Highlights from the October Administrative Assembly
On October 2, after a welcome from President Wiewel and introductions of new staff, the first Administrative Assembly of the year put forward a full agenda. Below is a summary with links to key presentations.The next administrative assembly is scheduled for Wednesday, December 5, from 11 a.m. to noon.
Accreditation, Mark Figueroa
Associate Vice President for Institutional Research and Planning Mark Figueroa walked us through this Powerpoint presentation on our current accreditation process with the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). The college is completing the third phase of the accreditation reaffirmation process, known as the Year 7 report. The NWCCU Evaluation Team will be making their visit to campus October 29-31.
An agenda for the visit will be made available, and there will be an open session each for faculty, staff, and students during the evaluation team visit.
Access to the full report and all supporting documents can be found on the NWCCU Accreditation Report 2018 page on the Institutional Research website.
Strategic Enrollment Management Update, Bruce Suttmeier
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Bruce Suttmeier explained the the state of Strategic Enrollment Management, a broad based and collectively implemented process effort to better attract, admit, and retain students. Organized last year, SEM is an in-house think-tank that works alongside traditional structures. Its work is informed by data, aligned with our mission, and creates priorities and a process toward reaching goals. The SEM Steering Committee is a high-level group with representatives from the Dean’s Office, the faculty, Admissions, Student Life, the Business Office, Institutional Research, and the President’s Office. Goals include:
- gathering and analyzing data on a particular dimension of the college’s activities (academics, student life, marketing and recruitment, retention, and fiscal practices),
- articulating internal and external factors that impact our ability to recruit and retain successful students (our own strengths and weaknesses, national trends in higher education, the strength of our competition, etc.),
- identifying strategies to help us meet our goal of strengthening our financial position without compromising on our academic mission, and
- recommending those strategies to appropriate offices, departments, and committees for consideration.
Health Insurance Update, Alan Finn
Vice President for Business and Finance Alan Finn gave an update on the dissolution of the Pioneer Educators Health Trust next March and what that means for insurance options next year. We know for sure that we will have our Kaiser HMO and our Added Choice plans. We are also exploring additional options and collecting quotes from other insurance companies.
We anticipate having Open Enrollment details to share by the end of December or the beginning of January.
