May 12, 2006

President Wilson convened the meeting at noon.    He welcomed Professor Rebecca Roesner, the newest Committee member, who will serve a 2-year term as a representative from CUPP.  He thanked outgoing members, Professors Dave Willis and Lynda Duke and student representative Jen Carden, for their excellent service.

The President reported that, as a result of an agreement with the Staff Council, the three current staff representatives will draw straws for 1-, 2-, or 3-year terms, starting in 2006-07.  At this time next year, when the 1-year term is up, the Staff Council will conduct elections for a new staff representative, and a regular cycle of electing staff membership will begin. The Student Senate will appoint a 1-year replacement for Jen Carden in Fall 2006, and a new Student Senate President will replace current President Haley Brown at the end of the Fall term.  Thus, an established rotation process for faculty, staff, and student representatives is now in place.

Noting that the work of the SPBC is entering a new phase, President Wilson indicated that the Committee would probably not meet as intensely in 2006-07 as it has for the past two years.  Early Fall 2006 agenda items will likely include reports from the IWU Vice Presidents on implementation plans for the goals for which they are responsible; later in the academic year, these same officers will report to the Committee on progress toward meeting the goals. In between, the budget cycle will dictate other agenda topics for the group.

One member asked whether progress on some strategies must wait for others to be achieved.   The President said that he believed that we can strive for progress on all goals right away, although it will clearly take longer for some strategies to be implemented than others.   Another member reminded the group that all Committees and offices can begin to look at their routine assignments in light of the strategic plan and make modifications or improvements in existing practices guided by the planning vision and goals. Thus, the plan can in a sense guide most of what we do for the next several years.

The President then brought up the need to develop measures of progress and benchmarks (both longitudinal trends and cross-sectional comparisons with other institutions) with which to gauge our progress.  He stressed that not all markers of progress will be quantitative and that we will make a number of judgments based on qualitative evidence as well.  But he hopes that we can develop a set of numerical indicators that we regularly report to the campus community and the trustees, using a format that everyone can understand and interpret.  As a first step, he has asked Professor Gardner to meet individually with IWU Vice Presidents to ascertain what data and what group of comparison institutions will be most useful in helping to determine where we are and how we are progressing in the plan areas for which they are responsible.   Vice President Cavins noted that it is important not only to know how we are doing compared to our past and to other institutions, but also to identify best practices and desirable, measurable objectives for which to strive. 

At the President’s request, Professor Gardner distributed a few handouts using some of the data sources and types of information to which we have access now.  Members suggested additional information that we might consider, including data from alumni; workload analyses; admissions statistics; cost of attendance to students beyond tuition, room, and board; student satisfaction surveys; attrition statistics, and bias-incident reports.  Refining the data we collect and identifying appropriate reporting formats and venues will be major efforts over the next year.

The Committee adjourned in time for afternoon classes, full of anticipation for what is to come.

Distributed to all faculty and staff: June 7, 2006