Strategic Initiatives Projects

Status of 2007-08 Projects

(Report compiled by Tom Krattenmaker, 10-7-08)

Note: Strategic initiatives funding for several of these projects was augmented by money from other sources. For more information on any of the below, please contact the person whose name is attached to the particular report.

Development of Global Law Program—$142,500

PROJECT DESCRIPTION*

Lisa Lesage, assistant dean and director of business law programs, and Susan Mandiberg, law professor, will lead the law school in its exploration of a more coordinated approach to global legal education that includes providing a richer and more varied curriculum in global law, providing expanded opportunities to study law abroad, adding a renowned international law expert to build and guide the curriculum and scholarly work, attracting leading international law scholars to global law symposia and generally enhancing the law school’s reputation and rankings with a world-class presence in the global law arena.

PROJECT STATUS (Report by Robert Klonoff, Dean of the Law School)

The Law School received an SIF grant to help improve our ability to train students to enter a global legal environment. In order to maximize use of existing resources and to develop new resources, it was necessary to compile data on existing global law programs around the country. To this end, the Global Law Committee hired two consultants to help focus and then conduct the research, compile the data into a useable format, and aid in reporting the results to the faculty. The report will be available to the faculty before its October, 2008 meeting. Based on data from 40 selected law schools, the report covers course development, LL.M. programs, faculty exchanges, study abroad, symposia and conferences, specialty projects, internships, clinics, and a focused law journal; it also addresses the success rates, costs, and funding for these programs. Once the faculty has prioritized its options, the consultants and the Committee will do any additional research necessary to making final choices and beginning implementation. This study is important because law school students and applicants increasingly demand global legal education. The Law School must take an informed approach to providing such education if it is to stay competitive in attracting and retaining the best students and faculty. The grant was a good investment on the part of Lewis & Clark. It has been invaluable to us in gaining a better understanding of available options. Increased emphasis on global legal education will help consolidate the Law School’s national position and reputation. It will also provide a basis for increased collaboration with the CAS and the Graduate School in developing and implementing programs with global emphases.

Academic and Event Space Management—$87,900

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Academic and Event Space Management Working Group coordinated by Michael Ford, associate vice president for Campus Life, will engage Paulien & Associates to analyze current academic and event space use and utilization across the institution. The study will help the College identify the optimal number and size of future classrooms and event spaces. The project will also purchase an upgrade to existing EMS Enterprise event management systems, which will, for the first time, allow events on the Fir Acres, Law and Grad School campuses to be scheduled in one electronic system.

PROJECT STATUS (Report by Michael Ford, Associate Vice President for Campus Life)

Since Spring 2006, the three registrars and staff directors in summer programs, conferences and events, institutional research, campus planning, and associate vice president for campus life (convener) have addressed a number of challenging issues related to scheduling of classroom, labs, and event meeting space. We have done so in the context of a robust institution-wide event management policy and procedures but no formally approved institution-wide space allocation or classroom allocation and management policies. This Working Group received a grant from the Strategic Initiatives Fund to engage a nationally recognized consultant (Paulien &Associates) to analyze current academic and event space use and utilization across the institution from Fall 2006-Summer 2007, and to purchase software upgrades that will allow us to collect and analyze our own data more systematically in the future. Funding totaled $87,900—a consultant fee of $79,800 and $8,100 for the purchase of Event Management System upgrade software providing registrars with a common scheduling tool that interfaces with our primary student information and registration system, Colleague. Through a year-long process of data gathering and analysis of classroom and event/meeting space use (dates, times, places, and patterns) and utilization (student occupancy relative to room capacities), the consultant provided us with institution-wide baseline use/utilization data on our academic classrooms, laboratories, and premier event/meeting spaces, compared our data to national standards for both public and private colleges and universities, and further informed our space planning process related to the capital campaign. This spring the consultants presented results to the Executive Council and this fall Michael Ford presented a project overview, summary data, and recommendations to the Operations Council. Study recommendations, including the creation of a Classroom Allocation and Management Committee- are being pursued this year, as is implementation of scheduling software purchased with this grant.

Redesign Lewis & Clark’s Website—$80,000

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Led by Tom Krattenmaker, associate vice president for Public Affairs and Communications, the College will engage consultants to help with the redesign of the Lewis & Clark website with the aim of attracting and retaining high-quality students, engaging alumni and prospective donors, improving internal communications, and projecting our institutional identity in a manner consistent with the strategic communications plan.

PROJECT STATUS (Report by Tom Krattenmaker, Associate Vice President)

Through a productive engagement with the web design firm White Whale, and with input from faculty and staff members across the three campuses (not to mention student leadership), we created a new design and content strategy for the Lewis & Clark website. On an aesthetic level, the new design captures the sense of place missing from the current design, and through rich textures and details, puts Lewis & Clark in the forefront of web design in the higher education sector. The site also executes the “Uncommon Journeys” tag line in a sophisticated, effective way. We and our consultants also developed a refined content strategy that emphasizes stories consistent with out messaging platform and invites visitors to connect with the institutional in authentic, interactive ways. (The new home-page design can be viewed at http://lewisandclark. babywhale.net/final/ .)

Community and Career Connections Office—$56,875

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Funds will support an expanded Office of Community and Career Connections in the College of Arts and Sciences supervised by Associate Dean of Students Greg Caldwell. The office’s staff, programs and services will help students and alumni better synthesize academic, co-curricular and community experiences into objectives and goals for their futures through internship and career advising.

PROJECT STATUS (Report by Julio de Paula, CAS Dean)

The College successfully completed the transformation of the center, including the change of its name to the Center for Career and Community Engagement. Minda Heyman was hired from Johns Hopkins University to serve as director of the center, which combines the old Career Advising and Civic Leadership functions under one umbrella. In addition, we installed new data bases, hired new interns to help staff the program, and instituted the “Careers for Pioneers” program to aid students in their efforts to apply their liberal arts education to the job market, and articulate the value of their education to prospective employers.

Electronic Document Management—$45,000

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

In an effort to improve methods of institutional communication, Assistant to the Provost Wendy Washburn will hire IKON Office Solutions to expand the College’s electronic document management system to include Institutional Governance documents, such as Board of Trustees bylaws, resolutions and minutes. Allowing access to these documents across all three campuses will provide a sense of inclusiveness and help build our community.

PROJECT STATUS (Report by Wendy Washburn, assistant to the Provost)

The Planning Task Force Report called for improvements in methods of institutional communication. One important way in which we communicate with our employees is through the policies, procedures, and general information pertaining to our organization. Institutional governance documents dating from 1942 to the present reside in offices around Lewis & Clark’s campus. The policies, which include everything from the Articles of Incorporation to the lowly campus Smoking Policy, and historical Board of Trustee documents require better organization to insure their safety, reliability and accessibility. What is more, access to these documents improves efficiency , inclusiveness, and community across the three campuses. These goals can be achieved by using a system of electronic document management, already adopted by Information Technology for use in the Institutional Advancement division. The policy and document groups are housed in executive offices in the Frank Manor House, Human Resources and other offices around campus, depending on the departmental origin of the policy. The funds granted by the College have made it possible to purchase the Application Extender software and to enter our institutional governance documents, both historic and current versions, into an electronic database for easy access by authorized individuals. Older, historic documents are being scanned into the system for safekeeping and electronic documents will also be entered; indexing and coding establish ownership and access protocols. All data will be saved to a secure server and updated nightly. The first phase of this project will be completed by the end of this semester. A second phase, which will create computer software to automatically link policy and procedure changes to the College’s web page, is underway.

Indigenous Ways of Knowing Project—$20,000

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Lewis & Clark has partnered with the tribal leaders of the Pacific Northwest through the Indigenous Way of Knowing Program (IWOK) to address unmet needs of Native communities in the region. Among its projects, IWOK prepares native and non-native teachers, counselors and related community leaders for positive and informed leadership roles. The funding supplements a Ford Foundation grant in support of IWOK activities this year. Se-Ah-Dom Edmo is the IWOK Coordinator.

PROJECT STATUS (Report by Jane Atkinson, Provost and Acting GSEC Dean 07-08)

The Indigenous Ways of Knowing Program was established at the Graduate School in 2005 with grant support from the Ford Foundation. Rooted in a commitment to promoting strong and healthy schools and communities, the project was intended to establish and develop a collaborative partnership between the Northwest Tribes and Lewis & Clark College. The program has garnered considerable interest from Tribal Leaders, so much so, that in the Spring of 2006, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) passed a resolution in support of the IWOK program and the following year made a formal presentation of a blanket to the Dean of the Graduate School as a sign of their commitment. These actions were powerful demonstrations on the part of the 58 Member Tribes of ATNI that they wished to continue and expand their relationship with Lewis & Clark College as a whole. In recognition that this partnership can help us advance our diversity goals and offer valuable collaborative possibilities for individuals and programs across the institution, the President’s Strategic Initiative fund provided $20,000 in support of IWOK during academic year 2007-2008. These funds were used to support an adjunct appointment for Roy Sampsel, Executive Director of the Institute for Tribal Government, who is a key advisor for the IWOK program. They also were applied to instructional costs in Counseling Psychology so that Professor Mary Clare could assume additional responsibility for IWOK at a critical juncture in the program. Thanks to this support, the Ford Foundation has made a third grant to IWOK and views it as a model collaboration between indigenous people and an institution of higher education.

Exempt Staff and OEE Classification and Compensation Study—$19,500 (two years)

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Fox Lawson Consultants will conduct a staff compensation study over two fiscal years in an effort to follow the Planning Task Force’s recommendation to “commit to fair and competitive compensation, provide professional development opportunities and implement a system of performance evaluation for all employees that will serve as a positive incentive for the highest standard of performance and will allow us to retain the best faculty and staff.” This project will be coordinated by Greg Walters in Human Resources.

PROJECT STATUS (Report by David Ellis, Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel)

Human Resources received SIF funds to conduct an exempt classification study. HR retained Fox Lawson Associates (“FLA”) to conduct the Study. The purpose of the Study is threefold: To develop an objective system for salary administration; to evaluate our exempt positions against relevant market data; and, to evaluate accuracy of our job classifications. There have been some delays in the completion of the study and implementation of the new system due to staffing shortages in HR. Currently, we anticipate the study being completed by early November. A meeting is scheduled between the consultant and the Executive Council on December 16. We then hope to roll out the new system soon after the first of the year. This study and the resultant objective classification system for exempt positions has long been a priority of Human Resources. The system will promote fairness across the institution and provide us with much needed information regarding where the College stands in the market with regard to compensation.

Sexual Harassment Training—$10,000

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel David Ellis will conduct a study of best practices to implement a better institution-wide policy.

PROJECT STATUS (Report by David Ellis, Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel)

The College is working through CLIC, our insurance consortium, to develop best practices in all forms of harassment and discrimination training over the next 18 months. We plan to continue our online training and develop more individualized training for small groups.

Bodine Research Lab Renovation—Up to $145,212

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

To enhance undergraduate science programs, funding a new integrated science building will be a primary goal in an upcoming capital campaign. Since it will take a number of years to secure the necessary funds, it is important to update several biology research labs as a transitional step. Funding for these lab renovations will combine annual capital project funding with federal indirect cost grant support and either College of Arts & Sciences operating surplus or Strategic Initiative Funds. Up to $145,212 from the 2008-09 Strategic Initiatives Fund has been approved for these renovations, which will begin in January. Biology Department Chair Deborah Lycan will oversee the project.

PROJECT STATUS (Report by Julio de Paula, CAS Dean)

Laboratory renovations were successfully completed for the following four professors: Kellar Autumn, Greta Binford, Greg Hermann, and Peter Kennedy (who are, by all reports, very happy with the improvements).

*This and the other project descriptions are drawn from October 2007 "Campus Connections" article on the strategic initiatives process.