The Northern Illinois University campus community got a look Monday at the next phase of a planthat will shape the campus for years to come. It’s called Program Prioritization, and it’s a review of all academic and administrative programs at NIU. President Doug Baker and Provost Lisa Freeman released their responses to task force reports that came out in May. Note: these documents in the links are only available to NIU staff at this time.
The in-depth evaluation of all university functions is being accomplished under two challenging factors that have to be addressed, according to Baker: declining enrollment, and massive cuts in state support for the school.
Baker supports most of the recommendations made by the task force, including consolidating a number of university functions in areas like undergraduate services and cultural diversity programs. Baker disagreed with some findings, such as those affecting the law school and reducing student athlete academic support services.
The full reports are available online to the campus community. The next update is in May, but most departments have deadlines for changes set well before then.
- WNIJ's Guy Stephens contributed to this report.
