next year will require faculty to teach one additional three hour course. Next year, a shared governance task force will examine load and create a definitive, permanent policy that is mutually agreed upon by Faculty, Administration, and Trustees. Next year’s budget will continue to support key faculty resources, including sabbaticals, professional development funds, and faculty excellence awards. Senate is inquiring into the availability of Professional Development Grants for next year, as well as full funding of this year’s grants (which were funded at only 50 percent for this year so far). The Library will be transformed into a learning center that consolidates services from other units of the university in order to focus on student success in a one-stop model. The University also hopes to fund (through donations) a Center for Teaching and Learning to enhance teaching excellence.
Bob Hiller, Vice President of Enrollment, reported on restructuring of the enrollment team. Consolidating staff at Chicago and Lisle has improved efficiency and allows for better support and management of enrollment reps. The enrollment group is also transitioning to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, a powerful package that allows representatives to keep track of all inquiries, applications, and application status. The changes have already resulted in improved results. The numbers of leads and applications are up significantly over the same time last year, though we will not see the impact of this activity on enrollment until next year.
Michael Lorenz, Registrar, reported on plans to simplify admission requirements. Currently, there is great diversity among requirements for different programs. (For example, different BA programs require different numbers of recommendation letters.) The Registrar has prepared a document that summarizes proposed changes, which has been presented to various governance bodies in the Colleges. Senate Academic Standards Committee will discuss the proposed changes on April 13, 2011, at 1:30 PM in a face-to-face meeting in Chicago. The purpose of the changes is to simplify the application process for enrollment reps and students, and to facilitate the movement of students between programs, in case students change their minds or wish to change programs.
Senate passed a revised academic calendar based on the new calendar model developed by ULC. Vice Provost Dr. Chris Davis is convening a steering committee to ease the transition to the new calendar and quarter hour system. Faculty Senate is in the process of identifying representatives to this committee.
Vice Provost Davis presented a report on the work of the Academic Planning Task Force. The report envisions that the work of Senate Curriculum Committee and Senate Academic Planning Committee will be realigned with the Faculty Constitution. SAC will concentrate on new course approval and academic review of existing programs. SAPC will focus on new program creation, revisions to existing programs, and program closings. A subcommittee of Senate has since met, and Senate has had a number of discussions with Administration regarding implementation of the changes. Senate now anticipates that the changes to new program development will be implemented for the 2011-2012 academic year. During that academic year, Senate will continue to examine the program review process in order to create a simpler, more streamlined review process that aligns better with College assessment reports and program reviews. Therefore, Senate is considering suspending all program reviews during 2011-2012 while the new system is developed and discussed throughout the institution. Suspending program reviews will also help faculty as we work through the changes to load and reduced staffing levels next year. The goal is to have an agreed upon load policy and a renewed program review policy fully in place by academic year 2012-2013.
Other Developments
The Registrar is working with colleges to create a streamlined process for scheduling, assigning faculty to courses, and ordering textbooks.
Senate Advocacy for Faculty
At NCE and CAS meetings, Senators and FWCC representatives will share ways Senate has advocated for faculty at this time which include:
● Voicing concerns about increased load and cuts (including equity issues)
● Expressing concerns about the academic integrity of giving only adjunct pay for summer
● Expressing concern about decreased release time for program coordination next year
● Requesting that any increase to load be temporary
● Voicing longstanding faculty disagreement with the current load policy in the Faculty Guidebook
● Requesting the appointment of a task force to create an agreed-upon load policy to replace the current disputed policy
● Requesting that the future load policy respect the priorities of research and grants that are in the new tenure policy
● Providing input into decisions about benefits (including health care)
● Raising our concerns about maintaining academic integrity with cuts
● Monitoring to ensure that cuts do not jeopardize tenure
● Providing input to the early retirement incentive plan that resulted in the second option
We have received satisfaction on many of these issues, such as the load increase being temporary, the appointment of the load task force, improvements to the early retirement program, and the timely notification of faculty. We are ready to hear your concerns.
These Highlights are informational only and do not substitute for the minutes. The next Faculty Senate meeting is April 20, 2011, at 11 AM on the Chicago Campus. An agenda will follow next week. We are working to schedule the next Faculty Association Meeting, which will be the last week in April or in May. We will discuss possible meeting times and arrangements with Faculty.
Faculty Senate met on March 24, 2011. These highlights contain additional updates as new information emerged. Senate members will provide additional information at NCE and CAS meetings this week, and bring faculty input from those meetings to Senate and the Administration.
March Senate Highlights
The President and the Provost discussed the university budget for next year. Budget heads have been asked to make cuts from their budgets to make up the shortfall in revenue, which has grown from earlier estimates in December. As a result, there will be reductions in force and changes to load. All faculty reductions in force will be communicated to individuals on April 1, 2011. Staff changes will be announced in May. Faculty load for next year will require faculty to teach one additional three hour course. Next year, a shared governance task force will examine load and create a definitive, permanent policy that is mutually agreed upon by Faculty, Administration, and Trustees. Next year’s budget will continue to support key faculty resources, including sabbaticals, professional development funds, and faculty excellence awards. Senate is inquiring into the availability of Professional Development Grants for next year, as well as full funding of this year’s grants (which were funded at only 50 percent for this year so far). The Library will be transformed into a learning center that consolidates services from other units of the university in order to focus on student success in a one-stop model. The University also hopes to fund (through donations) a Center for Teaching and Learning to enhance teaching excellence.
Bob Hiller, Vice President of Enrollment, reported on restructuring of the enrollment team. Consolidating staff at Chicago and Lisle has improved efficiency and allows for better support and management of enrollment reps. The enrollment group is also transitioning to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, a powerful package that allows representatives to keep track of all inquiries, applications, and application status. The changes have already resulted in improved results. The numbers of leads and applications are up significantly over the same time last year, though we will not see the impact of this activity on enrollment until next year.
Michael Lorenz, Registrar, reported on plans to simplify admission requirements. Currently, there is great diversity among requirements for different programs. (For example, different BA programs require different numbers of recommendation letters.) The Registrar has prepared a document that summarizes proposed changes, which has been presented to various governance bodies in the Colleges. Senate Academic Standards Committee will discuss the proposed changes on April 13, 2011, at 1:30 PM in a face-to-face meeting in Chicago. The purpose of the changes is to simplify the application process for enrollment reps and students, and to facilitate the movement of students between programs, in case students change their minds or wish to change programs.
Senate passed a revised academic calendar based on the new calendar model developed by ULC. Vice Provost Dr. Chris Davis is convening a steering committee to ease the transition to the new calendar and quarter hour system. Faculty Senate is in the process of identifying representatives to this committee.
Vice Provost Davis presented a report on the work of the Academic Planning Task Force. The report envisions that the work of Senate Curriculum Committee and Senate Academic Planning Committee will be realigned with the Faculty Constitution. SAC will concentrate on new course approval and academic review of existing programs. SAPC will focus on new program creation, revisions to existing programs, and program closings. A subcommittee of Senate has since met, and Senate has had a number of discussions with Administration regarding implementation of the changes. Senate now anticipates that the changes to new program development will be implemented for the 2011-2012 academic year. During that academic year, Senate will continue to examine the program review process in order to create a simpler, more streamlined review process that aligns better with College assessment reports and program reviews. Therefore, Senate is considering suspending all program reviews during 2011-2012 while the new system is developed and discussed throughout the institution. Suspending program reviews will also help faculty as we work through the changes to load and reduced staffing levels next year. The goal is to have an agreed upon load policy and a renewed program review policy fully in place by academic year 2012-2013.
Other Developments
The Registrar is working with colleges to create a streamlined process for scheduling, assigning faculty to courses, and ordering textbooks.
Senate Advocacy for Faculty
At NCE and CAS meetings, Senators and FWCC representatives will share ways Senate has advocated for faculty at this time which include:
● Voicing concerns about increased load and cuts (including equity issues)
● Expressing concerns about the academic integrity of giving only adjunct pay for summer
● Expressing concern about decreased release time for program coordination next year
● Requesting that any increase to load be temporary
● Voicing longstanding faculty disagreement with the current load policy in the Faculty Guidebook
● Requesting the appointment of a task force to create an agreed-upon load policy to replace the current disputed policy
● Requesting that the future load policy respect the priorities of research and grants that are in the new tenure policy
● Providing input into decisions about benefits (including health care)
● Raising our concerns about maintaining academic integrity with cuts
● Monitoring to ensure that cuts do not jeopardize tenure
● Providing input to the early retirement incentive plan that resulted in the second option
We have received satisfaction on many of these issues, such as the load increase being temporary, the appointment of the load task force, improvements to the early retirement program, and the timely notification of faculty. We are ready to hear your concerns.
These Highlights are informational only and do not substitute for the minutes. The next Faculty Senate meeting is April 20, 2011, at 11 AM on the Chicago Campus. An agenda will follow next week. We are working to schedule the next Faculty Association Meeting, which will be the last week in April or in May. We will discuss possible meeting times and arrangements with Faculty.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Key Meetings April 11-15
Senate Academic Standards Committee will meet at the Chicago Campus on Wednesday, April 13 at 1:30 PM to discuss proposed revised admissions standards.
NCE and CAS faculties will meet on Wednesday, April 13, in Chicago (CAS) and Wheeling (NCE).
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