Minutes of the
NIU Board of Trustees
ACADEMIC AFFAIRS,
STUDENT AFFAIRS
AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
June 6, 2001

About two years ago, when the Illinois Century Network was being put together, Mr. Czerniak said, NIU was originally to be given an end node, what they call DS3, connection.  We were not to be considered one of the regional centers because we are very far out, which was not a bad deal.  It would have been a cost-avoidance to the university of about $120,000 to $150,000 a year, and it would have helped us a little bit.  After the network team here at NIU looked at that chart and what the Illinois Century Network was doing, we realized we really wanted to be a regional center.  We wanted Fibercon activity, we wanted to be in a loop, we wanted to be considered as an equal to the rest of the larger institutions in the state.  So, we began a lobbying/negotiating process which actually delayed our implementation into the state network, but has resulted in NIU being a regional center on the ICN network with multiple fiber loops coming into our campus and Northern being the regional support center for all of this area.  That kind of activity is 155 megabits.  It will avoid costs in the future of about $300,000 a year for the campus, but more importantly, ranks us up there with the other research institutions in the state, and we are quite proud to have brought this to the campus.

President Peters asked about NIU's status with respect to Internet II connectivity.  Internet II is a different sort of thing that really involves research projects, Dr. Czerniak explained.  We would have to have three or four researchers say they want to do these high-speed activities.  Over the past several years, we have found researchers here and then had their projects drop, he said, so we really have to work on this from an educational perspective first.  Also, we would have to gain a second high-speed access to Internet II, which would require significant grant funding.  It is a significant project otherwise in that we need projects and dollars and the grants to go with it.  The minimum cost to get into it would be in the $300,000 to $500,000 a year range to put in those fiber connections.  Because of what we have done with the ICN and our local backbone last year when we funded the $1.5 million upgrade to our backbone, he said, it will now be much easier to do that whereas in the past we would have had difficulty doing it.

Dr. Waldeland stated that three of the agenda items related in some way to the College of Education reorganization that the Board first heard about two years ago at its June meeting.  Dean Al Thurman is here and has pulled off a really major achievement in realigning the College of Education's programs and faculty to better address the needs of schools and society for the kinds of programs we have the expertise to offer, she said.

Agenda Item 7.a. – Request for a New Degree Program
The first item is a request for a new degree program, which was one of the goals of this reorganization, Dr. Waldeland said, to put faculty in proximity to each other and start them thinking about what should be in the curriculum for this day and age.  She asked Virginia Cassidy to present this item.

As Trustee Vella indicated, Dr. Cassidy said, from the reports in the media, education at all levels is under scrutiny by not only government agencies and educational governing boards, but also accrediting bodies across the nation.  In addition to concerns about the digital divide, access to educational programs, student retention and the preparation of classroom teachers, a major focus of this scrutiny is on the degree to which students develop the knowledge and skills that they need to progress in school and to prepare to enter college and the work force.

In order to answer the questions about how well students are learning, Dr. Cassidy said, educators need to be able to use research methods for systematically accessing their instructional methods and their educational programs to demonstrate that they are effective.  To meet the need for individuals with these skills, NIU is proposing a new Master of Science degree program in educational research and evaluation, which would be offered both on- and off-campus in the West Suburban Consortium.  This program will be delivered by the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment in the College of Education and would require a set of core courses in research designs, statistics and assessment methods.  After completing core course work, students would elect an area to gain more in-depth skills in areas such as general research and evaluation methods, assessment, program evaluation or advanced quantitative methods.  All majors in the program would also be required to complete an internship or practicum experience, a comprehensive examination and a thesis or a final project to fulfil their degree requirements.

As with many other graduate programs in education, this proposed program is designed primarily for individuals who are already employed in education or in fields related to educational research and evaluation.  Offering the program both on campus and off campus in Naperville would serve the students in NIU's service area, Dr. Cassidy said, and it would also be offered at times that would accommodate working professionals who are employed in our educational institutions.  The department conducted surveys of school districts in the region.  Based on the data they received from these school districts, it is anticipated that enrollments in this program would approach 30 students by the third year in which it is implemented and would reach a capacity of 60 students after about five years.  The degree has received the approval of the curricular committees in the department, the College of Education and at the university level.  There would be no new resources to implement this proposed program.  One of the points we made in the written report on the program is that the department provides many courses that serve as service courses to other programs in the College of Education and across the campus, she said, and several of these courses would be incorporated into this degree program.  The department then would have new efficiencies by increasing enrollments in those courses.  Chair Vella asked for a motion to approve the request for a new Master of Science degree program in Educational Research and Evaluation.  Trustee Boey so moved, seconded by Trustee Skoien.  The motion was approved.

Agenda Item 7.b. – Transfer of Tenure Location
Also related to the reorganization, Dr. Waldeland said, we are in the fine-tuning stage of organizing the curriculum and the staff.  A program area that was originally in the reorganization and housed in the Department of Leadership in Educational and Sports Organizations might fit better and have more synergies with the programs located in the Department of Teaching and Learning.  The faculty has recommended this, and the dean has concurred.  Consequently, the curriculum is being transferred, she said, but we also need to transfer the tenure location for the associated faculty, which the Board has to approve.  Interim Provost Waldeland recommended the transfer of the four faculty mentioned in Agenda Item 6.b. from the Department of Leadership in Educational and Sport Organizations to the Department of Teaching and Learning.  Chair Vella asked for such a motion.  Trustee Skoien so moved, seconded by Trustee Boey.  The motion was approved.

Agenda Item 7.c. – Appointments with Rank and Tenure
Two major appointments are being made by the university, Dr. Waldeland reported.  This has been a big year for searches.  The search for a new provost has culminated in a very successful appointment.  Dr. Zike has been chairing the search for a police chief, and an appointment is near there.  In the academic areas, we have done a search for a Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences and also for a Chair in the Department of Engineering in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology.  Dr. Shirley Richmond, who has been selected as the Dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, holds the rank of full professor and tenure at her current institution.  The same is true for Dr. Shin-Min "Simon" Song.  He is currently at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and he will be joining us this summer as the Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.  He too holds senior rank and tenure.  It has become fairly common for us to offer tenure and rank at the time of appointment for people at these levels, Dr. Waldeland said.  You can understand that they might be reluctant to give that up at their current institutions without the assurance that they would have it here.  We have gone through the normal process of reviewing their credentials, and we have all agreed that these two individuals meet our criteria for the rank of full professor and tenure at this institution.  Chair Vella asked for a motion to endorse the decision to grant Dr. Shirley Richmond and Dr. Shin-Min Song tenure and the rank of full professor.  Trustee Boey so moved, seconded by Trustee Skoien.  The motion was approved.  Dr. Peters added that the new Provost, Professor Ivan Legg, interviewed and was involved with Provost Waldeland in the selection of this outstanding individual, Dr. Richmond, for the deanship.

Agenda Item 7.d. – Approved Department Names in the College of Education
This item also relates to the College of Education reorganization.  We introduced the plan to you two years ago, Dr. Waldeland said, at which time the only necessary approval was for the tenure location for faculty.  As the dean laid out his general vision of the reorganization and the new structure, we brought to you at that time, a request to transfer the location of tenure from the former four departments to the proposed seven new departments.  Also at the time, we told you we only had working titles of the department names.  There have been a number of changes and a fair amount of tweaking since then.  At this point, all of the seven departments have approved names.  Not only does the faculty agree that these are appropriate names for the departments, she said, but we do have a requirement at this institution that curricular bodies approve departmental titles.  These titles have now received all the required campus approvals.

Agenda Item 7.e. – 2000-2001 Program Review Summary
As you have heard in detail in previous meetings, Dr. Waldeland said, we have a very thorough program review process at this institution.  All of our degree programs are reviewed on an eight-year calendar.  It is a process that involves the Provost’s staff, the college leadership and an academic planning council of faculty.  We feel that we really examine our programs carefully, and we then report on that activity to the Board and ultimately to the IBHE.  Dr. Waldeland asked Virginia Cassidy, who coordinates the program review process, to give a brief summary of this year’s activity.

After the program review process has been completed on campus, Dr. Cassidy said, the report is brought to this Committee and, ultimately, the full Board.  The report is then sent to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.  One of the points that was made in the item in the agenda book is that the IBHE is in the process of program review redesign.  We are very happy with many of the steps the IBHE has taken in this redesign process.  One of the things we were able to begin this year is revising our program review schedule.  In the past, the IBHE set a state schedule so that all similar programs in universities across the state would be reviewed in the same year.  The programs reviewed this year finish that cycle.  Right now, the deans have a draft of a revised program review schedule that we think will suit our needs better than the schedule developed by the IBHE.  With their approval, Dr. Cassidy said, we will implement that schedule beginning in the 2002-03 review year.  In addition, the IBHE is also changing the focus of what it expects the universities to report on from their program reviews.  In the past, they were very interested in things that we call inputs – how many students were enrolled, how many credit hours those students generate, what the program costs were, etc.  Now, like everyone else in education, they are asking, what are the outcomes?  So, they are focusing now on what is happening with students.  Are they successful in gaining employment in their discipline?  Are they satisfied with the quality of the educational experience they have had?  Do they have opportunities to participate in experience-based learning activities such as internships, capstone projects, etc.?  We are now revising our guidelines for program review to help the departments focus on these outcomes so that we can report all of the wonderful things that are happening in our programs here at NIU.

This past year, Dr. Cassidy stated, we reviewed six baccalaureate and master’s programs in engineering in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, 12 baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral science programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and two centers.  Rather than try to summarize the summaries included in the agenda materials, I would just like to make a few general observations about the quality of these programs in science and engineering.

From these reviews, we can draw several conclusions, Dr. Cassidy said.  About the students in these programs, we know that alumni are very satisfied with the education they receive from NIU.  They think our programs prepare them for a choice of careers within their disciplines, and alumni are very successful in finding employment in those disciplines or going on for further education.  We also know that many of our alumni remain in Illinois, which helps us to contribute to the economic development of the state, one of the IBHE goals for higher education.  About our faculty, we know they are diligent in ensuring that their courses and programs give students both theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience in their areas; that they are dedicated teachers and scholars; and that their research, professional activities and collaborative work with the business, industries, national research laboratories and other agencies in the region are instrumental in attracting students to the university and giving NIU a reputation for excellence in science and engineering.

Our programs also meet national standards of quality, she said.  For example, the baccalaureate programs in electrical, industrial and mechanical engineering were reaccredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology in 1999, and the College of Engineering is already preparing to meet their new, much more rigorous accreditation standards that will be reported in their self-study and be evaluated in the site visit that will occur in 2005.  In addition, the emphases in professional chemistry and biochemistry have been approved by the Committee on Professional Training of the American Chemical Society, and those standards are equally rigorous.  NIU's new Ph.D. program in physics was successfully implemented.  This year, the first 15 students were admitted to the program this past fall, and the department has initiated its recruitment plan and continues to strengthen its plans with Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratories, which will provide outstanding experiences for students in this new doctoral program.

One of the final conclusions we can draw from the program reviews is that all of the programs are engaged in activities that will position them well for the future, Dr. Cassidy said.  The programs, for example, are exploring new ways to increase the diversity of their student bodies.  They are refining their advisement, tutoring, mentoring and other assistive strategies to help students be successful in completing these rigorous degree programs.  The departments continue to work with community colleges to meet the needs of transfer students.  The departments are also increasing opportunities for students to work with faculty through initiatives such as the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' undergraduate research apprenticeship program that was reported in the reviews.  And they are expanding collaborative relationships to provide undergraduate and graduate students with experiences in leading science and engineering organizations in the region.  We are very proud of these programs, and we think that the Board will also be proud of their accomplishments as well.

I think the process is probably more important than the product in these kinds of things, Chair Vella said.  Stepping back and looking at what we are doing is very helpful.  I appreciate the process, which I know is complicated and very time consuming for the university.  We are very grateful that you continue to address the needs of our students and the work world.

Trustee Boey said that Dean Kasuba had put together a one-page summary on the College of Engineering and some pertinent data about students, faculty members and programs in the College of Engineering.  He asked the other deans if they would do the same thing for all the Trustees.  It would be very helpful if we have just a one-page summary for the Trustees to look at, he said, and we would be that much better served in articulating the missions of the university.  President Peters asked the deans if they could provide the one-page summaries to Provost Ivan Legg by September 1 so that they can put them in a standard form and distribute them to the Trustees.

Agenda Item 7.f. – Pre-Tax Purchase of SURS Service Credit
Dr. Waldeland asked Steve Cunningham, Associate Vice President for Administration and Human Resources, to present this item.  Mr. Cunningham gave a brief background on how employees accrue SURS service credit.  Employees accrue service credit under the retirement system based upon their length of service.  Periodically, when employees leave service, they obtain a refund of the contributions they made to SURS and, in doing so, forfeit their SURS service credit and any benefits they might receive under the SURS.  However, they are eligible, in the future, if they are reemployed by an agency in the SURS system, to purchase that credit back, which can be of great benefit to them.  Also, employees may be in positions such as graduate assistantships that make them eligible for SURS participation if they later wish to purchase that credit.  This Resolution, for which we are seeking your endorsement, would allow us to implement this program on a pre-tax payroll deduction installment basis as of October 1, Mr. Cunningham said.  Recently, SURS received a private letter ruling from the IRS which applies to the entire state system of public higher education that would allow us to do this, subject to your Resolution, for employees in the defined benefit aspect of SURS.  That would be the SURS portable and the SURS traditional plans.  The SURS self-managed plan, which is a defined contribution plan, would come later in the year, but the same resolution would also authorize the purchase of service credit into that once SURS completes their policy making on it.  This resolution was thoroughly reviewed by Mr. Ken Davidson, Corporation Counsel and BOT Parliamentarian.  Chair Vella asked for a motion to approve the pretax purchase of SURS service credit.  Trustee Skoien so moved, seconded by Trustee Boey.  The motion was approved.

Agenda Item 7.g. – Fiscal Year 2002 Salary Increment Allocation Guidelines
We deliberately held off presenting the guidelines for the FY02 salary increment allocation at the March meeting, Dr. Waldeland said, because this is the year the IBHE became a little more bold in seeking a larger salary increment, and we did not have a very clear signal as to whether the legislature was going to go along with this additional request for a six percent total increment, which includes the university matched increment.  We thought it might better to wait until we had a better indication of how likely the legislature was to support this recommendation.  This is one of those items that we take to both the Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee and to the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee.  It is a budgetary matter, but it is also a personnel matter, so it is one of the few that we think needs to be on the table in both.    She then asked Steve Cunningham to present the university's plan for the allocation of this year’s increment.

The appropriation bill for this year’s increment recently passed the state legislature, Mr. Cunningham said, and is awaiting approval by the Governor.  However, subject to that approval, this agenda item would implement our increment guidelines for FY02 effective July 1, 2001 for faculty and staff on 12-month contracts and August 16, 2001 for faculty on 9-month contracts.  This would be a total six percent allocation.  The budget calls for a merit component and a retention of critical faculty and staff component.  These are carefully monitored at the college and divisional levels.  It is fully a merit program, which is a distinction for NIU.  This would follow upon a five percent increment in FY00, another five percent in FY01 and now a six percent this year.  Northern has a good record of being aggressive with salary increments.  We face a number of challenges with the salary increment program, including cost of living, competitiveness with peer groups and other benchmarks.  Compensation is one of our highest strategic priorities.  The six percent guidelines are significant with respect to these priorities.  The increment program is a very important issue for the campus and is the single largest budgetary personnel action we take each year.

The budget that has been passed by the General Assembly is perhaps one of the best higher education budgets in many years, President Peters commented, given the tech-wreck and the economic downturn.  I am very pleased that our top priority, as I indicated in my inaugural speech, was faculty and staff salaries.  That is a key component of excellence, and this budget will permit us to distribute the increment in two parts -- four percent based on merit and two percent for the retention of critical faculty and staff.  There was tremendous support from the Governor and from the General Assembly.  So, it is a very good day for higher education, and it is a very good day for NIU.  I want to thank the Trustees who helped us with this in the General Assembly, the President concluded.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon M. Mimms
Recording Secretary