Dear Faculty and Staff —

This week had notable recognitions occur: three UIS professors were selected for the COPLAC Beard Leadership program – Associate Professor Shipra Gupta, CBM; Tih-Fen Ting, Associate Professor, CHST; and Associate Professor Magic Wade, CPAE. These colleagues will participate in a series of virtual leadership workshops this Spring followed by an intensive in-person event.

The Administrative Council met on Tuesday and received briefings on the Library Commons contract update, the Strengthening Institutions Project (SIP) grant, executive search updates, and the Huron consultant’s report on equity and salary compression among faculty salaries. The salary compression issue is documented, and the report has been shared across campus. The report is available with UIS login at: https://uofi.app.box.com/s/zfk4bp8nljsroth9whejc6z498jf9bzl

Conversations with departments on DFW (drop, failure, withdrawal) rates for some courses continue. Dr. Shawn Boyne, AVC for Undergraduate Education, is working with departments on this issue with the assistance of Dr. Bill Bloemer (Institutional Effectiveness) for course level data. One key to improving student learning outcomes is the incorporation of active learning tasks which help students absorb material and concepts in perceived “difficult” yet required courses.

There is some confusion on this campus which may, in part, be due to lack of clarity with communications. I am asking, please, that everyone be mindful of this potential issue with all we do. I am working to be as responsible as possible with my communications, and request that you join me in working toward accuracy constantly. Whether you are speaking or writing with a student, colleagues, a guest on our campus, or someone in your office, we all need to be clear every time. There must be accountability among our exchanges or we violate one crucial hallmark of any academic community – integrity. Thank you for reflecting on this.

The review of suspended faculty search positions resulted in eight of 29 positions being cancelled. This involved a process of verifying that funds were not allocated for many positions. And subsequently, and in consultation and with review by the deans, I recommended that nine of the 29 open search positions be eliminated to Chancellor Gooch, who made the final decision on the eight cancelled searches.

The University Scholars Review Panel met this week with vigorous discussion of several excellent colleagues nominated – recognizing that this award is primarily directed toward emerging scholars. Additionally, the Personnel Policies Committee met this week and engaged also in vigorous discussions – primarily about sabbatical leave denials and faculty annual performance reviews. The week concluded with the Campus Senate meeting on Friday morning with an extended discussion of budget/fiscal issues facing UIS. Finally, the Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation (COPRA) site visitation team of NASPPA was on campus Thursday and Friday to discuss accreditation for the master’s in public administration (MPA) degree in the School of Public Management and Policy. The visiting accreditation team was insightful and delightful during our morning meeting.

Thank you,

Linda

Linda M. Delene, PhD

Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (VCAA) and Provost

University of Illinois Springfield