February 6, 2006
President Wilson convened the meeting at 11:30 am in the Davidson Room. He welcomed, in particular, Trustee members of the Committee, all of whom were able to be present in person instead of via the usual teleconference. The President then invited all SPBC members to a presentation and discussion of the strategic planning documents at the Board of Trustees meeting on February 7 from 10:45 am to noon in Beckman Auditorium of The Ames Library. If all goes well, the Board will vote to approve the plan before that meeting ends.
The President then asked the Committee, as part of its budgeting responsibilities, to consider issues related to a proposed change in the tuition policy for students studying abroad. Using a handout that compared the average net tuition paid (published tuition per student less average financial aid per student) for an on-campus IWU student, a student studying abroad in 04-05 under the current study-abroad tuition policy, and a student studying abroad under the proposed policy, he noted that the effect of the proposed change would be to increase the average net tuition paid by students studying abroad so that it would be equal to net tuition paid by students studying on campus. A new scholarship fund would be established to assist students for whom this additional cost would result in an undue burden.
A variety of pros and cons for the proposed policy were considered, including: (1) the value of reducing the University’s current half-million dollar cash cost of sending students abroad (pro); (2) the resulting fairness of equalizing average net tuition for all students (pro); (3) the possibility that the number of students studying abroad would decline as a result of increased net cost (con); and (4) the complexity of translating the average effect of the new policy into the effect on each individual student (con). The group underscored the importance of the new scholarship fund to the success of the proposed policy. The President noted that he and other administrators would be having further discussions with faculty, students, and staff in the coming weeks.
The President then asked the Committee for its thoughts on a comprehensive and proactive memo from Associate Vice President (AVP) Fred Miller, in which he argued that there should be more emphasis on information technology in the strategic plan and offered language for a technology goal and accompanying strategies. Several Committee members noted that many of the suggestions in the memo were natural tactics to be pursued under the goals and strategies already adopted, and thus, they would receive the attention AVP Miller urged. Others stressed the unique and critical role of information technology in the success of the University and pointed out that we cannot afford to fall behind in this area. Thus, it is the SPBC’s responsibility to see that intentional, forward-thinking (rather than reactive) actions regarding information technology are indeed taken as the plan is implemented. Although everyone agreed that it was too late to add another strategic goal to the plan at this time, the Committee also agreed that if after plan implementation is underway, information technology is not garnering the attention it deserves, it may be appropriate to consider adopting an additional goal. Such an addition would be consistent with the “living” nature of the plan as articulated by the President.
As the meeting ended, Trustee Kathy Lewton complimented the Committee on its work and stated that both the plan and the planning process were very attractive to several strong candidates for the Vice President for Public Relations position.
Distributed to all faculty and staff: March 3, 2006