ood afternoon! Forty-five
years have now elapsed since the opening of what was then called the Southwestern
Illinois Campus of Southern Illinois University, opening as two residence
centers—one in Alton and the other in East St. Louis. A vision for SIUE
emerged during the eight years between the opening of those centers and the
opening of the Edwardsville campus—a vision of
commitment to the educational needs of the citizens of this region, the second
largest metropolitan area of Illinois.
Last year a Strategic Planning Group of more than eighty
members of the faculty, staff, student body, and the community engaged in a
process over several months to re-examine the mission, vision, values, and long-term
goals for SIUE. The vision statement that emerged from
that process is short: “Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, as a
premier Metropolitan University, will be recognized nationally for the excellence
of its programs and development of professional and community leaders.”
But, while short, the statement captures a vision for SIUE consistent with our
historical roots—a vision that I believe would be warmly embraced by those
pioneers who opened the residence centers in Alton and East St. Louis in September,
1957.
Central to the vision for SIUE is the concept of a Metropolitan University. As a founding member of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, SIUE has helped define and differentiate the role of a metropolitan university within the higher education landscape of the nation. A Metropolitan University is not just IN a metropolitan area; it is OF the metropolitan area. It exists to serve the metropolitan area through education and economic development, through engagement with the community and its many organizations, and through taking full advantage of its setting to enhance its programs. What could be more descriptive of SIUE? We are a metropolitan university, and we should judge ourselves and our accomplishments in that context, comparing ourselves to our peer metropolitan universities.
Our vision is not to be just “good,” but to be “premier.” Twenty-six years ago when Kenneth Shaw arrived at SIUE to become president, he challenged the university to begin the quest to become “the best of its kind.” We continue that quest. We strive to be among the best, to be premier, to set the standard for others to emulate—to be the best of our kind, the best possible metropolitan university. We can point to much evidence that we are, indeed, premier, perhaps not yet in everything we do, but certainly in much of what we do.
Our vision is to be recognized nationally—recognized nationally both for the quality of our programs and for the development of professional and community leaders. The Strategic Planning Group that developed the vision statement is, like me, and probably like you, weary of SIUE being called a “well kept secret.” Is SIUE now a household name, known coast-to-coast like UCLA? No. Are there areas in which we do have national recognition? Certainly. And, there will be many more—if we do our job.
So, how do we achieve our vision of being a premier Metropolitan University? We do it by careful planning, by maintaining focus in our programs and allocation of resources, and by hard work. We also do it by being honest with ourselves. We must be willing to measure and assess where we are, celebrate our accomplishments, and, most importantly, identify and work to remedy deficiencies.
The Strategic Planning Group set the stage for achieving our vision by defining seven long-term goals for SIUE. To become a premier Metropolitan University, they concluded that we must have Engaged Students and Capable Graduates resulting from offering Innovative High Quality Programs. Those programs must be supported by a Committed Faculty and Staff working in a Harmonious Campus Climate with access to Sound Physical and Financial Assets. Operating our programs well in the midst of a metropolitan region requires Active Community Engagement. Excellent programs, high quality graduates, and active community engagement will provide the basis for achieving an Excellent Reputation.
Let us now turn to looking at the “State of the University” in the context of where we are in achieving each of these seven long-term goals, and what we plan to do over the next few years to continue our progress.
The full statement of the first long-term goal of Engaged Students and Capable Graduates is: “Attract a diverse student body, including traditional, non-traditional, commuter, and residential scholars, and nurture, educate, and graduate students who achieve the objectives for baccalaureate, graduate, and professional degrees.”
SIUE enrollment continues to grow, as this graph shows, reaching a headcount of 12,708 in fall 2002, an increase of 2.1% over fall 2001. More importantly, full-time equivalent enrollment grew even more quickly, as this graph shows, increasing by 3.7%, over fall 2001, and reaching 10,124—and that growth has continued into spring semester. The faster growth in full-time equivalent enrollment than in headcount enrollment reflects the changing nature of the SIUE student body, with more full-time students and fewer part-time students as this graph shows in dramatic fashion.
SIUE’s enrollment growth has been driven by an upward trend in new freshmen since the early 1990s, growing from 997 in fall 1993 to 1,655 in fall 2002—an increase of 65%. As the number of new freshmen has grown, we have maintained a steady flow of new transfer students at about 1,250 in each fall term and a generally steady flow of new graduate students at about 700 each fall. And, of course, enrollment at the School of Dental Medicine holds steady at about 200 students as we admit only 50 students per year from among many hundreds of applicants.
So, the evidence suggests that we are meeting our goal of “attracting” students, but are we “graduating” them. In absolute numbers, the answer is decidedly “yes.” As you can see in this graph, the number of degrees awarded is up substantially over the mid-1990s, with over 2,500 degrees granted last year. And, we are beginning to see improved success in the percentage of students graduating as well, as reflected in the six-year graduation rate of new freshmen. With a six-year graduation rate for new freshmen of about 40%, SIUE’s rate is lower than the overall national rate, but it is higher than that of most metropolitan universities—universities with missions similar to ours. The improvement in this rate in recent years reflects the increased number of full-time and residential students—and, it should continue to improve.
So, the data shows success in attracting and graduating students. But, are our students “engaged” and are our graduates “capable” as the caption of this goal states? This is a more difficult question to answer, requiring data that SIUE, like nearly every university, has not typically gathered. But, along with many other colleges and universities, SIUE joined in the National Survey of Student Engagement three years ago. “NSSE,” as it is called, surveys a sample of freshmen and seniors each year, and provides us summarized data about the engagement of our students and those at other institutions.
With only three years of data, and given that some questions have changed over those three years, we have only limited information from NSSE to assess the engagement of our students and to compare their engagement with that of students at other institutions. In general, our students seem to have a level of engagement comparable to those at our peer institutions. For example, in response to being asked if they worked harder than they thought possible to meet instructors’ standards, slightly over 50% said they did—nearly the same as those in peer institutions. Freshmen, when asked the same question, had a similar response, although the percentage agreeing is rising. Does that suggest we are demanding more of freshmen than we did three years ago? Are freshmen more motivated than they were before? Or, is this simply a random variation? With limited data, we don’t yet know.
We will continue to participate in NSSE, and it should be a rich source of information. But, it is vitally important that this information be put into the hands of the faculty for their review and use in finding ways of increasing student engagement. I will ask the Faculty Senate, the Provost, and the deans to play the lead roles in having the faculty analyze and understand this data. Having a level of engagement only equal to our peers does not achieve the standard of being "premier."
How capable are our graduates? While we do not have an all-University measure of the capability of our graduates, we do know a great deal. We know that the graduates of the School of Dental Medicine continue to score among the best in the nation on their national board exams. We know that this year's undergraduate nursing graduates have nearly a 90% first-time pass rate on their national boards. We know that every graduate of the nurse anesthesia program has passed the national boards. We know that graduates in teacher education programs do extremely well on certification exams. And, we know that our alumni consistently report that their program at SIUE prepared them well for their jobs and for graduate school, and that they believe their preparation compared very well to that of graduates of other universities.
Although we have this information, we would be better served if we had more. Each program needs to develop a means of assessing the capability of its graduates and the success of its alumni. How else can we know how well we are doing or what we need to change?
The full statement of our second long-term goal of having Innovative High Quality Programs is: “Develop, deliver, and continually improve high quality academic programs appropriate for a Metropolitan University.” How do we know if our programs are of high quality? One way is through specialized accreditation. Only a few of our programs that could be accredited have not yet received accreditation. And, three of those have moved closer to receiving accreditation this year. The Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology visited SIUE in September, and I am confident that that visit will lead to the initial accreditation of our programs in Computer Engineering and Computer Science yet this year. The Council of Social Work Education visited SIUE in early November to review the Master of Social Work program, and, based on the remarks of the site visitation team, we can be optimistic about receiving accreditation shortly.
SIUE’s third long-term goal of having a Committed Faculty and Staff is more fully stated as: “Recruit and support a diverse faculty and staff known for providing the highest quality educational opportunity, scholarship, and service.” The change in the SIUE faculty is dramatic. As this slide shows, nearly 56% of our tenured and tenure-track faculty came to SIUE within the last 10 years. Nearly 30% came in the last 5 years alone. These new faculty, replacing the pioneering faculty hired in the early history of SIUE, are providing vigorous new leadership for our programs.
The SIUE faculty is growing increasingly diverse. This diversity is most dramatically reflected in the shift in its gender composition. In 1993, 96 of SIUE’s 389 tenured and tenure-track faculty members were women—25%, a good, but not outstanding, record compared with other universities in the US. By fall 2002, the number of tenured and tenure-track women faculty had increased to 143 out of a total of 399, or 36%. While this change is not equally distributed across our programs, in total, SIUE has made tremendous strides in increasing the number of tenured and tenure-track women faculty—and, the trend is very likely to continue.
Despite some losses this year, we have made some progress over the past ten years in the racial diversity of the faculty as reflected in this slide showing the percentage of African-American tenured and tenure-track faculty. While we have made progress, and while we continue to do better than the nation as a whole, and while some recent losses of African-American faculty can be attributed to their having been offered very attractive positions at other universities, we still have a long way to go, and there is much more work still to be done. Isn’t it reasonable to expect that, within some relatively short time period, the profile of the SIUE faculty would reflect the demographic profile of the nation? If it did, our African-American faculty would be more than twice the size it now is.
How committed are the faculty and staff? We have data on student perceptions of faculty and staff commitment from the National Study of Student Engagement. We have alumni perceptions of faculty from our baccalaureate follow-up studies, and we have data on faculty perceptions about themselves from the survey of SIUE faculty conducted every three years by the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute.
This graph of data from the NSSE surveys shows that the percentage of seniors who report the faculty to be “available, helpful, and sympathetic” is reasonably high and growing, and compares favorably with the responses of students at other urban institutions. SIUE alumni, when asked about their perceptions of faculty availability, report similar results as shown in this graph. Finally, the percentage of faculty reporting on the UCLA study that SIUE faculty members are committed to the welfare of SIUE has grown significantly in recent years as illustrated in this graph. Regrettably, we do not have similar data on staff commitment, a deficiency we need to rectify.
But, while we do not have formal data on staff commitment and limited formal data on faculty commitment, we have a great deal of anecdotal data showing the commitment of faculty and staff to SIUE, particularly to its students. Anyone who has read the nominations for the Employee of the Month Award knows about the commitment of the many nominees. Anyone who has read student evaluations of candidates for promotion and tenure knows about the faculty’s commitment to students. Anyone who has talked to alumni knows the respect they have for those faculty and staff who made their degrees possible. Anyone who has attended a commencement ceremony knows the eagerness with which graduates want to introduce their family and friends to their mentors at SIUE.
The fourth of SIUE’s long-term goals, to have a Harmonious Campus Climate, is further described as seeking to: “Foster a harmonious student-centered campus characterized by integrity, cooperation, open dialogue, and mutual respect among individuals with different backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives.”
The NSSE, UCLA, and alumni data also give insight into our success in achieving the goal of having a harmonious campus climate—and, the data looks generally positive. Over the past three years, for example, the percentage of seniors reporting that other students are “friendly, supportive, and that they have a sense of belonging” has increased as shown in this graph. On the other hand, the response of seniors when asked if they have had serious conversations with students of a different race or ethnicity is disturbing. As this graph shows, the percentage who say they have done so “often or very often” has declined over the three years of the study. Freshmen report a decline as well, but not as marked. Students in our peer group institutions report a decline as well, both for freshmen and seniors. What this means isn’t clear; but what is clear is that we need to learn more about this disturbing trend and have a conversation about what we find.
The UCLA survey of faculty gives us some insight in faculty perception of the campus climate. For example, 88% of the total faculty, and 86% of the women faculty, believe that our women faculty members are treated fairly, and those percentages have been growing.
Likewise, 89% of the faculty believes that faculty members of color are treated fairly, and that percentage has also been growing since SIUE began collecting this data in 1992. However, unlike the general agreement of men and women about the treatment of women faculty, only 76% of the faculty of color themselves believe they are treated fairly.
Finally, the percentage of faculty members who perceive the faculty to be at odds with the administration is significantly lower than it was when we first began to participate in the UCLA study, dropping from 30% in 1989 to 11% in 2001, and is significantly lower than at other four-year public institutions. This improved perception, I believe, is a result of improved communication, and we need to continually work to maintain an environment of open communication—an environment in which information, not rumor, dominates.
SIUE’s fifth long-term goal in pursuit of its vision is to have Active Community Engagement in which we: “Achieve an integral and indispensable relationship with Illinois and the St. Louis metropolitan area; work cooperatively within SIU to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.”
“Integral and indispensable”—a pretty high standard! Are we integral? Are we indispensable? Some 2,500 persons receive degrees from SIUE each year. Some 38,000 alumni live in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. Some 3,500 patients make over 39,000 visits to our dental clinics each year. Some 200 clients receive help each year from the Speech Clinic. Some 1,600 students are served by our Headstart program. Some 10,000 people attend musical events on campus. Some 4,800 enjoy Arts and Issues presentations. Some 40,000 community members attended nearly 500 events booked through Conferences and Institutes last year. Some 40% of teachers in schools in Southwestern Illinois attended SIUE. Some four out of five of our nursing graduates serve the region. Integral? Indispensable? I think so.
Have we made progress in working within the SIU system to make the whole greater
than the sum of its parts? With SIUC 110 miles away
in Carbondale and the Medical School 85 miles away in Springfield, cooperation
isn’t always easy— particularly when we sometimes have difficulty
cooperating with people in the next building or even with the person in the
next office. But, we need to overcome what almost seems to be an inherent tendency
in higher education not to cooperate, because cooperation, particularly in a
period of constrained resources, is in the best interest of all. President Walker’s
2020 Vision Committee has set the stage for cooperation,
and we will work to implement its recommendations in the months ahead.
The sixth long-term goal of having Sound Physical and
Financial Assets requires that we: “Develop, maintain, and protect
the University’s assets in a financially, aesthetically, and environmentally
responsible manner.”
This has been a very difficult budget year. The downturn in the economy, along with the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, dramatically reduced the state’s general revenue. Last year, for the first time in more than fifty years, the state’s revenues actually declined from the prior year—and, it appears to be happening again this year. For SIUE that revenue decline translated into a reduction of $6.3 million or about 8.6% of the general revenue that we receive from the state of Illinois for our operations. Some of that reduction was offset by a significantly larger than normal tuition increase. And, some more was offset by the tuition revenue we have realized from a larger enrollment. But, the net effect is that, this year, we are doing more with less.
What does the future hold? The economic signals are, at best, mixed; state revenue collections remain weak; and, the expectation is that the state will end the year with a large deficit. To make matters worse, the state faces mandatory cost increases next year for items such as the various state retirement systems. Together, these factors make the budget outlook highly uncertain. In December, the Illinois Board of Higher Education sent its budget recommendation to the Governor. If approved, it would provide modest salary increases, but no new program funds. We should know soon how the new governor intends to respond to the IBHE’s recommendation and to the difficult problems facing the state.
Despite the difficulties in the operating budget, SIUE has made important strides on improving our physical assets. Using funds from the state earmarked for capital improvement projects, the new chiller system came on line in late August, providing cooling capacity for the Edwardsville campus following a long hot summer. The renovation of the University Center, funded by student fees, is fast coming to completion, as exemplified by this refurbished Meridian Ballroom, giving our students and us a new living and dining room.
Construction of the National Corn to Ethanol Research Pilot Plant, funded by state and federal grants, is nearly complete with testing and calibration planned over the next few months. This unique facility will bring researchers from around the nation to SIUE to test new ways of reducing our dependence on foreign energy sources by making domestic renewable energy sources more competitive. And, we are fortunate to have hired one of the nation’s most distinguished researchers in ethanol to head this one-of-a-kind research facility.
Have we ever had a visitor who hasn’t been stunned by the beauty of this campus? Students say attending SIUE is like going to school in a park. We have an obligation to maintain that beauty, and the continued replanting of the campus core, as we move into the second year of a five-year plan, assures that the beauty of the campus will be preserved for the years ahead.
And, most significantly, the East St. Louis Center is only months away from fully occupying renovated and expanded space on the site of what had been Metropolitan Community College. What was to become SIUE began in East St. Louis. But until now, the East St. Louis Center operated in decidedly inferior space. By late spring, the East St. Louis Center will have space equal in quality to that in Edwardsville.
While we were very disappointed in not having received funds to plan the renovation and expansion of the Science Building this year, I am highly optimistic about receiving funding next year. The SIU Board of Trustees submitted the project to the Illinois Board of Higher Education as its first priority for capital funds, and the IBHE placed it sixth on its list of priorities for the state. With hard work and a little luck, we should be in the midst of planning for an expanded and renovated Science Building at this time next year.
With state funding declining, the role of private support becomes evermore important. Unfortunately, generating private support had not been a priority of SIUE in the past, and our historical lack of emphasis on raising private support is reflected in our relatively low endowment compared to our peers as shown in this graph. We have, I believe, this year, made significant progress in laying the groundwork to garner greater private support in the future. With development officers now in nearly every major academic unit and with highly talented new personnel in the Foundation, SIUE is poised to make private support an integral part of our budget. There is no better example of that talent than in the area of planned giving. Until last year, we did not have the expertise to accept a planned gift. Late last year, we accepted several, including one for in excess of $700k.
Perhaps you are wondering, “What is the SIUE Foundation?” and “What has it done for SIUE?” The technical answer to the first of these questions is that the SIUE Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation that exists for the sole purpose of raising funds on behalf of SIUE. The Foundation is governed by its own self-perpetuating Board—a Board composed of men and women from many fields who are supporters of the University.
What has the Foundation done for SIUE? That question is best answered by looking at what the Foundation spent on behalf of the University in the last two years as shown in this table. As you will note, over that two-year period, the Foundation spent over $3 Million, most of which was to support the activities of the Schools and the College in accord with the requests of the deans and department chairs.
Where does this money come from? As you can see on this slide, friends of the University were the single largest source of contributions last year, with alumni and corporations not far behind. But, while nearly 3,000 alumni made a contribution last year, the number should be much higher when you consider that we have nearly 70,000 alumni.
Why isn't the number higher? The answer is pretty simple—we haven’t asked. Until this year, only about 20% of our alumni have been asked to contribute to their alma mater. This year, we will be asking nearly all alumni to take part in the Annual Fund Drive, and I anticipate a dramatic increase in the number of alumni donors.
We are behind most of our peer institutions in raising private support. But, we must, we can, and we will close the gap.
The seventh and last of our long-term goals is to have an Excellent Reputation, which we plan to achieve as we: “Participate and excel in actions that earn national recognition for quality.” In other words, we plan to no longer be a “best kept secret.”
Just what is our reputation? We don’t really know. We have anecdotal data, of course. But, we have not consistently monitored our reputation among our various publics to assess how we were doing. The only consistent measure we have —and it is a measure about which there is some considerable controversy—is our academic reputation among our peers in the Midwest as measured by U.S. News and World Report. While of questionable validity, the data on this slide does show that our academic reputation in recent years consistently exceeds that of the other Illinois public universities in our group.
While we have limited data about our general reputation, we know that many of our programs have excellent reputations. The strong showing by students in the School of Dental Medicine has certainly given the School national prominence in the dental education community. The high quality of our Studio Art program has drawn national attention to our faculty and graduates. And, our recognition by many national accrediting agencies has enhanced our reputation within the national communities they represent.
National recognition can extend beyond our academic programs. Look at the banners hanging in the Vadalabene Center or visit the NCAA Hall of Fame in Indianapolis to see the national recognition our athletic teams have earned. Our Headstart program is one of a handful to receive the most prestigious awards of the National Headstart Association.
Still, we need to do much more. First, we need to develop information about how we are perceived among those most important to us: high school and community college counselors, parents, prospective students, and employers. Over the next year, we need to begin to gather that information. And, we need to engage in activities to enhance our reputation. We have many good stories to tell; we need to tell them. And, we need to have our faculty and staff more fully engaged on the regional and national level so the word about the quality of what we do will spread. Only we can put ourselves “on the map.” Only we can jettison the label of “the best kept secret.”
In summary, budget difficulties not withstanding, the State of the University is good. We have made progress this year in achieving our long-term goals in pursuit of our vision of being a premier metropolitan University. But, we must have a strategy to move forward over the coming years. We cannot and we will not let temporary economic problems impede our progress. So, let us turn briefly to the plans for the near future.
First, and foremost, we need to integrate SIUE’s vision and long-term
goals into our planning processes and into the fabric of each unit, particularly
the Schools and the College. At the University level, that integration is well
under way through the work of the UPBC—the University Planning and Budget
Council. The UPBC is in the process of integrating its budget recommendations
with the University’s seven long-term goals to complete the strategic plan
for the University.
But, the integration of the vision and long-term goals into the life of the
University must go beyond the work of the UPBC. By the end of this year, each
unit needs to have measures of how it is doing on each of the long-term goals
that apply to it. And, based upon what that data shows, each unit needs plans
to move forward.
At the University level, there are many actions to be taken in pursuit of the long-term goals. I will highlight just a few.
For goal one, Engaged Students and Capable Graduates, we need a serious discussion of the meaning of the data on student engagement that we are receiving through the National Survey of Student Engagement. I will ask the Provost, working with the Faculty Senate and the deans, to begin those discussions.
For our second goal, Innovative High Quality Programs, we need to move forward with plans for the School of Pharmacy. Three years ago, the School of Pharmacy was an idea; two years ago it was a proposal; last year, it was before the IBHE; this year it is a reality on paper. Now, we must make it an organizational and physical reality. We will do so by completing the search for a dean by late spring, and by continuing the planning to house the School in University Park until a permanent building can be constructed on the north side of the campus core. High on the priority list for the dean will be identifying sources of funds to permit us to move forward in very difficult economic times.
For goal three, Committed Faculty and Staff, we will pursue funding to permit a general salary increase in FY04. Over the past four years, we have made progress in reaching parity in salaries with our peer institutions. The crisis in the Illinois budget made it impossible to continue that progress this year. While we do not yet have the data, the likelihood is that we have not slipped much since our peer institutions have encountered similar problems in light of the budget difficulties in most states.
But, it is imperative that we resume progress next year—and we will do so! The IBHE has recommended a general salary increase of two percent for next year coupled with an additional one percent for the recruitment and retention of critical faculty and staff—if we match it with the internal reallocation of an additional one percent—a total of four percent. We need to work hard with our legislators to make that recommendation a reality. And, if the IBHE’s plan does not become a reality, we need to, and we will, find another strategy to move ahead.
For goal four, Harmonious Campus Climate, we will seek ways to enhance campus communication so that all members of the community are well informed and work an in environment in which no one need rely on rumors to know what the university is doing or plans to do. Very shortly, we will begin having regularly scheduled “Coffee with the Chancellor” sessions where the Vice Chancellors and I will be available to discuss current issues and hear the comments and answer the questions of faculty, staff, and students.
For goal five, Active Community Engagement, we will identify those community groups and organizations with which SIUE should have a strong, ongoing relationship, if it is to be integral and indispensable to the region. And, for those organizations with which we do not have a strong relationship, we shall find a way to develop one.
For goal six, Sound Physical and Financial Assets, our first and most important priority is to secure funding for the renovation and expansion of the Science Building. That building is key to our general education program, the sciences, engineering, nursing, and pharmacy. We must move this project forward—and we have the support of the Office of the President, the Board of Trustees, and the Board of Higher Education to do so.
For goal seven, Excellent Reputation, our first priority must be to get a better assessment of our reputation among our most important constituents—prospective students and their parents, high school and community college counselors, and employers. Only then will we have the baseline data to assess our progress in moving the reputation of the University forward and shedding the stigma of being the “best kept secret.”
Over this last year we have made steps, some large others small, in moving
SIUE to achieving its vision, in making Edwardsville
synonymous with academic excellence, in making this a great place for students
to learn and live. We shall continue to move in steps, not giant leaps, just
as those who came before us moved the University forward a day, a week, a month
at a time. Let us resolve to continue our progress this academic year, continuing
into 2003 proud of our accomplishments, confident of our future, and knowing
that the fruit of our labor will be the ability to say again next fall, “Now
is the best time ever to be a student at SIUE.”
Thank you for your kind attention. Have a great semester!
URL: http://www.siue.edu/CHANCELLOR/state00.html
Published by:
Office of the Chancellor
Last update: February 5, 2003 by gconroy@siue.edu
Copyright © 2003, Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University
