President's Office

Presidential Inauguration Steering Committee

Vesna Misoska — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 20:07:14 +0000

Presidential Inauguration Steering Committee

Vesna Misoska Wed, 09/25/2024 - 15:07

We hope that you are able to take part in the Inauguration events and enjoy this momentous time at Northeastern.

Presidential Inauguration Steering Committee members

Anna Augustyn, Alumni Relations
Akua Cason, Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies
Christopher Childers, Marketing and Communications
R. Shayne Cofer, Academic Affairs
Liesl Downey, Institutional Advancement
Andy Dutil, Student Union, Event and Conference Services
Steven Harris, Ronald Williams Library
Charlene Jefferson-Johnson, Student Union, Event and Conference Services
Rebeca Lamadrid-Quevedo, El Centro
Tim Libretti, College of Arts and Sciences
Terry Mena, Student Affairs
Claudia Mercado, Enrollment Management
Vesna Misoska, Marketing and Communications
Cyndi Moran, Communication, Media and Theatre
Beni Ortiz, Finance and Administration
Suleyma Perez, Government Relations
Joe Przybyla, University Police
Asma Raouf, President’s Office
Carrie Reffitt, Marketing and Communications
Veronica Rodriguez, Student Leadership Development
DeWitt Scott, Angelina Pedroso Center for Multicultural Affairs
Sudha Srinivas, Academic Affairs
Henry Stewart, Student Union, Event and Conference Services
Josh Sumner, Facilities Management
Paola Vargas, Student Affairs
Karl Voigt, President’s Office

2021 State of the University Address

Timothy White — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 19:17:34 +0000

2021 State of the University Address

Timothy White Wed, 11/01/2023 - 14:17

10/25/2021
Auditorium, Main Campus

Good afternoon. I want to thank Dr. Nancy Wrinkle and the Faculty Senate for inviting me to deliver my fourth State of the University Address. It continues to be an honor to serve 91Porn’s students, faculty, staff and alumni as president. Thank you for joining me here in-person or virtually. Today, I will focus on our achievements, our challenges and the status of some of our future plans. At the end of the Address, there will be time for questions and I may call on members of my cabinet to also address your questions.

This Address is being recorded so the University community will also have the opportunity to review this presentation at a later date. I am joined by my cabinet, and want to acknowledge and thank them for their leadership. Terry C. Mena, Vice President and Dean of Students for Student Affairs, Shireen Roshanravan, Executive Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and G.A. Finch, General Counsel have joined the leadership team most recently.

As I look out into the audience, I am so pleased that I am able to address you here, in the Auditorium, and simultaneously livestream for those who cannot be here in person. As we continue to learn how to modify, accommodate and improve higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic, we will need to continue to work together and support one another as new opportunities and challenges arise. I would like to thank each and every one of you for your exceptional efforts, for all your flexibility, patience and continued dedication to enriching our University during the pandemic.

It hasn’t been easy. The last year and a half has been an incredible challenge. The pandemic robbed some of us of people we love, cut into our financial safety nets and caused real anxiety. I have heard from many of you about how much harm you are still navigating and how tough it is. I want to acknowledge and respect that. We are healing, but it will take time. I have said this numerous times, and I will say it again today: Please take care of yourselves, Northeastern. This pandemic has taken a physical, mental and emotional toll on everyone. In spite of the challenges we’ve faced, and the ways this virus has altered and impacted all of our lives, we have adapted, endured, and persevered, and we will continue to do so to the best of our abilities. If you need help, Northeastern’s Student Counseling Services offers teletherapy options to students, and the State of Illinois offers an assistance program for employees in need of mental health support.

I have been especially proud to see our faculty and staff support each other and work tirelessly to support our students. Even during this unprecedented time, you made NEIU’s students your top priority. THANK YOU for that! [START APPLAUSE]

What happened during the pandemic? We got creative. We worked from our kitchen tables and basements, sometimes with kids, cats and dogs competing for our attention. We zoomed with appealing sunny backgrounds - but sometimes we were not in a sunny place inside. However, to reflect on where we were and where we are, individually and collectively, in 2019 and 2020, and now, in 2021, gives me a great deal of optimism about our future. Everyday, I see each of you putting your best efforts forward to create a more just community here at Northeastern and beyond. That is what I love about Northeastern: the upward trajectory we set for ourselves, this institution and the communities we serve.

Regarding our “upward trajectory,” I want to reflect and appreciate what happened yesterday. Yesterday, our faculty, staff, students and alumni answered the call! You answered the call! The Board of Trustees, “Finance, Building and Grounds Committee” voted to recommend to the full board the “NEIU for You Scholarship.” THANK YOU for your support! [START APPLAUSE] I am so proud of NEIU coming together to support this very important initiative. And, FBG will also recommend that NEIU not increase tuition for our Fall 2022 first time/full time students and to provide one course without cost for our first time transfer students enrolling in twelve hours. This is historic and will dramatically impact enrollment.

These initiatives align with IBHE’s new strategic plan focusing on equity, sustainability and growth. It highlights a reality that many of us here at Northeastern know—that not all Illinois residents have the same opportunities to thrive and significant gaps exist that disproportionately affect African American, Latinx, adult, first generation and rural learners. Together we are addressing this critical issue.

NEIU for You also aligns with my FY22 strategic priority to “embrace equity through access/opportunity and student success.” We will work collaboratively to reinforce Northeastern as a diverse, inclusive, “university of choice” for Latinx, African American and other students from underserved backgrounds. Northeastern is committed to advancing outreach and recruitment to these populations. Further, we must develop and advance best practices for academic and social support structures that enhance student success and retention.

Upon Board approval, we will: offer a four-year scholarship for students who are Illinois resident whose family income is $60K or less; offer opportunities to apply for scholarships that include residency in the Nest by participating in one of our living/learning communities and best of all – students will receive a world-class education at Northeastern! This scholarship also holds the potential to impact our retention and graduation rates. We all know our students sometimes stop out because they have family obligations and work one or two jobs. With this top-off scholarship they can concentrate on their academic advancement. One student wrote to the Board stating:

Sustainability involves increasing affordability of and access to NEIU students by leveraging public and private philanthropy, partnerships and shared fiscal responsibility. For example, earlier this month Northeastern hosted its annual Golden Gala. The Alumni Association celebrated four alumni, including our 2021 Distinguished Alumnus, former Chicago City Clerk and current President of the Chicago Board of Education, Miguel del Valle. During the event, Miguel spoke eloquently about the significant impact Northeastern had on his life, as he put it, “his time at NEIU put him on the track to pursue a life of public service.” In fact, he took a speech class here that helped him overcome his fear of public speaking and gave him the opportunity to share his motivation for participating in a demonstration to increase Latinx enrollment and create more support services for Latinx students, which are causes Miguel continues to work on throughout the city to this day.

I want to thank everyone who gave to the Golden Gala or to one of our various scholarships. Please keep giving when you can, but also recommend contacts you have who can assist our students with internships (paid), or other opportunities. Private support for Northeastern from our university community, including faculty, staff, retirees, alumni, friends, as well as organizations that share our values, and yes, even our STUDENTS themselves, adds a measure of excellence beyond what is possible from the University’s state support, and tuition and fees. Such support is critical for the recruitment and retention of our students, as well as to augment funding for programs and faculty support above and beyond what state funding can provide.

In FY21, the University raised $2.4 million in private support to the NEIU Foundation, plus $65,000 in proceeds from fundraising events and activities. The University had over 1,800 unique donors, which included 670 individuals who supported the Foundation for the first time. In addition, in FY21, I set forth four priority funds, including the Leader Fund, which is our unrestricted fund, the General Scholarship fund, the Student Emergency Fund and the George Floyd Social Justice Scholarship. Know that NEIU Foundation dollars are not limited to money-in, money-out. Donors add to our endowment as well as to individual scholarship and programmatic funds. This overall support increases our baseline for annual scholarships and program funds and also for our endowment that increases year-over-year perpetual support. With respect to the endowment, the Foundation continues to increase its value-add to the University. This past year, the Foundation distributed $1.1 million for academic, grant and institutional support, plus $576,000 in direct scholarship support for our students. On top of that, the NEIU Foundation Board approved a special additional initiative for $400,000 as a substantial contribution to our NEIU for You initiative.

The Foundation had a strong year in terms of investment performance. The University’s endowment increased by an extraordinary $4 million in FY21. You can see in this chart that since 2017, the endowment has increased by $7 million. The bottom line is that this translates to more year over-year funding that allows us to leverage private support for recruitment, retention and programs.

Northeastern embarked on its first capital campaign during 2017, our sesquicentennial year. The Transforming Lives campaign helped us exceed our goal of $10 million and resulted in over $12 million for the University. We can, and we MUST do more, and the time is now. The next capital campaign will be an “all in” effort to convey our broad reach and impact on our communities. Over the summer, NEIU leadership, trustees, advancement staff engaged in an important conversation led by the Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy to initiate the next capital campaign. Our goal will be to identify the most critical means of moving the University forward to secure lasting, intergenerational support for our students and lasting, robust support for the faculty and programs that make Northeastern a progressive, supportive and excellent educational institution. You will be hearing more about our next capital campaign in the near future.

We will also focus on growth. We must increase the placement of Northeastern graduates in high demand positions and provide the support structures to ensure their success. These support structures include education initiatives, career readiness programming and working with companies who seek to create inclusive workplaces. Our goal is to diversify the workforce and help address historical inequities. To achieve this, we must reinforce and create opportunities for our students beyond the classroom. In a recent meeting with Senator Duckworth, she pledged her support as we seek collaborative relationships with corporate partners. She acknowledged what we all already know; the Illinois workforce needs our students!

Our NEIU story is an incredible story. It is a magnificent story of thousands of alumni, faculty, staff and our current students. As you know, just last month, a Northeastern alumna was recognized as a MacArthur Fellow or “MacArthur Genius.” Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor earned her bachelor’s degree from Northeastern in 2007, went on to earn a Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2013 and is currently a professor at Princeton University. In 2020, she was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist for her critically acclaimed book, “Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership.” Our future alumni are also quite inspirational. Students like biology major Kimberly Nu-Tall, who was one of six students to working with one of our stellar faculty members to investigate cellular changes in nerve cells that express TDP-43, a protein linked to the fatal neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS. This research was conducted through the Student Center for Science Engagement, which continued its work throughout the pandemic, affording our students the opportunity to gain crucial research experience that will better prepare them for careers in the sciences. We must continue to tell our stories and celebrate our successes.

While we celebrate, we still have much work to do. One of those areas is Equity, Inclusion and Diversity. We celebrate the completion of our Climate Study for now we must focus on action and outcomes. I believe, however, we have made great strides in this direction. I want to thank the co-chairs for their leadership and all of you who served on the committees. Our Climate Study yielded important action items, many of which are on their way to implementation. The study is posted on NEIUport and I encourage everyone to take a look. The actions items include the following areas:

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Lack of sense of belonging for students
Faculty and staff compensation
Awareness and student support services
“Joy & be Well” campaign and customer service

One other important initiative that will contribute significantly to our EDI efforts is our goal to obtain the Seal of Excelencia. I also want to thank the co-chairs and the committees for their work of this critical initiative. The Seal of Excelencia certifies “institutions are setting the pace for much needed institutional transformation and are confronting structural barriers and inequities.” Our Excelencia team includes faculty, staff and administrators, working together, to identify strategies to implement for the future. This work has accelerated and the goal is to apply for the seal next year. As president of NEIU, an HSI, I strongly support this initiative.

It is important to acknowledge that while we intensify our EDI initiatives, much work in this area started long before my arrival and still continues. I am appreciative of that long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion. EDI work is also now supported through our Executive Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Dr. Roshanravan. Our goal is to directly address NEIU’s commitment to build a strong infrastructure that upholds the highest standards of inclusive excellence. To further improve our EDI efforts, the Executive Director has:

has met with faculty, staff and students across campus;
begun the process of creating a shared institutional definition of diversity for Northeastern to guide the development of policies and training that advance EDI
Initiated an inaugural Illinois public university senior diversity officer group to ensure cross-institutional collaboration on best practices for a campus climate of inclusion and belonging.
Joined as an institutional member of the National Consortium for Faculty Development and Diversity. This institutional membership will provide faculty, administrators, staff and graduate students’ free access to mentorship, curriculum, webinars, workshops and other support by national experts on strategic planning, increased productivity, healthy relationships and work-life balance.
Begun work on a land acknowledgement and many more activities that were presented at the recent ASAET meeting.

Through the commitment of many across campus who have been engaged in this work as part of a life-long journey, to the recent initiatives, Northeastern in strategically moving in the right direction to address and improve our campus climate.

I want to turn to another challenge, our fiscal health. Today, it is strong. Our future financial health depends greatly on our ability to reverse our enrollment trends and increase revenue generation. However, during the fiscal year 2021, our balance grew stronger for three primary reasons: First, our enrollments exceeded our budgetary projections. At the beginning of the pandemic, we braced for a 10% decline in student credit hours. While our enrollment did decline, the declines were not as large as was feared. This led to revenues approximately $1.9 million in excess of budget. Second, expenditures were lower across many categories. We spent less on commodities, travel and extra help personnel during the work-from-home period, and both planned and unplanned delays in hiring reduced our actual expenses. Finally, the availability of federal COVID-19 relief funding supported a portion of our expenses as well. This led to spending from our state income fund falling approximately $5.2 million below budget. In all, Northeastern’s operating results generated a $7.1 million increase in our net position.

Federal funding also allowed us to make investments in our classrooms, IT infrastructure and faculty. We have improved the set of tools available for our future. The pandemic showed us how quickly things can change, and also how quickly we can adapt. This year brings a very different set of challenges and a need for more change. While last year’s enrollment came in ahead of our forecast, this year’s enrollments are falling short. We budgeted for a 9% decline in student credit hours, but fall enrollments fell 11% below last year, with spring and summer still to come.

In addition, we are relying on almost $2.8 million of federal COVID-19 relief funding to fill the revenue shortfall associated with the year-over-year decline in credit hours. Unless we recover significantly in spring, even this will not be enough.

At the same time, we continue to experience delays in filling or refilling vacant positions across the University. This is not desirable from an operations standpoint. Staffing in key areas such as Enrollment Services, Financial Aid and Facilities Management is necessary to provide support for our students and staff, and to increase enrollment and enhance retention. However, these delays are likely to keep spending in line with revenues, if revenues should continue to fall short of budget in fiscal year 2022.

All this being said, I want to shine a light on one particular important achievement. This year has brought increased occupancy in The Nest, led primarily through our Living-Learning Communities. I would like to thank Terry Mena, Vicky Byard, Veronica Rodriguez, Jeremy Babcock and the work of the University Planning and Budget Council in bringing these communities to life. Occupancy in The Nest has risen from 39% last fall to 65% this fall. Working together, we have taken a critical first step toward sustainability for our residence hall! As we turn our attention to the future, I need to be clear: The status quo is not sustainable. The enrollment declines of the past several years have placed increasing stresses on our budget, our staffing levels, and our morale, and each smaller class creates a smaller pool of students we can retain and eventually graduate. This means that even if we bring in the same size class of new students next fall that enrolled this fall, we would still anticipate a decline in credit hours and tuition revenue. Last year’s net tuition revenue was approximately $53.8 million dollars. This year, we are anticipating $51.8 million in tuition revenue, which includes $2.8 million in federal HEERF support. With a similar size class of new students in the Fall 2022, we would project $49.8 million in tuition revenue, or an overall decline of $4 million from last year. Meanwhile, inflationary pressures continue. We need not only to stop the decline, but reverse it.

We need to continue to reach out and connect with elected officials at the city, state and federal level to put Northeastern at the forefront. Despite limitations for in-person interaction with elected officials, leadership and I have stayed connected and engaged with elected officials in a number of ways to showcase the outstanding work that we have accomplished and express to them the work that we seek to achieve. These interactions include: State Comptroller Susana Mendoza delivering the May 2020 Commencement Speech to our graduates; welcoming the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus for a briefing on Northeastern; and hosting U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth on the Main Campus to allow her to learn more about NEIU and to discuss opportunities for Northeastern. Leadership and I will continue to work with elected officials and government institutions to advocate for the needs of Northeastern and the mission, vision and values that we adhere to.

The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget has asked us to prepare budget scenarios in anticipation of either level funding or a 5% increase in the state appropriation. While we prepare for level funding, even a 5% increase will not be enough to close the gap. We will need to all work together to build enrollment and increase our tuition revenue.

So, what are we doing about enrollment? As part of strategic recruitment, I am very excited to share with you upcoming projects and news in the Office Enrollment Services. As you know, we acquired a new client relations management system or CRM earlier this year, called Slate. In addition, we have partnered with Underscore, a vendor that specializes in Slate implementation and communication strategies and tactics. Northeastern units, including Enrollment Services, Financial Aid and Marketing, among others, have been working very hard with Underscore to maximize and optimize our new CRM. Slate is a CRM preferred by many universities and will be a great improvement over our current system. We will be able to attract, recruit and enroll prospective students through a sequence of personalized, student-centered communications, as well as messaging geared toward student influencers–namely high school and community college counselors. With the new CRM, we will be able to streamline marketing and enrollment strategies while making the prospective student experience more dynamic and efficient. The CRM is scheduled to launch during the Spring 2022 semester.

Also this spring, Northeastern will join all Illinois state public universities in accepting the Common Application. With the implementation of these important systems and processes, we aim to improve our enrollment yield in a positive direction. We were up 3% over last year. I will keep you posted on our yield-to-date at various points throughout the academic year.

I also want you to know that Enrollment Management, partnering with administration and additional staff, HAVE started recruitment efforts for Fall 2022. Just last week, NEIU hosted a very successful Open House. I am thankful to the faculty, staff and students who met with our prospective students and their familities.

Yesterday, I announced the appointment of our new Vice President for Enrollment Management, Kimberly Buster-Williams. Currently serving as Vice President for Enrollment Management at the University of Mary Washington (UMW), she will join 91Porn on January 2. During her tenure at Mary Washington, Kimberley created the university’s first strategic enrollment management plan and modernized operations with the full implementation of UMW’s first customer relationship management (CRM) tool, first predictive modeling tool, and the first document imaging software in undergraduate and graduate admissions. Under her leadership, the percentage of students of color at Mary Washington grew from 23 percent in 2014 to 30 percent in 2021. In addition, UMW enrolled its largest first-year class in history, and saw a significant increase in its incoming first-year academic profile.

Previously, Buster- Williams served as Acting Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management at Northern Illinois University (NIU), reinvigorating enrollment operations and growing enrollment and applications in key Illinois collar counties. Before arriving at NIU, Kimberley served as Director of Admissions at the University of Michigan- Flint (UMF). Under Kimberley’s leadership, UM- Flint realized a 29 percent increase in new first-year enrollment (2005-2011), and a 200 percent increase in international student enrollment. In addition to her leadership roles at the University of Mary Washington, Northern Illinois University, and the University of Michigan- Flint, she has also held positions at Old Dominion University and Johnson & Wales University.

I look forward to working on new joint initiatives with Kimberly and Enrollment Services, and I hope that you do as well. With all of these pieces in place in Enrollment Services, and with the hard work and dedication from our faculty and staff, Northeastern will be in a better position to improve recruitment, retention and graduation. Positive outcomes in our enrollment and graduation numbers will inch us closer to a positive outcome in our financial state.

I want to address two final issues before closing. First, during the Spring semester, the Faculty Senate asked me and the provost to improve in seven key areas: shared governance, communication, my interactions with deans, improved relationship with UPI, vision-setting, more effective town halls and enrollment. We, both, take these areas very seriously. I have reported out on several of these topics today and will continue to focus on these area. The provost and I will make regular updates to the Faculty Senate. Communication and transparency critical to building trust and improving our working relationships.

Second, recently we held a Return to Campus forum, where we discussed many aspects of our transition back to on-campus learning, teaching and working all while the pandemic continues. During these forums, we are open to ways of improving communication and collaboration with faculty, staff, students and the community. We listen to your concerns, and we take them into account when planning for new initiatives and processes. One of the points most notably mentioned during this last forum was a remote work policy (telework).

As promised, I committed to providing an update on a remote work policy. To become an employer of choice for highly qualified candidates and to retain members of our current University faculty and staff, I recognize the benefits of offering a remote work option. However, the need to balance the institutional capabilities and employee aspiration need to be considered.

Nevertheless, I am pleased to share that a call for committee members to work on a remote work policy will be released next week. At my request, the committee will be charged with developing this policy. It will be crucial for the committee to take into consideration several factors that influence our ability to provide continuity of services to our Northeastern students and keep their experiences in mind.

One of the major considerations will be to ensure the security of University resources. Resources include personal information, internal documents, student records and more. While UTS is diligently putting the mandatory security measures in place, this committee will work in parallel with their efforts. There are additional considerations that I will discuss specifically with the committee. Please read the forthcoming Targeted Announcement for additional details. As this policy moves forward, we will keep you informed of its progress.

Finally, you may ask, what you can do to help?

Continue to work to support our students
Share your ideas (UPBC will be asking for proposals for revenue generation that focuses on enrollment)
Be kind to each other. I recently met with our SGA President Edwin Medina; SGA is going to host a NEIU Appreciation Day on November 16th in Village Square. I think this is especially meaningful coming from our students. Let’s appreciate each other.

Sharing our University’s accomplishments, challenges, and enrollment and financial trends and forecasts with you is an important part of moving forward for the betterment of our institution. Together, we can accomplish what we set forth.

I would like to conclude on a celebratory note: It has been two years since we have been able to gather for a Commencement ceremony. I am elated to share that, following the guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the City of Chicago, including mask wearing and social distancing and pending any other unforeseen circumstances, we will be holding December Commencement in-person this year. I encourage our faculty and staff to participate in this celebratory occasion so that our students know how proud we are of their accomplishments and to commend them on this momentous occasion. More information regarding Commencement will be shared in the coming weeks.

Thank you all for attending today’s State of the University Address. Thank you for your service and commitment and as always, Stay Golden!

Message from President Bell-Jordan

Mary Kroeck — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 21:38:09 +0000

Message from President Bell-Jordan

Mary Kroeck Thu, 12/01/2022 - 15:38

Welcome, as we begin the 2024-2025 academic year!

And as we begin this fall semester, I offer a special message to our new and continuing students. For some of you, the fall is the start of an exciting and brand-new experience. For many of our students, this fall semester is a continuation of your studies, and I'm happy to welcome you back to campus! And for ALL of you, I am thrilled that you've chosen Northeastern to help guide you in this journey.

Students, remember that here at NEIU, you are the creator of your future – with many opportunities along the way to pursue your aspirations, outline plans for each step, and fill in the details as your academic path takes shape. As you look to the academic year ahead, be sure to engage with your professors, join clubs, participate in community activities, and maximize every resource available. Every lecture you attend, project you complete, and opportunity for self-reflection will have an impact on the shape your journey takes.

For our faculty, know that your dedication is the heartbeat of this University. You don't just teach; you inspire, mentor, and shape the future for our students. To our staff, your tireless efforts behind the scenes ensure that our students can focus on learning, growing, and thriving.

As a University, we continue to build on the foundation of achievements and commitments we have made over the years, with a strategic focus on enrollment growth; student success; diversity, equity and inclusion; and fostering a vibrant work environment — all keys to a strong, secure and successful future for our University.

In closing, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the fall semester, and I hope you have a wonderful year.

Go Golden Eagles!

Real Estate Advisory Study

Amy Rempas — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 21:53:29 +0000

Real Estate Advisory Study

Amy Rempas Fri, 01/08/2021 - 15:53

In December 2020, 91Porn selected Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) to serve in an advisory capacity to identify the best possible use of two of its unused properties in Chicago. JLL conducted research on the markets, sites, financial feasibility and valuations in early 2021 that incorporates feedback from Northeastern’s internal and external stakeholders before delivering a final report in April.

Any next steps beyond JLL’s recommendations through this process would take place through separate engagements and following state rules and regulations.

This project involves two separate properties:

The Bryn Mawr property is located near Northeastern’s Main Campus at the intersection of West Bryn Mawr Avenue and North Kimball Avenue.
The El Centro property is located at the intersection of North Avondale Avenue, West Henderson Street and North Kimball Avenue.

During late 2020 and early 2021, Northeastern met with representatives from the Hollywood-North Park Community Association and North River Commission, as well as elected officials who represent the communities where properties are located including Ald. Samantha Nugent, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, State Sen. Ram Villivalam and State Rep. John D’Amico.

The University greatly values its relationship with its surrounding communities and will update these webpages with the latest information about the Real Estate Advisory Study.

Latest Updates

April 13, 2023

CBRE provided an update to NEIU's Board of Trustees and a timeline to solicit bids from developers on the best use of NEIU’s Bryn Mawr properties. The public Request for Proposal is tentatively scheduled for late summer 2023.

Webinar meeting, Jan. 11, 2023

On January 11, 2023 91Porn (NEIU) held a Webinar meeting to update the community on the University's plan to redevelop the Bryn Mawr Property. The University’s Real Estate Broker, CBRE, provided the update. Participants were encouraged to submit questions through the webinar Q&A feature. View the presentation.

NEIU Board of Trustees meeting, June 9, 2022

The motion to recommend Real Estate Broker Services from CBRE for the Bryn Mawr property passed. We will be moving forward with the project in the coming weeks. Our goal remains the same, to keep the community informed and engaged throughout the process.

Next steps

At its June 10, 2021 meeting, the board of trustees voted unanimously to proceed with leasing the properties at the Bryn Mawr and El Centro locations. University administration will begin the process to procure real estate brokerage services to create ground leases with interested developers. A vendor will likely be identified near the end of 2021. Updates will be shared with the community as they become available.

Final executive Summary

On Monday, April 5, Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) submitted a final executive summary of the Bryn Mawr and El Centro Feasibility Analysis.

View the Executive Summary

rEAL ESTATE ADVISORY STUDY COMMUNITY FORUM, MAR. 29, 2021

On Monday, March 29, 91Porn hosted a Real Estate Advisory Study Community Forum. During the forum, Northeastern and JLL provided updates on the status of this project. A recording of the event is available.

Draft executive Summary

On Friday, March 5, Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) submitted a draft of the Bryn Mawr and El Centro Feasibility Analysis.

View the Executive Summary

Real Estate Advisory Study Community Forum, FEB. 22, 2021

On Monday, Feb. 22, 91Porn hosted a Real Estate Advisory Study Community Forum. During the forum, Northeastern and JLL provided updates on the status of this project.

HNPCA meeting, Jan. 21, 2021

91Porn participated in a public meeting on Jan. 21 that was co-hosted by the Hollywood-North Park Community Association and North River Commission. Representatives from Northeastern and JLL delivered a brief presentation and fielded questions from the public. View a recording of the meeting and slides.

Community Engagement

Table of Stakeholders

Throughout the duration of the Real Estate Advisory Study, the Table of Stakeholders met every other week to exchange information, updates and feedback.

Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa’s office
Ald. Samantha Nugent’s office
Athletic Field Advisory Council
Hollywood-North Park Community Association
North Park Chamber of Commerce
North River Commission/Albany Park Chamber of Commerce
Northside Learning Center
Peterson Elementary School
Peterson Pulaski Business & Industrial Council
State Rep. John D’Amico’s office
State Sen. Ram Villivalam’s office
Telshe Yeshiva Chicago

Past LEADERSHIP meetings

Dec. 14, 2020: North Park Chamber of Commerce
Dec. 16, 2020: Ald. Samantha Nugent's office
Dec. 18, 2020: North River Commission/Albany Park Chamber of Commerce, Hollywood-North Park Community Association, Ald. Samantha Nugent's office
Dec. 22, 2020: State Sen. Ram Villivalam's office
Jan. 7, 2021: State Rep. John D'Amico's office
Jan. 12, 2021: North River Commission/Albany Park Chamber of Commerce, Hollywood-North Park Community Association, Ald. Samantha Nugent's office, State Sen. Ram Villivalam's office, State Rep. John D'Amico's office
Jan. 15, 2021: Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa's office
Feb. 1, 2021: Table of Stakeholders
Feb. 15, 2021: Table of Stakeholders
Feb. 22, 2021: Real Estate Advisory Study Community Forum
March 15, 2021: Table of Stakeholders
March 29, 2021: Real Estate Advisory Study Community Forum

Procurement Process

In addition to following its own internal policies and procedures, Northeastern adheres to Illinois procurement laws and rules:

Illinois Procurement Code 30 ILCS 500/
- Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) has jurisdiction and authority over higher education procurements and rules:
  - CPO is under the umbrella of Executive Ethics Commission
  - CPO appoints a State Purchasing Officer (SPO) and a Procurement Compliance Monitor (PCM) to the University
Joint Commission on Administrative Rules (JCAR) 44 Ill Admin 4

Advisory Study Timeline

Aug: 20, 2020: Request for Proposal (RFP) for Real Estate Advisory Services posted to the Illinois Public Higher Education Procurement Bulletin
Sept. 28, 2020: Proposals due
Dec. 1, 2020: NEIU and JLL sign contract
March 5, 2021: Draft final report from JLL due to the Board of Trustees and President
April 5, 2021: Final report from JLL due to the Board of Trustees and President

Advisory Study Partner

Northeastern has partnered with Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) to help identify options for the potential use of the Bryn Mawr Avenue and El Centro properties. JLL is a world leader in real estate advisory with a proven track record helping higher education institutions position their real estate portfolios to meet their institutional objectives.

JLL will help NEIU meet objectives for the properties by demonstrating the potential value of each property and identifying the potential risks and rewards to NEIU from a development. In addition, JLL has partnered with Goodman Williams Group, which recently completed its North Park Commercial Corridors Study for the Chicago Department of Planning and Development to bring the needs of the North Park Community into focus. JLL will work with NEIU to keep community stakeholders in both the Bryn Mawr and El Centro locations up to date on the Real Estate Advisory Study's progress.

Feedback

Neighbors may send their questions and feedback to 91Porn via online form or by emailing neighbor@neiu.edu.

2020 State of the University Address

Mike Hines — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 23:38:36 +0000

2020 State of the University Address

Mike Hines Tue, 10/27/2020 - 18:38

Hello, Northeastern! Good afternoon. I want to thank Dr. Merchant and the Faculty Senate for inviting me to deliver my third State of the University Address. I say this often, but it always bears repeating: It is my great, great honor to serve 91Porn’s students, faculty, staff and alumni as president.

Thank you for joining us, or watching a recording of this address later. Today, I will focus on our achievements, our challenges and the status of some of our future plans before taking your questions. I am joined by my cabinet, who I may ask for assistance to best address your questions. I want to acknowledge the newest member of my cabinet, Vice President for Finance and Administration Manish Kumar, who arrived at Northeastern in January. Welcome, Vice President Kumar.

Normally, we gather in Alumni Hall or the Auditorium for the State of the University Address. It’s an important speech, and one of my favorite annual traditions. But like virtually every other activity that was part of our work lives and our personal lives, it has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s frustrating, and disorienting and—let’s be honest—sometimes it’s downright depressing.

So let me start today by asking something of you: Please take care of yourselves, Northeastern. Despite a pandemic the likes of which none of us has ever witnessed, you have adapted, you have endured, and you have persevered. Your steadfast commitment to pursue your academic goals and to serve the mission of the University inspires me every day. But I know, this mix of radical change, shifting responsibilities and anxiety about the virus—both at home and on the job—takes a mental and physical toll.

As president, I need you to be at your best for the institution to be at its best. If you need help, please reach out. Northeastern’s Student Counseling Services offers teletherapy options to students, and the State of Illinois offers an assistance program for employees in need of mental health support. The University Ombuds is a confidential resource for addressing University-related concerns and difficult situations. Please also take care of your physical health.

We are halfway through the Fall 2020 semester, and I am so proud of Northeastern’s response to the pandemic. It was a little less than a year ago that we first started to hear about the coronavirus. We sent out messages in January and February that we were monitoring the virus, and then in March the virus arrived in the Chicago area. I instructed the Emergency Management Team to create a COVID-19 Task Force and charged it with addressing the safety and security of our University community, making recommendations to me on major decisions and establishing a website to communicate the measures we would take to respond. We then moved rapidly to remote instruction and remote work for most employees. We extended remote operations through the rest of the spring, then through the summer term. I want to once again thank the COVID-19 Task Force and the Provost’s Transition Committee for their ongoing work. It is much appreciated.

Now here we are, with the vast majority of us still learning, working and meeting remotely. Northeastern’s number of positive cases is low compared with many universities, but we will not be complacent. We have already committed to carrying our current precautions through the Spring 2021 semester, when we will remain largely remote. December Commencement will take place virtually for the first time, and it’s impossible to predict where we’ll be six months or even a year from now.

Perhaps the most heartbreaking development during the spring was with our students who suffered a financial hit as they lost their jobs, or their family members lost their jobs, putting their ability to persist—to continue to pursue their academic goals—in peril. As you know, every student received a check from the CARES Act in the spring, but it was not enough. How could these students think about school when they couldn’t pay for groceries?

What did we do? Northeastern put out a call to raise money for our Student Emergency Fund, which provides small grants to pay for rent, or medical bills, or basic toiletries. In 2019, the fund provided assistance to 35 students all year. By comparison, since March, the Student Emergency Fund has provided more than $112,000 to more than 400 students. Much of that support came from within the Northeastern community, and those small grants kept our students on track in a time of crisis. These funds were also made available to our undocumented students. THANK YOU for your support!

The first months of the pandemic were scary. Every headline delivered new, more dire predictions from the local and national health experts. But I am confident that when we look back on 2020, this is what we will say: In a time of crisis and chaos, 91Porn rose to the occasion. That’s what we did, what YOU did: Northeastern rose to the occasion. And because of all the hard work, sacrifice, innovation and dedication we have invested over the past eight months, 91Porn remains a strong, dynamic and essential institution of higher education.

Do we have challenges? Yes we do. Most colleges and universities do right now. But we have been proactive and put ourselves in the position to not only weather this pandemic storm but to thrive when it is all over. As a campus community, we are learning and adapting. And, our pursuit of academic excellence has not—and will not—waiver.

I’ve spoken several times about the inspiration I have drawn from the work I have seen from our students, faculty and staff over the past year, but particularly since the arrival of COVID-19. Let me provide some very specific examples:

Early in the crisis, when hospitals had just begun seeing surges in patients with COVID, the Northeastern community responded by engaging the local community to create almost 6,000 face shields and masks for area medical personnel using the Art+Design Department’s 3-D printers and other community resources.

When COVID-19 forced the Student Center for Science Engagement to abruptly ask faculty to rework their proposals for the Undergraduate Summer Research and Professional Training Program to be remote, the faculty/staff mentors responded, submitting and executing 18 projects. Less than two weeks ago, our students presented the results of their research in the 12th Annual Student Center for Science Engagement Student Research Symposium.

When funding was provided for professional development for faculty and staff to improve their online teaching skills or to become Quality Matters certified, you stepped up. More than 120 faculty members took advantage of the sessions during the summer and even now, faculty are involved in professional development to better understand how to effectively teach in remote environments.

And our students have been involved in many ways. For example, one of our Master of Public Health students with two decades of experience in the Chicago Park District made headlines for creating Chicago’s Social Distance Ambassadors program that helped the city’s 570 parks reopen safely. Truly remarkable!

The Division of Institutional Advancement not only moved its annual Golden Gala and Alumni Awards Ceremony to a virtual platform but also blew past its $100,000 fundraising goal for the night. That’s all money for student support! Even our friends at Ensemble Español announced that the upcoming season will feature new works, virtual programs and a new $300,000 anonymous matching grant opportunity with total potential earnings of $1 million. Wow!

This is my time to brag about NEIU, so let me keep going!

I am proud to once again congratulate our newly tenured and promoted professors. They have excelled in teaching, research and community engagement. I appreciate their hard work.

The Daniel L. Goodwin College of Education earned accreditation at the initial-licensure level and advanced-level from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, then was awarded the organization’s Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement.

Many members of the faculty have published books, articles and creative works in the past year. They will all be recognized during the annual NEIU Faculty Publications and Creative Works event in the spring.

Northeastern earned a number of major grants, including a five-year, $3 million Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program Title V grant from the U.S. Department of Education that will help the University increase the number of students who complete STEM majors. The U.S. Department of Education also awarded Northeastern three grants totaling $3.9 million in support of TRIO Student Support Services. Northeastern was the only university in the state to be awarded more than two TRIO grants.

And don’t forget the rankings. Northeastern was ranked in four categories in U.S. News & World Report’s annual “Best Colleges” publication among Midwest regional universities. We were ranked for low student debt upon graduation, ethnic diversity, economic diversity and social mobility. And here’s one more: GradReports, an online resource that matches students to graduate programs, named Northeastern’s Educational Leadership program the best in the state and 20th overall in the nation on its list of 2020 Best Colleges.

When I say Northeastern inspires me, and that Northeastern rises to the occasion, that is what I mean. And while we celebrate these amazing accomplishments, we also are faced with some serious challenges.

Over the summer, Northeastern was able to close a $5.8 million shortfall for the Fiscal Year 2021 budget through a combination of $3.2 million in cuts in non-academic and central administrative areas and strategic one-time use of federal CARES Act funding.

Here’s what we need to confront right now. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the governor’s budget office estimates that the state will lose out on a combined $6.5 billion in revenue this year and next year, although it could be significantly higher depending on the November tax referendum. Recently at budget planning meetings, the Illinois Board of Higher Education has advised public universities to plan for 5% and 10% cut scenarios for FY2022. Given these possibilities, we estimate that Northeastern might face a structural budget deficit of $5.5 million or more in Fiscal Year 2022.

In an effort to prepare, we have hosted two University Budget Town Halls and have another planned for next month. Yesterday, I sent out a communication about this process that links to all of the reports and resources we have shared so far, so I won’t repeat myself other than to remind you that we need you to stay engaged and contribute ideas to address this projected deficit.

An important component to all budget forecasting is our enrollment. When COVID-19 arrived, the number of students who were registering for summer and fall classes plummeted, but through a combination of hard work and creativity, we clawed back. Our summer enrollment was actually slightly higher than Summer 2019. Our Fall 2020 enrollment fell by only 4.1 percent, a vast improvement over the 10 percent dip we had projected only a few months earlier.

We addressed our enrollment challenges through a number of initiatives that were launched after the arrival of COVID-19. We removed the standardized test score requirement from the Fall 2020 undergraduate enrollment application—a practice that is now permanent. We used CARES Act funding to support more than 35 students in the new NEIU Social Justice Leadership Housing Award, which provides free housing for students who positively impact their university, career and communities. Using federal Governor’s Emergency Education Relief—aka GEER—money, we also re-enrolled 44 students through a program that waived up to $3,000 in outstanding tuition and fee debt for eligible students who left Northeastern and had not graduated from another institution. Ten additional re-enrolled students deferred to the next semester. We are working now to bring back more students through this program in Spring 2021. And our pilot dual enrollment program at Roberto Clemente High School netted us several students this fall. We will expand that program in the spring and add other high schools.

One of the statistics that I was most encouraged by was this: 66.7 percent of the first-time, full-time freshmen from Fall 2019 enrolled in Fall 2020 classes. That is the best freshman retention we’ve seen in a decade. We are most importantly impacting the equity gap.

We achieved this 10-year high with a deliberate and data-driven approach, focusing on communicating to advisors and directors where there were areas of strength and the need for growth in terms of student outreach.

Retaining freshmen speaks not only to access and student success—my top priorities as president—but also to the dedication of our faculty and support staff who have helped our students pursue their academic goals even through the COVID-19 pandemic.

We rose to the occasion. And we will continue to rise.

Enrollment and retention are the fuel for Northeastern’s engine. I am encouraged by what I have seen, and I am optimistic about the future. Our Enrollment Services office has made significant strides toward modernization in the past two years. Now, we are ready to take the next step. A search committee has been assembled to find our next Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services. We are also conducting an external review of certain offices to identify areas for improvement. And we are in the process of seeking Board approval to purchase new customer relationship management—or CRM—software that will allow us to better attract and retain prospective and existing students.

Of course, all of these recruitment efforts go hand-in-hand with our external marketing efforts. Some of you may have seen this already, but I’m excited to share with the entire University community today a new marketing messaging platform. It’s called “Break Barriers.” These two simple but powerful words will be the new foundation on which our marketing efforts will stand. I love this message. “Break barriers” is not a call to action. It’s what we do as an institution and as individuals every day. This message is versatile, speaking to faculty work in their disciplines, staff work supporting the University mission and student efforts in the classroom. It speaks to the arts, sciences, business and education, and our status as a Hispanic-Serving, Minority-Serving institution. You will hear more about how you can collaborate and utilize this messaging in the coming months from the Division of Marketing and Communications.

As we roll out this platform, we will do so strategically, though our traditional digital advertising efforts and by re-establishing a presence in the diverse communities where we need to thrive. We will reach out to our African American communities, translate this messaging into Spanish, reach out to new markets and enhance our efforts on the web through enhanced optimization of our webpages.

In the new year, I plan to bring in three critical new leaders. You already heard me talk about the Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services. Our Vice President for Student Affairs/Dean of Students position search is progressing, and we will announce virtual interviews soon. And before the end of the year, we will begin a search for a Chief Diversity Officer. Please be engaged in these searches.

Let me talk about that third position a bit. Why do I want to hire a Chief Diversity Officer now, during a time when we are seeking to correct a structural budget deficit? My answer to that is that we can’t afford not to. This is an investment in Northeastern—and the first year of the salary will be paid through GEER funds. The individual who takes on this role will provide strategic direction that strengthens Northeastern’s commitment to equity, diversity, community and inclusion. These are not just our goals, but also the focus of the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s developing strategic plan. IBHE explains several reasons why the plan is important, including: “it provides a pathway to equity in higher education access, attainment, and affordability with a focus on those who are most underserved and elevates their voices in this process.” As a Hispanic-Serving Institution and a Minority-Serving Institution, Northeastern must face the nation’s challenges—and its own challenges—head-on. We may be one of the national leaders in diversity, but diversity does not equal inclusion or equity. We learned some of the hard truths about this fact with the results of Northeastern’s first Climate Survey, which was published earlier this month.

For those of you who haven’t had a chance to read the results of the report, I encourage you to seek out the documents on NEIUport and watch the recording of the presentation. Many of the findings of the report focus on issues of inclusion and equity. We will begin hosting forums on those results in November, with the goal of identifying and accomplishing three to five concrete, measurable goals in 2021. Let us not forget that climate directly affects student enrollment and the retention of students, faculty and staff.

During last year’s State of the University Address, I laid out a number of initiatives that I planned to advance and explore that were brought forth by the President’s Transition Committee. Some of them have been paused as we deal with complex challenges of the COVID-19 crisis, but one in particular has not: the One-Stop Student Services Success Center that supports incoming freshmen and transfer students in their transition to NEIU, and all students through their matriculation. Despite the challenges of off-campus learning and working, this project not only is moving forward, but now has the added boost of a new, nearly $500,000 competitive GEER grant from the State of Illinois that was announced yesterday. These funds will assist in the implementation of best practices for mitigating barriers to initial and ongoing enrollment, particularly through digital applications that provide remote access to consistent, high-quality information and services. As discussed earlier, we are bringing “near-completers” back to campus with up to $3K debt forgiveness; we have hired our VP for Finance and Administration; faculty from USC’s Center for Urban Education and the Center for Teaching and Learning are presenting workshops to promote culturally relevant pedagogy and equity-minded practices; and hopefully the CRM will be approved.

The transition committee also highlighted the importance of investing in new majors in alignment with current and future workforce needs. That work continues as Academic Affairs identifies programs with potential for growth. For example, each college has been charged with developing a completely online degree. So, we are making progress with some of the President’s Transition Committee recommendations; however, there is much more work to do!

Before I close, I have a very important announcement. When the death of George Floyd sparked national outrage and national demonstrations for racial justice in America, Northeastern founded the George Floyd Social Justice Scholarship to establish a permanent financial resource for NEIU students dedicated to pursuing leadership roles in the multifaceted, intersectional work of social justice. The goal was to raise $50,000, and the NEIU community quickly rallied to blow past that number. I appointed a committee to set application criteria and to recommend the recipient or recipients. I want to thank the committee for their tremendous work. I am very pleased to announce the three recipients of the inaugural George Floyd Social Justice Scholarship. Each recipient will receive a $5,000 scholarship.

The inaugural recipients of the George Floyd Social Justice Scholarship are: Kaleb Autman (New freshman - CCICS); Timothy Jefferson (New freshman - Wentworth Scholar) and Donovan McKinley (Graduate Student in Counselor Education: Family Counseling). You will read more about these dedicated, remarkable students in the days to come. Please consider giving to the George Floyd Social Justice Scholarship or other scholarships for our students.

As I conclude, I want to leave you with this final thought: In December, we will send another class of Northeastern graduates out into a world that needs them. In a year when we have been forced to focus on the urgent and unrelenting demands of each day, let us never take this accomplishment for granted. Our students, our faculty, our staff—all of us together—we are rising to the occasion. Thank you.

Complaints and Grievances

Vesna Misoska — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 16:43:52 +0000

Complaints and Grievances

Vesna Misoska Fri, 04/24/2020 - 11:43

Northeastern is committed to serving our students, faculty, staff and the community. Having an exceptional experience at Northeastern is important to us. However, we understand that at times expectations are not met or we find ourselves in difficult situations. Having a voice and having it heard is critical to maintaining a healthy University climate.

Please use the resources provided on this page to find the appropriate point of contact for your concerns. You may also view our University Policy Library for your reference.

91Porn Resources

Academic Concerns

If you have questions, issues or concerns regarding enrollment, academic or support programs, please contact Academic Affairs at (773) 442-5420 or academic-affairs@neiu.edu.

Student Life Concerns

If you have questions, issues or concerns regarding student support programs or services, student programming, or housing, please contact Student Affairs at (773) 442-4600 or student-affairs@neiu.edu.

Financial Aid Concerns

If you have questions, issues or concerns regarding financial aid, scholarships or student employment, please contact Financial Aid, Scholarships and Student Employment at (773) 442-5016 or
financial-aid@neiu.edu.

Harassment and Discrimination Concerns

If you have questions, issues or concerns regarding sexual harassment or discrimination, please contact the Director of Equal Opportunity, Title IX, and Ethics at (773) 442-5412 or eeo@neiu.edu, or titleix@neiu.edu. You may also contact the Confidential Advisor at (773) 442-4686 or confidentialadvisor@neiu.edu.

Illinois Board of Higher Education Resources

If you would like to contact the Illinois Board of Higher Education, please visit their website at complaints.ibhe.org. For general information, please visit ibhe.org or email info@ibhe.org.

Dennis Rome

Mike Hines — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 22:51:50 +0000

Dennis Rome

Mike Hines Thu, 01/09/2020 - 16:51

Dennis

Rome

Interim Special Assistant to the President for Community Engagement and Strategic Initiatives

d-rome@neiu.edu

Office Hours

By appointment

President's Office

C 112
5500 N. St. Louis Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5420

2019 State of the University Address

Anna Cannova — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 16:17:31 +0000

2019 State of the University Address

Anna Cannova Fri, 11/01/2019 - 11:17

STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY ADDRESS 10/22/19 AUDITORIUM

I do want to say good afternoon to everyone. I am happy to deliver my second State of the University Address and it is my honor to serve here at Northeastern, to serve the faculty, the staff and the students and the alumni that are here. I do extend my welcome to those who are live-streaming and who could not be here today. This afternoon, as Vicki said, I will focus on our achievements, our ongoing challenges, priorities and future directions as they were outlined in the Transition Committee report. I'll leave time and I look forward to whatever questions you have. I am joined on the stage by my cabinet, who I may in fact ask to help me as I address your questions. I want to start with just a few items that pertain to our recent campus achievements. First and foremost, I do want to acknowledge our new provost, Dr. Dennis Rome.

I also want to acknowledge the numerous awards, grants, honors that have been received by our faculty and our staff. Let's acknowledge all of that good work.

Thank you for the great work that you do each and every day. I want to highlight just a few other achievements that we are all proud of. We are as a university ranked number one in a number of areas. As you know, we are ranked number one for the lowest student debt; NEIU graduates its students with the least amount of debt in the Midwest among regional universities. We are ranked number one for social mobility among Illinois Public Universities, which demonstrates movement up the socioeconomic ladder. This is great for our students. We, of course, are ranked number one in Illinois for being one of the most secure campuses. We are ranked number one by Washington Monthly Magazine as one of the nation's best colleges for adult learners, and we are ranked number two for the nation's most diverse managerial staff. The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Northeastern second in the nation among four-year public institutions for diversity among managers. So again, this is not one person, this is all of us working together to achieve these rankings.

The two primary goals that I stated during my inaugural address and my first State of the Union Address, those goals have not changed. They are access and opportunity, and student success. These goals, along with inclusion and equity, remain the most important. The question remains: how do we reach potential students whether they are first-generation students, students of color, adult learners, transfer students, veterans, students who have different ability levels and how do we reach them and bring them to El Centro, Carruthers and this campus location? Enrolling students is just the beginning. As an HSI, we want to work and provide the support to ensure success of our Latino students, our African-American students, our immigrant students, first-generation, all students who enter our portals. We must continuously ask: do we have the academic and student services in place to provide an excellent educational support that is necessary?

After a little over a year serving as president, we have made some strides but we have so much more work to do. As we all know, we need more resources. While we are appreciative of our five percent increase last year, remember that five percent increase was on about a little over a third of our overall budget. As you can see by this slide, we have not returned to our 2015 funding level. There is some optimism because we did receive an increase last year and because Governor Pritzker and the State Legislature are supportive of higher education. However, as the legislative session starts early next year, there are no early indicators at this time about how state university allocations might look. So we hope that arrow continues to go upward.

This next slide shows where funding comes from and our expenditures, 60 percent tuition and about 40 percent state appropriation and almost 80 percent of our total operating budget is dedicated to personnel costs. So this is just a quick way of looking at how the money comes in and how the money goes out.

At NEIU, about half our students are full-time and half are part-time. When we examine IPEDS data, it is the first time, full-time students who serve as the primary data point. From 2015, we saw an increase in students and then last year, 2018, a steep decline. This fall we are flat. It is these students who are tracked for our four-year and six-year graduation rates. There at the end you see that for next year we have a goal of increasing our enrollments at least five percent. We're hoping better but at least five percent.

So moving forward, how do we work together to increase our enrollments? Well, there are a number of things that have already been put in place and other things that we plan to do. First and foremost, we have to have the technology. Most universities have very advanced technology systems that automatically alert students as to when to do what, to welcome them, so we have started to purchase some of that technology last year and we're continuing it this year. We need to increase our application pool, expedite processing and increase yield. All three of those are very important. While we are processing applications, other universities are doing it at a much faster rate. So we need to be on the cutting edge of expediting that process and that will increase yield. Our yield, and when I say yield, I mean how many applications we received and how many students ended up coming to our university. So that percentage did increase this year but again we're not where we need to be.

We need to develop an aggressive recruitment calendar, notifying students of their acceptance but also about their financial package, and I know there are a lot of you that have college-age students and when they get their letter of acceptance, everyone is very, very happy, but the next question is: how much money did I get? And so we need to be able to package that and say, yes you are accepted and here are your scholarships and the awards that you have received.

We need to increase our international students. Increasing international students will increase the diversity of our campus but it will also help us with The Nest and we know that our occupancy rates in The Nest have been down and if we don't reach those designated occupancy rates, we have to pay and it is no secret, it was in the board report what we paid last year, two million dollars right? Two million dollars and we are at 40 percent occupancy this fall, which means we will have to pay. So getting students in that beautiful, beautiful complex, but international students is one way that we can increase that occupancy.

We must continue to fund strategic marketing campaigns. We have a campaign going this fall. We will have one in the spring. We have to be aggressive. Other institutions are very aggressive and not just institutions in Illinois, you see billboards from other states. You know people are coming in and recruiting from Chicago specifically because it is a diverse area.

We need to increase our overall outreach to diverse communities here in Chicago. I have visited many communities. I've tried to make myself known to many of those communities but there's still a lot of outreach work that we all are doing and need to do. We need to develop more innovative pipelines to NEIU and to that, we are very proud of that our recent is our MoU with ASPIRA graduates to come here to NEIU, and a pilot program at Roberto Clemente High School where two of our faculty members will be on site at Roberto Clemente teaching high school students, and our goal is to recruit those students from Roberto Clemente here to NEIU.

And we still need to come up with ways where we can strategically involve NEIU faculty and staff, and I thank all of the faculty and staff who have been active participants, and especially Faculty Senate for leading that initiative last year, and of course one of the best ways to increase enrollments is to in fact keep and retain the students that we have.

So let's look at retention. As you can see, our retention rates are climbing. Each and every one of you, each one of us plays a very important and strategic role in the success of our students. In fact, branding and marketing— the study that we had done last year, many of you participated, that study characterized the University as compassionate and hardworking. In other words, our faculty and staff care about our students and we work hard for their success, and whenever I'm out and I meet alums, they always tell me their NEIU story and it is a story of compassion and a story of hard work. So we must all continue to enhance the efforts of helping students thrive in college from admission to commencement and also to help them with career readiness as they go through and matriculate through the University.

We need to increase the number of internships that we provide for students. We need more research with faculty and students, whether undergraduate or graduate, and we need to develop culturally relevant pedagogy to enhance success. Active engagement with these practices will help our students succeed at a greater level. Our retention rates for African American students need to drastically improve. Before 2018, only one in four progressed from year one to year two. There are several reasons for this and I, you know, I can't give you all the reasons right now, but the one reason that I want you to understand is that the students can do the work. They can do the work. We're giving them an opportunity and they can do the work. Last year, I found out that many African American students had acceptable GPAs. We had a panel of African American students. They had acceptable GPAs but for whatever reasons, and you know, we don't have time to go into those, they did not have a 67 percent federal financial aid completion rate. So that impacted their progress to degree.

Other students on this very stage talked about the environment here at NEIU and how challenging that environment is. This year, as the chart indicates, because of several initiatives and the efforts of many of you, the rate increased to 49 percent. Again not where it needs to be but certainly better than what it was. For our Latino students, retention increased to almost 60 percent. While these accomplishments should be celebrated, we have a lot more work to do with our students. One other area where student progress is needed is really between year two and year three. Year one, we have a lot of services provided for students. Year two, some of those services fall off. So we need external funding to help us with implementing a second-year experience for our students. Our upper division students with declared majors in college have very strong retention rates. In the College of Arts and Sciences, 83 percent of students are retained year over year. In the Goodwin College of Education, the retention rate is 88 percent and in the College of Business and Management, the retention rate is 92 percent. Those are excellent retention rates. So it is year one, year two, making sure that we have wraparound services for our students, so that once they get in their majors, they are very, very successful.

We also know that it's not just the academic side of the house, it's also Student Affairs that plays an instrumental role with student success. One recent initiative started by Student Affairs is NEIU Cares, a student interaction survey. The survey measures student satisfaction of services. The survey is found on kiosks at participating offices, takes less than 30 seconds to complete and provides valuable information about interactions with students and helps the division to improve the student experience. So we probably could use more of these, after students leave they just push a button and rate the experience.

We are also looking at student experience through our climate study. This is the first-ever campus-wide climate study and it is underway with many of you participating and with the assistance of Rankin and Associates Consulting. This is the website and I encourage you to visit and please participate in this year-long initiative. It's very important that everyone's voice is heard as we progress through this year. For my part relating to campus climate, I plan to engage in better campus-wide communication, more transparency and greater input related to many things across campus and especially as we look forward to our spring Goodwin lecture, and many of those efforts have already started.

I want to conclude my remarks with a brief discussion of the Transition Committee report. First, I have to thank everyone once again who participated last year. There were over 80 people and there were more than that, that actually signed up and I also had a small group of faculty and staff that helped me this summer with a massive amount of material and data that was collected. I want you to know that the Transition Committee report contains brilliant ideas, brilliant ideas. Some short-term, some long-term. I will also want you to know that none of those ideas will be discarded, not one. They are all important. They are all important because they came from you. They came from the campus. They emerged from the discussions and the meetings that you had. So what I want to present to you, of course you know there were short-term and long-term, there were all of these committees and there are many, many ideas, and so what I want to present to you this afternoon is just a few that I will be discussing over the next few months that we might consider as a campus. Now some of these we've already started and it's a matter of additional planning, sometimes it will be a matter of budget, staff, structure, but I think that, you know, these are ideas that emerged and are ready for us to have future discussions. The first one is to institute, and in some cases improve, culturally relevant pedagogy. This was a topic at our Faculty Institute. I know that there are faculty who have a focus, a very important focus on culturally relevant pedagogy and so this is something that is very, very important to our campus. We need to implement a new customer relations management system. If you hear someone saying CRM, CRM that's what it is, Customer Relations Management. What does it do? It reduces time needed to make application decisions and course enrollments. So it speeds up that— I'm simplifying, oversimplifying, but it speeds up that process for getting students into the University.

Sort of related to campus climate, we need to assess perspectives and the needs for our specific student populations. It's understanding the identities and the cultural backgrounds, the geographic backgrounds of our students. We need to do more of that. We need to develop an infrastructure and marketing to attract pre-college high school students to take summer classes here at NEIU and to actually get a jump start on college. We need to perform an environmental scan of current online and hybrid courses toward a strategic development of high-quality courses and programs for NEIU. So we should have at least one, at least one program online where students never have to set foot on campus but they can enroll in that program.

We need to strengthen our connections between Career Development and Alumni Relations to leverage resources and foster career pathways. This suggestion was very specific. It said establish a UAC committee, subcommittee to collect student, staff and faculty satisfaction data. Support our recruiters by providing professional development and customer service skills and training sessions. Professional development is important for all of us. Improve our ability to tell personal stories through traditional and social media, and this is what I was saying earlier, alums want to tell their story, our students want to tell their stories, they are all very important. Develop eight-week courses beginning mid-semester, targeting students who drop general education or developmental courses. It gives students an opportunity, if something happens during the first eight weeks, to take a course the second eight weeks.

Review, make consistent and have a system for regular updates of campus signage, online directory and web links, and this particular subcommittee wanted us to work toward digital messaging on Foster and Bryn Mawr. So those marquees, they want marquees there to again bring in people to the University. Create a self designated interdisciplinary major whereby the student proposes a program of study with faculty advisors and the degree culminates in an interdisciplinary capstone project. Pilot a banded tuition program that allows 12 to 16 credit hours for the price of 12 and implement your last semesters on us, —I think there's a typo, there maybe—your last semester is on us, free tuition incentive for full-time students and again, this is something that a task force is currently working on.

The last recommendation from the Transition Committee that I really want to bring to your attention because I think it's very, very important, and that is to create a student and family-oriented one-stop-shop, a Student Success Center that supports incoming freshmen and transfer students in their, in their transition to NEIU, and all students through their matriculation. So this center that is pictured here is actually at Kennedy King Community College where a student can go in one place for the registrar, for academic support services, for advising, financial aid, bursar, they're not sent from place to place, to place to place, and again, it may seem like a very simple concept but it is one that promotes student success.

So the last slide here, I'm sort of dreaming about the future as well with other initiatives, and I think it is important for all of us to think about and to investigate new majors, new majors that are in alignment with current and future workforce needs. Again this is going to help us with student employment, student careers. It is a message to the governor and to our legislature that we understand what those workforce needs are and that we are responsive to the needs of our state.

If you think about the successes that we have had with our students, there are also students who came to NEIU and never finished. They never finished their degree. So I would like to bring back near-completers to campus to finish their degrees either here on campus or via online and develop a plan working with the Foundation to help students pay. Do you realize that some of our students, the amount of money that they owe is under $5,000. It may be $2,000, it may be $3,000 but they stopped out, they don't complete and sometimes they don't come back. That's a loss. So let's develop a plan whereby we can get our near-completers back to campus, find some money to support them, so that they can complete their degree and of course the next option, the next item on the slide is that we start our next capital campaign.

We need to start thinking about that, getting ideas together, about what will be the focus. I'm sure, I mean I have ideas, I'm sure you have ideas about how we can begin that next capital campaign for our students and for their success. We are in the process of hiring a VP for Finance and Administration. Some of you are probably on that search committee and I thank you for your service but I am looking for that new VP to bring in ideas about how we can improve our financial situation here at the University. So when you hear about the candidates coming to campus probably in early December, please go to those presentations, ask the hard questions because we want someone to come in who is going to help us navigate the financial challenges that we have.

And I put the last one here for fun. I want to, the word is investigate, investigate, re-establishing athletics, investigate. Division three, NAIA, but why can't we have a soccer team, why can't we have a basketball team, men and women's? I think we can. I think it would help our school spirit. I think it would contribute again to student success. So that one at—that last one is just kind of for me to throw out to you. So in conclusion, we are all doing great work here at NEIU. We have one of the best universities in the State of Illinois because we do transform the lives of students and we challenge them not only to dream but to achieve their dreams. Thank you very much.

2018 State of the University Address

Mike Hines — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 16:51:44 +0000

2018 State of the University Address

Mike Hines Wed, 12/12/2018 - 10:51

STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY ADDRESS 11/27/18 ALUMNI HALL

Thank you everyone, and I'm so happy to be here this afternoon, and thank you Vicki, and thank you to the Faculty Senate for this opportunity. I plan to be brief because perhaps the most important part is our dialogue after my talk, and so I hope to leave some time for that. So, I do have a written address to deliver and I will begin that right now. So, first and foremost, good afternoon, and since I am an ethnomusicologist, we believe in call and response, so good afternoon.

I'm happy to be here and I am very happy, Vicki, to deliver my first State of the Union Address.

As I have said many times it is an honor to serve this extraordinary community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and friends. I am extremely, extremely proud to serve as your president.

Of course, my greetings are also extended to everyone who is viewing live stream and also at our other locations, Carruthers, El Centro, CCAS, and for those of you who may be at home and you know, viewing in this afternoon, so to everyone I say welcome. Today, I will focus my address on the University's achievements, our ongoing challenges, our priorities, and talk a little bit more about future directions as I did in the inaugural address. Most importantly, I will talk about how we can work together as a union, 91Porn on our mutual path to become the absolute best university that we can be and that remains my goal.

And as I said earlier at the end, we will leave time so that you can ask some questions and Vicki will moderate that part of this afternoon. I want to let you know that I am joined on the stage not only by the chair of our Faculty Senate, but also by my cabinet, and there may be some questions that I will ask for their assistance; there are also a couple of people in the audience if we get questions I may call upon them to give more specific detail. So, I want to start off my address by really acknowledging many of you who are sitting here. So, the work that you do is very important, each and every day, the work that you do. So, I want to start off we have two search committees that have started their work, so I'd like the members of the provost search to please stand, please to be acknowledged, let's give them a hand. [Clapping] Thank you.

Our second search is a little farther along; the members of the Vice President for Finance and Administration Search Committee. Would you please stand to be acknowledged, please? [Clapping] Thank you; these are two very important positions that we will be adding to our president's cabinet hopefully over the next few months, definitely, we hope by the end of the academic year.

I was so excited when we sent out the notification for nominees or self-nominees for the transition committee.

You know why I was so excited?

Thank you for asking.

We received over a hundred nominees and/or self-nominees— over a hundred, so to me that says that you care about the institution as we transition into the future. So we could not have 150 people on the committee, so it was very difficult, but I made some decisions we made some decisions and we have about 80 or so people, [Laughing], a hundred, out of 150, who would be on that committee but they are divided into groups, right so it's not all 100 that would be, you know working on the same thing. At any rate, this is probably all the people that are here in this audience with the transition committee, Please stand to be acknowledged. [Clapping].

Thank you, thank you so very much.

You know the University, and I as the president, take pride in our shared governance groups and I would like for all of our shared governance groups to please stand to be acknowledged everybody shared governance. [Clapping]

I would like for our units to stand and just remain standing and we can give an applause at the end so if you are in the Division of Academic Affairs stand, if you are in the Division of Student Affairs stand, if you are in the Division of Finance and Administration stand, if you are in the Division of Institutional Advancement stand, if you are in the Division of Enrollment Services stand and if you are in the Division of Marketing and Communications stand, if you are in Legal Affairs stand.

Did I leave out anyone?

That that's that's a lot, but I still see some people who haven't stood up, yes stand.

Anyone else?

All right, now keep standing. I want our students to stand. [Clapping] Keep standing and our alums to stand, and anyone else who I did not name I want you to stand, stand up. [Clapping]

Thank you, we are NEIU, we are NEIU, we are the song that we sang to, dance to, popped fingers to at the inauguration; we are family. We are family. Thank you for your service to our institution that was important for me to do to acknowledge you and thank you. So I have been here for now six months, [Clapping] right, six months and it has been wonderful for me, it's been wonderful for me to be here with you at 91Porn in my home state of Illinois, it's been great.

I have spent time during those six months meeting new people, understanding the culture of Northeastern, getting to know groups and process ease and learning about the traditions and customs that make this university what it is today. So, when I started June 1st, I really did hit the ground running. I packed my calendar with meetings with visits with phone calls to get to know as many of you as possible and once again, I must thank you for the warm receptions that you gave me.

They were heartfelt.

And I greatly appreciate them.

I want to thank you for inviting me to programs and celebrations and Heritage Month events, identity group events, traditions, some days I had you know three or four nights spent 10 minutes here, 10 minutes here, 10 minutes here, 10 minutes here, I couldn't stay for the full time, but it gave me a flavor of what you do, it gave me a flavor of the traditions that are here at the institution.

And of course one of my favorite things to do is to engage with our students and I know that's the case for all of us sitting here, we have special special students, do we know that? Yeah let's give our students another hand. [Clapping] All of us work very hard every day for our students and the success of our students.

S.G.A., I have met with that organization, student organization and I met a lot of students when we had our Eagle Fest celebration.

So I know how hard you work and how you work to overcome challenges that you face every day and that inspires me to work harder to be the very best that I can be as your president. So I want to just acknowledge that as a Hispanic Serving Institution, I am very proud again to serve as your president, because diversity is one of our strongest factors, our diversity, our student body, ethnic makeup is in the of most universities and it's something that we don't take for granted. We are proud of it, we are proud to be an H.S.I. and we will continue to strengthen all the things that make northeastern vibrant, unique and diverse.

So if I go back and just reflect again on the first six months, I want you to know that one of the things that I have worked on is to go out into our communities so part of my work has been internal, part of my work has been external, so I have been building new relationships, new partnerships with the corporate world, philanthropic, educational and governmental arenas. I will continue to do this living up to the commitment that I am your chief advocate and I am a public president. I don't want to be behind doors; [Clapping] I want to be out and about it is very important. So some of you may I hope be following me on Instagram?

Are you following me on Instagram?

I don't have enough hours so what I would like for you to do is start doing is following me on Instagram that way you can sort of see the activities where I'm going, what I'm about each and every day so will you start doing that? OK So then the next time I look what it says number of followers it will not say two.

I'm so glad you asked. My account name is @neiupresident, all right.

So I am really glad to have that Instagram account because it does help to get the word out so that you know you know where I am and what I'm doing.

As I mentioned actually now it's been a couple months ago during my inauguration address that I was ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work and that I invited you to do the same, roll them up a little higher so that we can all work together to make our institution again the best that it can be. So I'm the type of person who sees the glass half full. I like to see the glass half full, I know that there are obstacles, but I don't want to dwell on the past, I want to take the University forward, I want to acknowledge and understand the past but then I want to move us forward. So, as I said earlier part of that moving forward is to put new positions in place, new people in positions, we now have a person who is in charge of our enrollment management and I'm looking for great things to happen there and we will have other positions that will be filled in the future but I do want to make one thing clear at this point in time this is my cabinet and I have do not intend and I said this at the Faculty Senate a few weeks ago at this point in time to have any new vice presidents. This is my staff and I believe that we can get the job done with these very capable people [Clapping] thank you.

So, I realize what the University went through for two years. It was very difficult and whereas I did not go through it here, I did go through severe budget cuts at another institution and so I know and I understand the difficulty of that situation and so the University made it through it. And I'm thankful for your dedication and your resilience as you all powered through it.

As you know our financial situation has changed. We have a budget for this year shortly after I arrived, we got a budget, Yes, and we received a two percent increase; however, for two years we received very little and so it's very difficult to rebound from two years, as the chart shows us lower levels of funding with one year of funding and a two percent increase.

So, we have to do a number of things. I have to be very clear in saying that our enrollment numbers are not good. They do not meet my expectations especially as we look at our enrollments for first year students. We have two sources of revenue, major revenue only two sources, the state and our tuition revenue. So we must look at our recruitment initiatives and we are doing that and I know many many many of you in this room are helping us with that. Even with the lower enrollments almost 10 percent for this fall, we made the budget work. So, we are not looking at any staff reductions we are not looking at any furloughs, even though we had a small budget short fall, we have been able to make that work and we will do everything that we can to continue to protect currently filled positions. We will closely monitor our revenue and make appropriate judgments as we move forward.

So, the next few slides look specifically at our budget. After I arrived, we worked on setting the current fiscal year 2019 operating budget. Many of you have already seen this, it was presented to our board and again our revenues roughly a third come from state appropriations and two-thirds as I said from tuition. We are hopeful that with a new governor that those state revenues will increase. So, the message is very clear we must number one grow enrollments and we must retain the students that we have.

Right? Because those students matriculate through the University, yes, they are paying tuition, but they also become more importantly our ambassadors out in the world to help us recruit additional students. So, I hope that our students that are here will be very mindful of helping us as we move to 2019. So I want to be clear on what we're looking at for the future, although, we don't know what the future will bring. We don't know what the state appropriation will be, we don't know what our student population will be, our new students, I must say that for our transfer students, we do very very well. We do very very well with students that come to us transferring from other institutions and especially from our community colleges and those retention rates are excellent they are in the 80 to 90 percentile I think you should give yourself a hand for that [Clapping] Thank you.

So, what can you expect from me as we move forward, a number of things. I keep saying I am your number one advocate and I will continue to be that advocate in Springfield budget hearings will start fairly soon after the break and you know with a new governor, new legislative body there is a lot of work to do so I will continue that advocacy, strong advocacy for NEIU and that means NEIU here NEIU, Carruthers NEIU, El Centro NEIU, CCAS NEIU, all of us together. I need to work very hard to strengthen our relationships with our elected officials, the ones that are currently serving that will continue, who will continue and our new ones and I have already started that and I want to meet with our governor elect. I want to meet with him. I want to tell him the NEIU story and I know that he will be impressed, I don't know when I'll get a chance to meet with him I'm sure there's a long line of people but believe me I will be in that line.

We need to engage and I need to engage certainly with our state local and national policy makers as it pertains to laws that will impact our university. So we must always be mindful of what the legislators are doing and is that supportive of the University whatever bill that might be or not and to do our best to advocate for the University and I must build relationships with donors with our friends.

As I have traveled about our alumni have said to me NEIU is the best thing that ever happened to me, people have said NEIU and I kid you not, NEIU saved my life, I was going down this path and a professor or a staff member or someone at NEIU took me under their wing and literally saved my life and so I need to, we need to make sure that our alumni understand how important they are and that our friends and donors understand that their contributions are so significant to the success of our students, to our faculty staff and to our university. So, I need to build those relationships.

I think that as we look back at the Division of Institutional Advancement and the campaign Transforming Lives, as we look back at the Goodwin challenge, the University has done exceedingly well. Not only did we match their $10 million goal early, but you we exceeded that goal to $12 million, and I think you should give yourself a hand for that. [Clapping.] And just in case you haven't heard, today is Giving Tuesday. Just in case you haven't heard, Giving Tuesday, so if you by any chance brought your checkbook with you? No. All gifts are extremely extremely appreciated and so thank you because I know many many many of you in this room give to the University.

So, I'm as I said very thankful to you and to all that you know that we have done together. We are moving into a phase of not only enrollment, but enrollment through aggressive marketing and promoting our university and one of the elements is a comprehensive marketing plan and that plan really has two major prongs one is to saturate our current market and I'm sure you hopefully seen some of our billboards and our bus signs and that sort of thing.

When I was at a conference recently I ask one of the facilitators what can we do short term to help with our enrollment when it comes to marketing and they said saturate the market, but long term we really do need to look at our strategies to address the marketplace and so we will be starting that process and I need all of you to participate in that process, which will help us understand who we are as a university and what language, what terms, what do we need to do to better promote our institution. So please look out for announcements so that we can all participate together in underscoring our identity and the things that make us unique.

So, there are couple things that I also think that you probably are aware of but I want to bring to your attention this is the third year of our residence hall The Nest and it's a beautiful facility, it is a beautiful facility if you haven't visited you should and our students that live there are very pleased with the facility we have quite a few international students that live there and they love it, however, because our enrollments are down, the occupancy in The Nest is down. We have a contract with the management company, and so when we don't meet our targets there is a penalty and so not only do we lose revenue but we have additional costs with The Nest and so we are all going to do our very best to promote The Nest, to get more students to live in The Nest because it is a wonderful opportunity, because we know that students who live on campus their retention rates are going to be higher and so we want to fill The Nest next year with our students from Chicago, from the region, from the world out of state because it's a win-win for the students and for the University.

So I am going to focus on this because I think you've already seen it, you are already aware of the drop in credit hours since FY11. You know, we have to acknowledge this data, but we also have to move on from it. I should let you know that the projection for Fall of '19 is not good, that trajectory is going down and according to the way we do our data, it will continue to go down that's what the data says Right? But what I'm saying is that with all of us working together we can change that line from going this way to this way. [Clapping.] Do I have your commitment? That must change.

So from there you know I'm running out of time so let me turn a couple pages because I do want to leave time for Q and A and let me wrap up by asking you to do a couple things. I need each and every one of you as I said earlier to be an ambassador, as I am an ambassador for NEIU, and for us to work together. There are many things that we do well; there are things that we need to improve. One of those things that we need to improve is our diversity and you say, "Oh, Dr. Gibson, you just said we were very strong in diversity." Well we are very strong in diversity but not as strong in inclusion. [Clapping.] Thank you so we must you know not just talk the talk, but we need to walk the walk, when it comes to diversity, inclusion, social justice issues, we must and so we will be administering a survey if not at the end of this semester at the beginning of the spring semester to really understand the campus climate as it pertains to the diversity of our campus.

So, I need you to be an ambassador, but I also need you to help the campus as we try to improve the climate. I know that you all are working very very hard and I have said this before I know that and I had knowledge that but if there's any way, any possible way that you can give me that much more and I know I'm asking for a lot, but just a little more, I would appreciate those efforts and you need to understand that as you give more, you have a president who cares and will also be giving more. [Clapping.]

So, I'm not going to ask you to do anything that I'm not doing myself and I would thank you in advance for those efforts. I want to close by again expressing my gratitude and appreciation to all of you for everything that you do and I do want us to function as a family and you know families, quoting my own sometimes have tensions, sometimes have disagreements, but there is a bond that keeps us together and so I ask that when we have those disagreements that we treat each other with respect, that we have discussions try to find solutions, but that we're always respectful to each other and most importantly I think to our students so how we treat others our customer service is very very important.

So, I'm very proud to be here to be your president and again I give you my commitment to live up to the University's mission, to grow and enhance this wonderful university and to support you our faculty staff students alumni and friends, so, thank you very much.

NEIU Financial Aid Information for Current and Prospective Students

mbrown68 — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 15:50:48 +0000

NEIU Financial Aid Information for Current and Prospective Students

mbrown68 Mon, 07/02/2018 - 10:50

Per Federal Guidelines, the following consumer information is listed below for all NEIU current and prospective students.

Accreditation, Approval, or Licensure for the Institution and its Programs
Annual Security Report (Emergency Response and Evacuation Procedures, Timely Warnings, and Crime Log)
Average Net Cost
Code of Conduct for Education Loans
Cohort Default History
Completion and Graduation Rates
Conditions and terms applicable to employment as part of aid package
Cost of Attendance
Credit Hour Definition
Criteria for determining amount of student's award
Criteria for selecting recipients from group of eligible applicants (University Catalog)
Description of Academic Programs
Description of special facilities and services available to disabled students
Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program
Entrance Counseling for Student Loan Borrowers
Exit Counseling for Student Loan Borrowers (Financial Aid office sends out letters to students within 30 days of graduation or drops below half time)
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Fire Safety Report and Fire Log
Gainful Employment and Job placement for graduate students and undergraduate students
Information for Crime Victims about Disciplinary Proceedings
Information Regarding the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS)
Institutional Refund
Instructional, laboratory and other physical plant facilities related to academic programs
List of faculty and other instructional personnel
Method of financial assistance disbursements to student and frequency of disbursements: View on your NEIUport the Financial Aid Awards Section and Award Acceptance and click Schedule for more information.
Net Price Calculator
Notice of Institutional and Financial Aid Information (University Catalog)
Policies and Sanctions Regarding Copyright Infringement (Including Computer Use and File Sharing)
Policies Regarding Transfer of Credit and Articulation Agreements
Policies Regarding Withdrawal, Institutional Refund, and the Return of Title IV Funds
Principle of Excellence for Serving Veterans
Private Education Loan Disclosures (Including Self-Certification Form)
Procedures and forms by which students apply for assistance
Rights & Responsibilities: Criteria for continued eligibility (University Catalog)
Rights & Responsibilities: Standards of Academic Progress and re-establising eligibility (University Catalog)
State Grant Aid
Student Body Demographics
Student initial eligibility requirements
Student Loan Information Published by the U.S. Department of Education
Terms of any loan received, sample repayment schedule for sample loans and necessity for repaying loans-View on your NEIUport the Financial Aid Awards Section and Award Acceptance for more information-Students should get an idea of how to pay back loans before applying. Please visit Trellis Company as a resource to teach you about types of loans to apply for, repayment and much more.
Textbook Information
Title IX
Vaccinations
VAWA (Resource Guide)
Voter Registration Forms