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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Interim Chancellor Stephen Hansen addressed the final session of three meetings of the SIUE congress Friday morning, Jan. 29, in the Morris University Center Meridian Ballroom.

Hansen opened the session by urging the faculty, staff and student attendees to remember what SIUE is – “a master’s comprehensive university.”

Considering the budget crisis in Illinois, Hansen established the congress in November. He believed that the University is at an important juncture where resources, growth and program expansion all dictate different courses of action. The congress’ purpose was to explore these issues in terms of direction and priorities for SIUE.

The congress considered five issues and identified action items for each:

• Should SIUE continue to grow enrollment while operating with fewer state resources
  • Grow enrollment selectively.
  • Update and expand the SIUE capacity study in order to better understand the University’s fixed costs and the net revenue gained by increasing enrollment across programs.

• How to determine academic program priorities
  • Launch academic and administrative program prioritization process during spring 2016.
• How to increase revenue to replace the loss of state appropriations
  • During Spring 2016, a list of revenue options will be forwarded to chancellor’s council. The council will assign options to each vice chancellor on the basis of whether it would fall under their normal area of responsibility.
  • By the end of the spring semester, each VC will determine which options are feasible and should be further reviewed. The results of this process will be reported back to the University community.
  • Ultimately, a 5-year revenue projection shall be developed that includes revenues from those options identified as the most likely to succeed. 

• If a different budget model is adopted, determine principles to guide the model
  • Form an ad-hoc committee to the University Planning and Budget Council (UPBC) that is charged with designing a revised, hybrid budget model. The revised approach should take into consideration the principles and guidelines developed by the SIUE congress. The target date for establishment of this committee is March 15. 
• Revise curriculum and delivery to improve quality and efficiency
  • Complete the critical academic initiatives currently underway. 
  • Academic affairs and student affairs will collaborate to launch a student success initiative that builds from New REALITY suggestions, integrates previous retention committee suggestions and increases support for at-risk students.
  • Focusing on high enrollment courses, identify opportunities for course redesign and support programs that are ready and willing to try new approaches to maintain or improve outcomes while creating efficiency in delivery.

Tim Schoenecker, associate professor of management and marketing in the School of Business, chaired the congress working with a steering committee comprised of Denise Cobb, interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, Lora Miles, associate vice chancellor for student affairs and Steve Huffstutler, interim associate vice chancellor for information technology services.

Throughout the morning sessions, the congress continued to provide action items beyond those originally proposed from the November and December meetings.

“It’s time for us to move on to digest and collate all of your suggestions, and assign action items to the responsible units,” Hansen said. “By the end of February, I will report to the campus our next steps and priorities.”

Hansen commended the congress for its effort, creativity and sense of caring for SIUE’s long-term vitality in confronting the challenges in the higher education marketplace.

Photo:  SIUE Interim Chancellor Stephen Hansen.