UIS NorthStar Initiative

NorthStar is our guide to operationalizing the UIS Strategic Compass through the reshaping of our university for operational efficiency and academic excellence to ensure long-term sustainability and relevance.

UIS seeks to be a resilient, adaptable and market-aligned academic institution. To achieve this, we must maintain our student-centered approach and focus on action items that will position UIS to be fiscally sustainable, market-relevant and growth-minded.

UIS' Three NorthStar Priorities for Academic Year 2024-25

Priority 1: Academic Portfolio Review & Prioritization: Conduct an academic portfolio review to ensure all programs are on a sustainable path to meet IBHE enrollment and completion standards.

The Academic Portfolio Review Task Force was announced in September 2024 with a charge to conduct a holistic academic program portfolio review by developing metrics, criteria and process recommendations for a market-relevant and mission-aligned program portfolio evaluation. The task force has been meeting regularly since November 2024. Agenda and updates can be found on the Academic Portfolio Review Task Force website. The goal for this priority is to complete the review by the end of Spring 2025.

Priority 2: Deficit Reduction: Achieve an annual budget balance of zero by 2029.

Over the past several years, the university's budget has accumulated a deficit that must be reduced. There are two primary ways to improve our fiscal outlook: grow revenue through increased enrollment and reduce and/or better control expenses. With enrollment growth a continued challenge nationally for public regional universities, UIS cannot rely solely on enrollment and retention improvements to effectively balance the budget.

Tactics to help achieve this strategy include:

• Hiring Freeze: In place as of September 2024, all requested positions and salary increases must first be reviewed by the Strategic Staffing Committee, comprised of the chancellor and vice chancellors, before being approved to post. Hiring managers are encouraged to think creatively and carefully about how to approach vacancies before requesting a position be filled.
• Mid-cycle budget cuts: Proposals for 2-, 3- and 4-percent cuts were presented in November to the University Budget and Planning Committee. The Chancellor's Cabinet received the committee's recommendations in December and voted in early January. The outcome of this budget-cut exercise will be announced the week of Jan. 13.
• Second-half Fall 2024 enrollment push: This effort proved successful with a 4.56 increase in credit hours as compared to Fall 2023.
• Voluntary Separation Plan: This initiative is under review and will be shared in January.
• Other initiatives: Developing a strategy for use and distribution of the remaining Strategic Investment Fund dollars (approximately $1.1 million); exploring funding model changes in areas that generate non-state dollars; a space utilization study (to begin in February 2025); and continued reviews of our scholarship distribution.

Priority 3: Student Retention: Improve student persistence, reduce dropout rates and increase graduate rates.

UIS wants students who attend our university to complete their degree or achieve their non-degree academic goals. A number of initiatives are under way to better understand why some UIS students may "stop out" and use that data to build programs and initiatives to better retain them.

Tactics in place to work toward this priority include:

• A committee focused on retention is in the process of being established and will be led by individuals representing the divisions of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Enrollment and Retention Management. The purpose of this group is to develop a comprehensive, institution-wide retention initiative that supports the UIS mission, enhances student success and improves retention rates across all demographics, academic programs and modalities.
• The Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education position has been renamed as Associate Provost for Student Success and Undergraduate Education with a new focus on student success and support.
• Athletics has redesigned its student support roles to enhance the facilitation of student-athlete success.
• Student Affairs has reimagined New Student Orientation to provide a stronger initial start for incoming students.
• UIS staff has ramped up outreach to students who have stopped out but are close to earning a degree. Additionally, we are working with outside partners to identify ways to better re-engage with stop-out students. 
• GPA information has been added in AdviseU for reference by advisors when talking about student’s best course of study.
• Advisors have participated in training workshops (both initial and ongoing).
• Students who have not yet registered are contacted by advisors to offer support.
• Internal dashboards have been created for use in analyzing retention-related data.
• Retention efforts have been aligned across campus to support HLC Quality Initiative work.

Feedback and Questions

Have questions, concerns or ideas? Share them via the NorthStar Strategic Priorities Feedback Form. Submitted questions may be used to develop an FAQ in the future.

Have a success story to share related to one of our three NorthStar priorities? Send it to chancellor@uis.edu.

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