Fiscal Year 2014 Annual Report
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Western Illinois University- Quad Cities
Office of the Vice President, Quad Cities & Planning
Fiscal year 2014 Annual Report
Chris Brown, Administrative Aide for the Vice President, Quad Cities & Planning
Lindsay Fender, Assistant to the Vice President, Quad Cities & Planning
February 2014
Fiscal Year 2014 Annual Report
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Accomplishments and Productivity for FY14
Overview
The Office of the Vice President, Quad Cities & Planning performs administrative
duties and business operations in support of Western Illinois University Planning and the
Quad Cities campus. The goal of this office is to provide leadership and support for Western
Illinois University to continue to serve students and the community.
Accomplishments
In August 2012, President's Leadership Team formed an institutional team to review
the new criteria for accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission-North Central
Association of Colleges and Schools, with the charge of identifying sources of evidence for a
university response, and ensuring that the documentation is in the format required by the
Commission. The team was charged with creating an electronic repository that will be the
basis for future Western Illinois University reporting to the Commission. Chris Brown and
Lindsay Fender participated on the team, along with Dr. Rives, Pamela Bowman, Nancy
Parsons, Julie Murphy, Ann Comerford, and Kerry LeMaster, upon recommendation of
President Thomas and Vice Presidents.
Survey administration continues to be conducted by Lindsay Fender. One vital
accomplishment for fiscal year 2014, was the completion of a new webpage that clearly
outlines the survey request process and provides an online survey request form for staff and
faculty. The development of this webpage was a team effort involving, staff from
Administration Information Management Systems, the Office of Sponsored Projects, and a
survey requestor. The survey request process is often complicated and involves at least three
different departments, making it challenging for WIU staff and faculty to request surveys.
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The newly formed webpage allows staff and faculty to clearly identify steps to take to
request a survey as well as keeping necessary departments informed of such requests. The
team was also able to eliminate unnecessary steps in the past process to reduce confusion.
The new webpage is available at this url: http://www.wiu.edu/university_surveys/
Many of the fiscal year 2014 surveys assisted various departments at WIU to provide
academic excellence and educational opportunities. Staff and faculty were able to make
better decisions and provide efficiency in their departments due to the data collected. The
survey administration was coordinated with the Institutional Review Board to insure
appropriate protocols were followed. Examples of some of the surveys administered during
fiscal year 2014 are identified in the table below.

Graduation Application

QC Fall Student Survey

College of Arts and Sciences Dean

Take Back The Night
Review

CORE survey

Civil Service Employee Council

Intramural Soccer

Summer School (faculty/students)

Advisor Survey

HR Classification Division

2013 Employee of the Year

Physical Plant

Intramural Flag Football

Provost Evaluation

SOAR

President Evaluation

Educause

Faculty Senate Committees

Instructional Technology

Athletic Interest
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New for fiscal year 2014 was the implementation of the first year of the WIU-QC
AmeriCorps program. Lindsay Fender worked diligently with Mary Pruess and Scott
Brouette as well as Dr. Rives and Dr. Mindrup to submit the final proposal for this program.
WIU-QC has received $79,875 in grant funds to implement an Early Childhood learning
program that involves 19 AmeriCorps members. Under the supervision and direction of Scott
Brouette, the AmeriCorps members facilitate learning for at-risk children ages two to five at
local daycares and preschools. This program provides valuable skills for children to be
kindergarten ready, thereby assisting them with academic success in elementary school and
beyond.
Lindsay Fender provides monthly reporting on the program’s matching funds to the
Office of Sponsored Projects to remain in compliance with the grant regulations. Lindsay
Fender worked with the same team to write another proposal to secure year two grant funds
for the same AmeriCorps program. The proposal for year two requests $154,321 in grant
funds to provide stipends for 24 half time AmeriCorps members. This proposal is still
pending. The AmeriCorps program also provides valuable service learning experience and
financial aid opportunities for members.
Another new task for fiscal year 2014 is WIU’s acceptance to the Higher Learning
Commission’s Academy for Retention and Persistence. This project is led by Dr. Rives and a
large, diverse team from various offices within the University. Lindsay Fender is serving on a
subcommittee for this project by providing in-depth data related to Quad Cities Linkages
program and examining trends within this population to better target students for retention
and persistence. The Linkages subcommittee, along with others, will work closely with a
mentor from the Higher Learning Commission over four years. The goal is to identify the
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most effective retention efforts for various populations by examining detailed data. Chris
Brown is serving on the Steering Committee to document meeting outcomes and report them
to the Higher Learning Commission as well as the campus community. She will work with
University Technology to create a web page for information on the Steering Team meeting
outcomes as well as subcommittee meeting outcomes.
The Office of the Vice President of Quad Cities and Planning has worked on
establishing more clearly defined budgeting and purchasing procedures. Monthly budget
meetings are held to closely monitor budgets, along with detailed budget reports to
appropriately plan for the future. These meetings consist of Dr. Rives, Dr. Mindrup, Chris
Brown, and Lindsay Fender. Goal 1, Action 2 is supported by new budget monitoring and
purchasing procedures as it allows WIU-QC to be more fiscally responsible.
Lindsay Fender has developed detailed spreadsheets to track all Quad City
appropriated, local, and foundation accounts by line item and month for the fiscal year. In
addition, Lindsay has also created summary spreadsheets for a more high-level view of those
accounts.
In the Fall of 2013 Lindsay Fender worked with Quad City staff and the Business
Services office to document all instances of travel expended to Quad City appropriated
accounts for the Business Office.
During Spring of 2014, Lindsay Fender collaborated with Curtis Williams, Dr. Rives,
and Matt Bierman to evaluate Quad City student fee accounts and recommend fee changes
for the next fiscal year. These fee changes were approved by the Quad City Student
Government Association and will be presented to the Board of Trustees in March 2014.
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Lindsay Fender has implemented monthly reporting to staff responsible for various
Quad City budgets by providing them each with a monthly statement of expenses,
encumbrances, and various projections. This has helped tremendously in bringing visibility
to the responsible persons for those accounts, allowing them to make adjustments and
responsible fiscal decisions.
Christopher David, Lindsay Fender, Chris Brown and University Technology has
developed and maintained Quad City Technology Renewal documentation to accurately track
renewals and related expenses for technical items in the Quad Cities. Regular monthly
meetings, communication, and appropriate documentation allow the WIU-QC to be fiscally
responsible in technical expenses using both appropriated funds and student fee funds
appropriately.
Both Chris Brown and Lindsay Fender serve on the Quad Cities FIT II team to assist
with planning for Phase II purchasing and budgeting. This diverse team involving staff and
faculty meet every two weeks to plan for furniture, fixtures, technology, and other items that
will go into the new buildings associated with Phase II. Chris Brown has been charged with
managing and submitting all purchase orders with the Purchasing Office.
Lindsay Fender has filled various ad hoc data requests for Quad City Admissions, the
Office of the Vice President and other various Quad City offices. Extracting data from the
mainframe database has assisted WIU-QC in targeted communications and decision-making
related to admissions and enrollment.
Strategic Plan updates continue to be emailed via Telestars to the WIU community on
a monthly basis as well as posted on the web. Strategic Plan updates demonstrate the
progress that WIU has made in regards to Higher Values in Higher Education.
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Lindsay Fender, Audrey Adamson, and Curtis Williams have been requested to
present the Linkages program to the annual conference for the Higher Learning Commission
in April 2013. This presentation has evolved over the years and this year will include data
related to Linkages as well as content to show student perspectives.
During the Fall term, Lindsay Fender gathered admission, enrollment, retention, and
graduation data for peer institutions as well as WIU. Benchmarking data came from sources
such as the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, US News and World Report,
Illinois Board of Higher Education, and websites of peer institutions.
This data is later included in Dr. Rives’ performance report for the Board of Trustees.
Lindsay Fender also posts the data along with graphs and charts on the University Planning
webpage for the dashboard. The online presence of WIU’s dashboard and benchmarking
provides transparency to stakeholders.
The Office of the Vice President Quad Cities and Planning also planned and
implemented it’s first annual Quad Cities Graduation Reception held at the i wireless Center,
Moline, IL. The event was held on December 12, 2013 and was attended by well over 250
students and their families.
Along with the Student Services staff, Chris Brown is taking the lead in the planning
of the 2nd Annual Passport to the Future event to take place April 2014. This event is a
fundraiser for minority students who attend WIU-QC. The intent is to match scholarships to
WIU-Quad Cities from our partner organizations such as 100 Black Men of the QC;
Davenport Council 10 League of United Latin American Citizens and several other
community organizations.
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The Office of the Vice President Quad Cities and Planning maintains the following
professional memberships:

Chamber of Commerce, Young Professional - Regional Opportunities Council

Illinois Association of Institutional Researchers

Association of Institutional Researchers

International Association for Administrative Professionals – Quad Cities Chapter
Goals for FY15
For fiscal year 2015, the Office of the Vice President has several goals as the WIU-QC
campus continues to grow.

Maintain appropriate documentation for budget monitoring and purchasing.

Continue to provide accurate budget monitoring and purchasing procedures.

Maintain the University Planning webpages

Take advantage of Professional Development

Chris Brown will continue to coordinate and plan with the Provost’s office for Spring
Commencement and the President’s office for the June Board of Trustees Meeting.

Chris Brown will continue to support all areas of the QC Administrative Team as
needed.

Chris Brown will plan and implement the Riverfront Phase II Grand Opening
celebration after construction of the buildings is completed.