Members of the two task forces met in room 203 for the first 90 minutes. Dan Turner of the Academic Advising Center gave a presentation on the activities of the Center and how it has evolved since its conception three years ago.
At approximately 10 am, members of the two task forces welcomed President John Peters and Provost Ray Alden to the meeting. After introductions, President Peters provided his thoughts on the activities related to the two task forces. He emphasized how higher education was changing rapidly and that institutions needed to engage in examining how change should occur on their campuses. He thought that when it came to issues related to curriculum, flexibility was important and that we as an institution should continue to focus our efforts at providing a top notch education for our students. He said that members of the task forces should approach their activities from a broader NIU perspective, not one primarily based on what goes on in their departments. A dialogue then ensued between Task Force members and the President and Provost, highlighting some of the key issues being taken on by the two groups including retention, advising, general education and student engagement.
At approximately 11:00 am the two task forces separated to continue discussions. Douglass provided some general announcement to the Task Force on Student Success and then each of the subgroups gave a report. All of the subgroups focused on identifying goals and, where possible, potential strategies for achieving those goals. The group decided that further information is needed. To the end, the campus climate subgroup will be hosting a pre-meeting student panel at the next Task Force meeting, the advising subgroup will be meeting with Dan Turner of the Academic Advising Center, and the impacted majors subgroup will be meeting with Brent Gage, Assistant Vice Provost for Enrollment Services.
Changnon provided some general announcements and then the subgroup on Technology discussed their overarching goals. The General Education subgroup followed and provided a long list of questions they had developed. The task force then discussed how goals could be generated from their questions. Near the end of the meeting, each subgroup was encouraged to put their overarching questions/goals as well as initiatives and/or strategies related to the goals on Blackboard in their discussion folder for others to view. Changnon also asked that each subgroup email him with a list of goals and initiatives by Wednesday, Feb. 6 so that he could generate a powerpoint presentation for the next meeting scheduled February 8, 2008. Subgroups are welcome to invite Changnon and/or Douglass to participate in discussions prior to the next meeting.