Fiscal Year 2013 Annual Report
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Western Illinois University- Quad Cities
Office of the Vice President, Quad Cities & Planning
Fiscal year 2013 Annual Report
Chris Brown, Administrative Aide for the Vice President, Quad Cities & Planning
Lindsay Fender, Assistant to the Vice President, Quad Cities & Planning
February 2013
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Accomplishments and Productivity for FY13
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
The Office of the Vice President for Quad Cities and Planning supported growth and
change during fiscal year 2013. Chris Brown gained new responsibilities of purchasing after
the retirement of Carmen Sandoval. Lindsay Fender joined the Administration team as
Assistant to the Vice President of Quad Cities and Planning. Accomplishments of the Office
of the Vice President include the following.
Western Illinois University –Quad Cities (WIU-QC) piloted a mentoring program to
increase retention and provide vital resource and referral services to new undergraduate
students. Mentors included 34 volunteer staff, faculty, and administrators from both the 60th
and Riverfront locations. Mentees were comprised of over 300 new undergraduate students,
all of whom received a College Student Inventory survey via Noel-Levitz’s Retention
Management System.
This pilot allowed mentors and administration to identify strengths and areas for
improvement moving forward with the mentoring program. Some mentors met students
individually, in groups, online, in-person, etc. The concept for mentors was to follow an
organic approach to help students succeed. A team consisting of Dr. Kristi Mindrup, Kenney
Wheeler, Curtis Williams, Audrey Adamson, and Lindsay Fender have begun discussions on
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a strategy for the 2013/3014 academic year. Some ideas suggested a more personal approach
to the initial contact with the student and involving the mentoring program at student events.
The mentoring program relates directly to Goal 1 of the Strategic Plan, Higher Values in
Higher Education.
Survey administration among Western Illinois University was moved to the Office of
the Vice President of Quad Cities and Planning after the retirement of Tere North. During
fiscal year 2013, Lindsay Fender administered over 24 surveys to facilitate decision-making
and continuous improvement for various WIU departments.
Lindsay Fender worked with Dr. Kristi Mindrup and several WIU departments to
conduct feasibility studies to determine if programs may be a good fit at the WIU-QC
campus. Foreign Languages and Literature, History, and Finance are the departments that
have either completed feasibility studies or are currently underway.
Many of these 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
2013 are identified in the table below. Goal 3 of the Strategic Plan, Higher Values in Higher
Education is supported by feasibility studies as WIU-QC researches interest in educational
opportunities for students.
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
Foreign Languages Feasibility Study

QC Fall Student Survey

Racial Discrimination in the Classroom

Student and Faculty Political Bias

Service Learning

Civil Service Employee Council

Employee Wellness

2 International Student Surveys

Advisor Survey

University Theme

2012 Employee of the Year Voting

Physical Plant

LEED Survey

Provost Evaluation

WIU Promotional Patterns

President Evaluation

Take Back the Night 2012

Campus Recreation Marketing

Dietetic Intern

Athletic Interest

International Student Orientation

Library Short Course Evaluation

Emotion and Mindfulness in Athletes

Faculty Senate Committees
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.
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In the Fall of 2012 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.
Currently in progress, Christopher David, Lindsay Fender and University Technology
are working collaboratively to accurately identify all software and hardware renewals and
upcoming expenses. Once completed, this spreadsheet will be continuously maintained to
allow WIU to plan for future costs and timing of technical updates to software and hardware
each fiscal year. Due to this team effort, WIU will now be able to closely monitor software
and hardware costs, along with tracking the accounts for funding.
Chris Brown has worked diligently to implement purchasing procedures for WIUQC. After meeting with the Purchasing Office for training, processes for purchasing, bidding,
contracts and payment have been working much better and for the next fiscal year there will
be new ways of tracking purchases and payments. The Business Office and Budget Office
came to the Quad Cities to meet with all QC Fiscal Agents to go over new policies and
procedures for travel, direct payment authorizations and other important budget policies and
procedures. By strengthening these lines of communication with offices in Macomb the
purchasing and payment functions from both campuses will process more effectively and
efficiently.
Chris Brown planned and facilitated the 2012 Spring Commencement Ceremony on
May 13, 2012. The ceremony took place at the i wireless Center, Moline, IL. The combined
Doctoral/Graduate/Undergraduate ceremony consisted of 3 doctoral students, 83 graduate
students, and 133 under graduate students.
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On June 6, 2012, the Vice President’s office hosted the June Board of Trustees
meeting at the WIU Riverfront campus. This meeting marked the first time the Board met at
the new campus. The Vice President’s office hosted an informal dinner the evening before in
the new campus atrium.
On August 23, 2012 WIU-QC held the Phase II Groundbreaking ceremony. Illinois
Governor, Pat Quinn as well as all local legislators attended. Mayors from the cities of
Moline, East Moline and Rock Island were in attendance along with several other major
donors, alumni and community members. Faculty and staff handed out Rocky water and
“Western Rocks” ice cream to attendees and everyone was thrilled to watch a special
performance from the Marching Leathernecks.
Lindsay Fender has worked collaboratively with Administrative Information
Management Systems and Institutional Research and Planning to fulfill various data request
among the campus community. 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.
Drs. Rives and Mindrup, and Lindsay Fender have been accepted to present the
Linkages program to the annual conferences for the Higher Learning Commission,
Association of Institutional Research, and Illinois Association of Institutional Research.
In preparation for Western Illinois University’s next accreditation visit from the
Higher Learning Commission, the accreditation team has been meeting on a monthly basis to
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cover each criterion individually of the new Pathways process. The accreditation team
consists of Dr. Rives, Lindsay Fender, Chris Brown, Dr. Nancy Parsons, Pamela Brown,
Julie Murphy, Kerry LeMaster, and Ann Comerford. The team has worked to identify many
different sources of evidence that supports the University’s progress and success for each
criterion of the accreditation process.
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 maintains the following
professional memberships:

Chamber of Commerce, Young Professional - Regional Opportunities Council

International Association for Administrative Professionals – Quad Cities Chapter
Goals for FY14
For fiscal year 2014, the Office of the Vice President has several goals as the WIU-QC
campus continues to grow.

Create and maintain a ‘manual’ or appropriate documentation for budget monitoring
and purchasing.
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 Continue to provide accurate budget monitoring and purchasing procedures.
 In addition to the current administrative monthly budget meetings, Lindsay Fender
plans to meet regularly and collaborate with Curtis Williams to accurately monitor
and plan for student fee accounts.
 Maintain the University Planning and Riverfront webpage as Phase II and Phase III of
the Riverfront Development move forward.
 Search for a Research Analyst to take over the survey administration. Once hired,
Lindsay Fender will work with the Research Analyst to learn survey administration,
data extraction from MVS, and website maintenance. This will be a collaborative
effort among various departments at WIU.
 Lindsay Fender would like to learn more about grant writing and take advantage of
future opportunities on grant projects that benefit students and the community.
 Chris Brown will be working with the Budget Office, Business Office and Purchasing
office to prioritize and organize the procurement process for the Quad Cities campus
for daily operations as well as for the purchases for Phase II.
 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.