Academic Affairs Newsletter
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Welcome back! Planning Week and Week of Welcome are here, and I am excited for us to begin another successful semester of teaching, learning, research and artistry at NIU.
This is always such an energizing time of year as we see our returning students and our newest Huskies filling the sidewalks, hallways and classrooms, knowing that they come here with dreams and ambitions and that we are entrusted to help facilitate those. What an honor.
Alicia Schatteman, Bárbara González and I have spent the summer listening, learning and collaborating, and are ready to shift into action this fall in support of our students, faculty and staff. You’ll learn more as we attend college and division meetings this week to introduce ourselves and talk about our ideas and goals.
You’ll also start to receive this “Provost Post” newsletter in your email each month as we strive to increase communication. I believe you will find the newsletter informational and helpful in your work, and am hopeful it will promote even more collaboration across our Academic Affairs team.
Please enjoy the remaining moments of what I hope was a restful and restorative summer, and see you soon!
Laurie Elish-Piper, Ph.D. Interim Executive Vice President and Provost
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Faculty Success is a Priority in Academic Affairs
Welcome back to campus! I hope you had a productive and restful summer. Your Faculty Affairs team is working hard to facilitate faculty belonging and success. To encourage a culture of belonging, I will prioritize initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as initiatives to reduce sexual harassment. To start, please know that when I refer to faculty, I am referring to tenured and tenure-track faculty, clinical faculty, research faculty, instructors and adjunct faculty as well as faculty administrators. We want to hear from all of you and we want you to hear from us. Please take us up on this offer!
Bárbara González, Ph.D. Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
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Pictured: Kevin Reynolds, Director of Academic Employee Labor Relations; Bárbara González, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs; Janice Hamlet, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Mentoring and Diversity; Joan Parrish, Administrative Assistant VPFA; and Marlene Bryant, Academic Labor Relations Assistant.
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New Faculty Orientation this Friday!
The new faculty orientation will take place from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. this Friday, Aug. 25, in the Altgeld Hall Auditorium. Brunch will be provided. New faculty will have the opportunity to meet and interact with other new faculty and to get acquainted with the university’s mission of creating a culture of belonging, excellence and equity. Please contact Janice Hamlet (jhamlet@niu.edu) for more information.
Faculty of Color Rediscover Joy of Writing
NIU faculty recently participated in Loyola University’s Faculty of Color Retreat at Loyola’s Retreat and Ecology Campus in Woodstock, Ill. The retreat provided space and opportunity for scholars of color to meet, share experiences and rediscover the joy of writing. Kimberly Hart, clinical assistant professor and director of the NIU Community Counseling Training Center, says that being able to attend the retreat was expressed by “the bouncing in my heart, the glaring smile in my lungs and the manuscripts forthcoming.” NIU faculty participation was sponsored by the Office of Faculty Mentoring and Diversity.
Service, Teaching, Artistry & Research (STAR) Program Criteria to be Developed
In the new collective bargaining agreement between the university and the tenure/tenure-track faculty union, department personnel committees have been charged with the responsibility to establish discipline-specific guidelines to determine eligibility criteria for a full professor to receive a $5,000 increase to base salary. The criteria, in addition to being discipline specific, should also relate to priorities aligned with the university’s mission, vision and values, including work related to diversity, equity and inclusion as well as leadership and engagement. For more information, please refer to the Memorandum of Understanding STAR Program Criteria.
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The heart of the university is education, a mission that is supported by our amazing staff and faculty. The team in Academic Affairs covers a wide array of units, programs and areas that support our educational mission, guiding students from the time they are accepted to graduation and beyond. They have been busy all summer with orientation and planning Week of Welcome, as well as creating programs and events to support our students as we enter a new academic year. This newsletter will highlight some of their amazing work to support student success.
Alicia Schatteman, Ph.D. Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
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Undergraduate Studies kicks off new semester with leadership retreat
Vice Provost Schatteman held a July 14 leadership retreat at NIU Naperville with 19 leaders from the various units in the Office of Undergraduate Studies to kick off planning for the new academic year.
The units in this area include the Academic Advising Center; Accreditation, Assessment and Evaluation; Career Services; CHANCE Program; Educator Licensure and Preparation; Huskie Academic Success Center; Navigate; Orientation and First Year Programs; Registration and Records; Student Athlete Academic Support Services; Student Engagement and Experiential Learning, University Honors Program; and the University Writing Center.
Participants introduced themselves with personal artifacts representing their units or approach to their work. The full-day retreat discussed ideas and plans to support student engagement; general education; and student enrollment and retention.
OSEEL receives $100,000 to fund CURE student awards
The Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning (OSEEL) received a $100,000 donation to fund Conference on Undergraduate Research and Engagement (CURE) student awards.
The Dr. Arnold Hampel and Dr. Denise Kennedy CURE Award Fund will provide meaningful monetary awards for deserving undergraduate researchers through 2035.
More than 140 students presented research at the 2023 CURE, and 31 were recognized with awards across 11 categories. With this new commitment from generous donors, we will be able to provide substantially more recognition for student work.
CHANCE Program Grant Award – Technology Solutions for Students
The Northern Trust Foundation, in partnership with the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, awarded the McKinley “Deacon” Davis CHANCE Program a $24,000 grant to dismantle barriers to postsecondary persistence by ensuring access to technological and campus resources that these students need to succeed.
First-year CHANCE students entering in fall 2023 who reside, or graduated from high schools, on the South and West sides of Chicago are eligible to receive laptops to use during their college tenure and to receive extra academic support to improve their retention and success.
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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NIU’s Faculty Academy on Cultural Competence and Equity is open to anyone who teaches a class. Those who participate in six of nine events across the fall and spring semesters will earn certificates of completion and digital badges.
Fall 2023 Schedule
Sept. 8: Building a Community of Care and Minimizing Bias in the Classroom with Dr. Daryl Dugas
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- HSC Heritage Room, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- In this extended session led by Dr. Daryl Dugas, there will be two areas for exploration. First, participants will be able to learn and experience activities that aid in building a community of care in the classroom. Then, participants will take a deeper dive into understanding and working with bias in the classroom. This will include both a primer on the research around bias and engaging activities to help further explore bias. Lunch will be provided.
- Register early! Space is limited!
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Oct. 13: Culture, Intersections, and Pedagogy in the Classroom with Drs. Simon Weffer and Joseph Flynn
Nov. 10: Mental Health, Neurodiversity and Trauma-Informed Practice in the Classroom with Drs. Melissa Clucas Walter and Tammy Wynard
Dec. 8: Deficit to Growth Mindset and Equity Based Assessment Practice with Ms. Stephanie Richter
For more information, call 815-753-8399 or email equity@niu.edu.
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Center for Student Assistance outreach pays dividends
Our Center for Student Assistance (CSA) has been working diligently to support students through re-enrollment efforts in conjunction with support from the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost in identifying Huskies who still need to enroll for the fall. The CSA also has been asked by CLAS and CEET to help support them with re-enrollment efforts. Therefore, staff in the CSA called 318 students last week and have confirmed that 196 of those have re-enrolled.
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Week of Engagement Toolkit
The first week of classes is a critical opportunity to engage students actively and early, thereby setting the expectation for a high level of participation throughout the semester. The connections that students form in the first week with you and their classmates can have a profound impact on their sense of belonging and, ultimately, their success and persistence in the course. As you lead your first week of class, find ideas and sample activities you can use to build engagement and excitement in your class!
Student Success Tips and Tools
Did you know that NIU has curated practical, step-by-step guidance for students on a number of academic support topics, including:
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- Schedule planning.
- Taking notes.
- Being active in class.
- Preparing for class.
- … and many more!
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Please consider sharing these student success guides with students at the beginning of the semester and include a link to them (go.niu.edu/student-success-tips) in your syllabus and/or Blackboard course.
Faculty Tips for Starting the Semester with Blackboard
Start the semester strong with reminders and links that can answer frequently asked questions you might have as you use Blackboard in your teaching.
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Updates on Learning Spaces
Over the summer, the divisions of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Academic, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, in collaboration with Property Control, completed a “Division Clean-up.”
This resulted in cleaning out stored-up surplus items in 27 buildings that were taking up valuable space that could be repurposed for meeting academic needs, including creating some additional “Huskie Study Zones” across campus.
With sustainability in focus, repurposing furniture helped us spruce up other learning spaces. Additionally, we continued our furniture pilot and updated furniture in several classrooms, providing faculty with more flexibility.
Also, as you go into learning spaces this fall, you soon will see a QR code that will provide you with information on the features in the room, how to use the technology and to report either an IT or facility issue.
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The Academic Corner will feature a rotating schedule of news from the colleges, the Graduate School and the University Libraries.
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A new home for the School of Nursing
NIU School of Nursing programs have a new home this fall!
The College of Health and Human Sciences and individuals from across the university have been working behind the scenes to make NIU’s Wellness and Literacy Center ready to welcome the School of Allied Health and Communicative Disorders and School of Nursing teams back to campus.
Located at 3100 Sycamore Road, the center has been home to audiology, physical therapy and speech-language pathology as well as NIU’s Speech-Language Hearing Clinic and Physical Therapy Clinic. With the addition of nursing programs, the move brings together multiple health and health-related disciplines that will increase opportunities for transdisciplinary collaboration and position NIU as a leader in health education and research.
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CVPA’s Music Library Offers Numerous Resources
Located on the main floor of the NIU Music Building, just off the concert hall lobby, the NIU Music Library is open to all NIU students, faculty and staff.
The Music Library features more than 25,000 music scores, over 21,000 books, 10,000 recordings, listening equipment, headphones, charging stations, an Anywhere Printer, public computers, eight private study rooms and a private group study space.
You can even check out video and audio recorders, microphones, external CD/DVD burners, cables, chargers and more. In addition to the books and materials available at the Music Library, your loans from Founders can be sent to the Music Library for pickup and return.
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Accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is fundamental to the university’s operations and necessary to continue NIU’s eligibility for federal funding and its high standing in public opinion.
NIU will continue preparations this fall for the 10-year HLC site visit scheduled for March 25 and 26, 2024.
You can follow progress of NIU’s current comprehensive evaluation and reaffirmation of accreditation online. Also, please watch for opportunities to participate via email and through other communication vehicles such as NIU Today and the Monday Morning Announcements.
For more information, contact Amy Buhrow at abuhrow@niu.edu.
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- NIU is welcoming 25 new tenure/tenure-track faculty this fall.
- NIU offered 831 class sections during the summer for a total of 24,200.5 credit hours generated.
- NIU STEAM delivered 20 different camps this summer – seven half-day camps at the elementary school level, four middle school (two day camps and two residential camps) and nine high school residential camps – to approximately 275 campers.
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To submit an item for possible inclusion in the monthly Provost’s Newsletter, please email mmcgowan@niu.edu.
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Northern Illinois University's vision is to be an engine for innovation to advance social mobility; promote personal, professional and intellectual growth; and transform the world through research, artistry, teaching and outreach. Learn more about NIU’s vision, mission and values.
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