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.

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.

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).

Board of Trustees Meeting March 10, 2011

Yesterday, the NLU Board of Trustees met. They had a full day of meetings, including Finance Committee and Academic Affairs committee meetings at noon and 2:00, and a full board meeting at 5:30.

I am happy to let you know that the Board of Trustees passed the revised Promotion and Tenure policy last night. The policy will become effective on May 1, 2011. I thanked the board for their confidence in us and for their support of the notions of tenure and academic freedom in an environment where these concepts are under pressure. Of course, I expressed faculty's gratitude to Vice Provost Kathy Walsh and President Nivine Megahed for working so hard to create an agreed-upon policy to present to the board.

The board was very impressed with the process that faculty followed to build a policy that is clearly superior to its predecessor. They were also impressed with the policy itself. The board particularly liked the enhanced focus on research, the better articulation of excellence in teaching, the improved clarity, the emphasis on regular evaluation of faculty, and the clear differentiation of tenured/tenure track and non-tenured, which makes neither second-class citizens.

I would again like to thank everyone involved in developing this policy, including the Task Force, Senate, and all faculty who participated in meetings and/or research into the policy.

The BOT also began to engage with the budget challenges we are facing. They received a complete report on the university's finances, and in their executive session saw an overview of the ideas the administration is contemplating to balance the budget. Right now, no decisions have been made. I let the board know that we are working with administration to insure that there is faculty have opportunities to give advice and recommendations as the budget is developed, as well as ways to communicate with faculty leaders and faculty about the budget.

The BOT also made decisions about sabbatical applications. The board will act on promotion and tenure decisions at its June meeting.

Voluntary Separation Program Passed

At last night's Board of Trustees meeting, the Voluntary Early Separation plan was approved. This plan provides two ways for tenured faculty over 55 with 15 years of experience to retire early and receive a payment and subsidized health insurance.

All eligible faculty will receive an email on Friday. The entire faculty will receive a slightly different announcement on Monday, in case anybody was excluded from Friday's announcement. Any tenured faculty members who submitted retirement letters for this year but otherwise would have been eligible will be allowed to participate.

Nearly 80 faculty members are eligible, and the administration expects about 1/3 of them to participate, based on participation rates in previous plans. I believe that the participation rate will be closer to 50 percent, based on faculty interest.

It will be sad to lose so many colleagues, but it will be nice for so many to receive options about the next part of their lives.

This plan is good news for faculty who feel ready to retire. It will help save some money and give faculty options on how to move to the next stage of their lives.

March Senate Meeting Rescheduled

Senate has decided to postpone the Senate meeting scheduled for March 16, 2011 to THURSDAY, March 24, 2011 at 10:30 AM on the Chicago Campus. The reason for the change is to accommodate a number of schedule conflicts on March 16, such as conference attendance. Senate will resume its usual meeting pattern in April.

The March 24 meeting will conclude by 1:00. Senate will meet in Executive Session at 9:30 AM on Thursday March 24, primarily to organize the business of the 10:30 AM meeting.

As usual, all faculty will receive the agenda approximately one week before the meeting.