NIU is participating in Foundations of Excellence® with the National Policy Center on the First Year of College from 2008–2010. A steering committee of 26 faculty and staff, along with a campus-based task force of 80 members from Student Affairs and Academic Affairs, is guiding this effort to measure current institutional efforts to provide a comprehensive beginning experience for first-year students. The two-year process will culminate in a strategic action plan for campus improvement.
As part of Foundations of Excellence®, two surveys were administered during the 2008–2009 academic year. 1,153 freshmen responded to the student survey, yielding a 40.1% response rate. 1,862 faculty and staff responded to the corresponding faculty/staff survey for a 31.4% response rate. Qualitative data has also been gathered via focus groups for students, faculty, and staff.
The Foundations of Excellence® steering group and its nine committees will continue their work over the summer and will meet with John N. Gardner, founder of the international first-year experience movement, in September.
The Midterm Report is now available for review.
A final report is expected in Spring 2010.
What if I have questions about the surveys or the Foundations of Excellence® project? E-mail foundations@niu.edu for more information and answers to questions. We will see that your question is directed to the best person for a response. Or visit http://www.firstyear.org.
By Mark McGowan
Excerpts from Northern Today, January 26, 2009
What does it truly mean to be a member of the NIU community?
Members of NIU’s Foundations of Excellence® Task Force are working to make sure everyone – freshmen classes included – can answer that question with intelligence and accuracy.
Part of the university’s comprehensive strategic planning process, the two-year Foundations of Excellence® (FoE) assessment process is expected to build a strong base for the best-possible first-year experience at NIU.
More than 300 colleges and universities already have participated in the FoE process, developed by the Policy Center on the First Year of College, and nearly 150 have completed their self-studies.
Committee members also are auditing all NIU programs that impact first-year students, including a search for overlaps, holes and discrepancies. They’re also examining information mailed to freshmen and their families before they begin classes.
“We want to move beyond retaining students to having them engage with and become part of the NIU experience,” said Denise Rode, Director of Orientation and First-Year Experience. “Many of our peer institutions use the word ‘transformative.’ This will have a transformative effect on how our campus interacts with first-year students.”
“The first year is a real critical year for college students – it’s a year of transition – and we really want to make sure by way of our self-study and subsequent plans that we provide our students with the best-possible experience,” said Vice Provost Earl “Gip” Seaver.
“We know that as students move through what we call P-20, there are certain areas of transition,” Seaver added. “We’re talking about young people coming out of high school into a setting where they have to rely much more on their own decisions. And, in addition to learning things in the classroom, there are life lessons they have to learn. There are a lot of competing forces.”
Rode and others on the task force attended a Foundations of Excellence® conference in North Carolina presented by John N. Gardner, executive director of the policy center.
The process, Gardner told them, is an introspective one that increases institutional responsibility for learning during the first year of college: Retention falls into place when colleges and universities create a vision for excellence beyond retention and strive to reach that peak.
It also believes that all institutions of higher education can achieve excellence, not just the elite.
“This is a transparent process. We want a lot of input,” Rode said. “This is going to steer the first-year experience here for years.”
“Our entire campus community will benefit from just looking inside at how we’re approaching new students and how we can make that first year more valuable,” said Bob Burk, director of admissions and co-chair of the task force’s Transitions Dimension committee. “The result is a welcoming, student-centered atmosphere.”
Foundations of Excellence® Dimension News: |
Task Force MembersDenise Rode, Co-Liaison Staff Liaison Dimensions Co-ChairsTransitions Faculty Roles and Purposes All Students Diversity Learning Organization Philosophy Improvement |
Congratulations to the grand prize winners!
Amanda Paige, Freshman, English
Betty Corn, Instructor, Mathematical Sciences
pictured with Vice Provost Dr. Earl "Gip" Seaver (left) and Dr. John R. Jones Associate Vice President for Student Affairs(right)
April 27, 2009
As part of the Foundations of Excellence (FoE) Dimension’s assessment process, first-year students and faculty/staff who interact with first-year students were asked to take surveys about their perceptions of the first-year experience.
Twenty $50 prizes were awarded to selected respondents from each survey and a $1,000 prize was awarded to one first-year student and one faculty/staff member.
Members of the FoE Dimensions Task Force have announced the winners of the $1000 drawings.
Amanda Page, a first-year English major, is the student recipient of the $1,000 scholarship. Page says she selected NIU because she wanted to attend a big campus with a diverse community. She is pleased with her choice because she says she has had numerous opportunities to become part of the diverse community and to open herself to different ways of thinking. She is also happy that the faculty and staff get to know the students as individuals.
The faculty/staff winner of the $1,000 is Betty Corn, an instructor in the Department of Mathematics. Corn has been at NIU for 24 years and primarily teaches introductory level algebra to first-year students. She loves being part of the NIU community because she loves working with the students and providing extra help to enhance their experience.
More than 200 first-year educators from six states and 37 institutions participated in the second annual Midwest Drive-In Conference at Northern Illinois University on September 25, 2009. The conference featured 20 concurrent sessions as well as the plenary address on “From Theory to Practice in the First Year of College: Determining What Works and Why” by Betsy O. Barefoot and the keynote speech entitled “Reflections on the Need for Collaborations in a Time of Upheaval, the Historical Catalyst for Driving Change in the First Year of College” given by John N. Gardner, internationally recognized leaders of the first-year experience movement.
Click here for photos of the event.
As part of Gardner’s appearance at NIU, he met with the Steering Committee for the institution’s Foundations of Excellence® in the First College Year initiative. The committee is in its second and final year of this externally guided self-study and improvement process which aims to develop a comprehensive, coherent first-year experience for all NIU freshmen. A final report is expected in Spring 2010.
For more information on Foundations of Excellence®, contact Denise Rode, Co-Liaison, drode@niu.edu.
Information on the date, location, and theme of the third annual “Strengthening the First Year of College” will be available after January 1, 2010.