NIU College of Business
STRATEGIC PLANNING COUNCIL XVI MEETING MINUTES
(Academic Year: 2012-13) ~ Friday, January 25, 2013 ~ 8:30 – 10:30 a.m.
STRATEGIC PLANNING COUNCIL XVI (SPC)
SPC Members:
Tim Aurand (MKTG Faculty), Curtis Batterton (Alumni/McDonald’s Corporation), Amy Buhrow
(Coordinator AACSB/Assessment), Mike Cahill (Undergraduate Student Rep), Ann Carrel
(Director, Executive, Professional, & Fast-Track MBA Programs), Anthony D'Andrea (Director,
Development, Senior Gift and Estate Planning Officer – COB), Michelle De Jean (Director, COB
Marketing), Ken Elliot (MGMT Instructor, UBUS 311), Geoff Gordon (MKTG Chair), Brenda Hart
(Staff Council President, MKTG Dept.), Vijay Krishnan (MKTG Faculty), Chang Liu (OMIS Chair),
Len Lundstrum (FINA Faculty), Brain Mackie (OMIS Faculty), Lori Marcellus (Director
Undergraduate Studies), Mark Misic (Director of Technology), Paul Prabhaker (Associate Dean,
College of Business), Denise Schoenbachler (Dean, College of Business), Rebecca Shortridge
(ACCY Faculty), Marc Simpson (FINA Chair)¸ Pam Smith (ACCY Faculty), Nancy Russo (OMIS
Faculty), Ursula Sullivan (MKTG Faculty), Beth Towell (Associate Dean of Undergraduate),
Michael Welsh (Alumni/Welsh Industries, Owner), Dan Wunsch (Associate Dean for
Administration), Cassandra Young (Director, Alumni Relations) Jim Young (ACCY Chair,) and Lei
Zhou (FINA Faculty)
SPC Members Unable to Attend:
Carolinda Douglass (Vice Provost), Lenita Hepker (Administrative Assistant to the Dean), Kyle
Lundin (Undergraduate Student Rep), Sarah Marsh (MGMT Chair), and Mahesh Subramony
(MGMT Faculty)
Guest:
Joan Petros (ELC Director) and Bill McCoy (BELIEF Director)
The Dean welcomed and thanked the group for participating. She reviewed the agenda and
emphasized the goal of the meeting was to share information about a sub-set Co-Curricular and
Support Programs and Units. Presenters were asked to stay within the 20 minute time limit.
Another meeting is scheduled for February 22, 2013 for the remaining Co-Curricular and
Support Program and Units to report. Actions items and priorities for the College will be
generated based on what is learned during the entire exploration process at the March 2013
SPC retreat.
Dan Wunsch made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 14, 2012 meeting. Ken
Elliott seconded the motion. The minutes were approved as presented.
Co-Curricular and Support Program Exploration Reports & Discussion
Advising, Career Compass, Passport, & Recruitment – Lori Marcellus
 Academic Advising (See Appendix A) – The Advising SWOT analysis covers the
Undergraduate Studies and department advising system. The Program Exploration
Framework created by Pam Smith, Brian Mackie, and Vijay Krishnan was used to
summarize the results.
The College Advising system is an AACSB Best Practice. Key strengths include the
collaboration between the Undergraduate Studies Office and the department advisors
and the developmental vs. prescriptive approach to advising. All advisors are involved in
new student recruitment – brochures, website, department e-mail, open houses, etc.
Advisors are also involved on university committee and use MapWorks and EB software
programs to assist with retention.
Weaknesses include lack of professional development and training in emotional,
welfare, safety, and stress issues and time constraints limiting cross campus
collaboration.
The advisors see opportunities to do more with Career Compass and to support lower
division students with 2.0-2.5 GPAs. These students will not make it into the upper
division business courses but should be retained at NIU. Advisors also see value in
teaching freshmen students in UNIV 101 from the start and required advising of all
business students.
Key threats to advising system include the time required by Career Compass; mass
external involvement in retention and recruitment activities; a misconception of
advising at the university level; and additional work being pushed to the advisors from
the university through technology.
The Undergraduate Studies Office three advisors met with 1,517 students during the fall
semester. The Student Success Specialist role is currently vacant as the Office of
Student Academic Success restructures the role.

Career Compass (See Appendix B) – This program assists lower division students in
choosing/confirming a major and career development. The program was launched as a
four workshop series and will shift to an eight-week course in spring 2013.
Advisors created and currently administer the program. Keeping the advisors engaged
will be a challenge going forward. Students are charged a fee to participate.

Passport (See Appendix C) – The Passport program ties in to Career Compass and works
to get student engaged outside of the classroom. Participation will result in a cocurricular transcript. Passport will be launched in fall 2013 and will involve the advisors
in an audit capacity.

Recruiting (See Appendix D) - The College is involved in a number of recruiting activities
that involve advisors from Undergraduate Studies, the Undergraduate Studies Director,
the Recruitment Coordinator, the Department advisors and faculty, and staff from the
Dean’s Office. Some overlap exists between the Undergraduate Studies Director and
the Recruitment Coordinator, but all are needed.
Technology Resources – Mark Misic (See Appendix E)
 Mark Misic has been working on a Strategic Technology Plan for the past three years.
He has involved NIU technology colleagues, ITS colleagues, and alumni. He has also
benchmarked COB technology against that of other schools.

COB Tech seeks to enable work. This involves anticipating and supporting technology
needs.

Strengths include our facilities and technology; our cloud-based student computing
environment; our web presence; and the willingness of faculty and staff to use
technology.

Weaknesses include inadequate funding; aging and inadequate technology; knowledge
and attitudes of COB faculty and staff; and limited central campus direction. Jim Young
reiterated that the aging technology in the labs is currently, negatively impacting
instruction. The move to the cloud will help, but right now it is a weakness. Speed
issues were also discussed.

Key opportunities are in online instruction; bring your device; broadcasting systems;
social media presence; cloud-based computing; and mobile technologies to name a few.
A complete list can be in Appendix E.

Changing technology is a threat to our operations and ability to deliver the most
relevant experiences to our students. There is also a lot of competition in the online
market should we pursue online instruction.

Possible technology strategic objectives were mapped to the SWOT analysis. Objectives
are:
o Advance the “anywhere/anytime” model for delivering student computing
experience to all NIU business students.
o Deliver NIU business instruction online.
o Distribute COB news and information to all relevant media channels in engaging
and mobile-friendly formats from a unified central resource.
o Promote and support a robust bring-your-own-device (BTOD) environment
within Barsema Hall.
o Advance use of technology in support of key COB operations.

Mike Cahill, a student representative expressed appreciation for the computer labs,
which eliminate the need to bring computers to the building. He indicated that access
to power outlets in the atrium is challenging when he does bring his computer.

Curtis Batterton reinforced the importance of online instruction; the anywhere/anytime
model; and the BYOD strategic objectives.
Alumni & Corporate Relations (ACR) – Anthony D’Andrea (See Appendix F)
 The ACR unit started under Dean Graf as an alumni and outreach group. It was focused
on supporting the alumni clubs (Executive Club) and some college events. ACR was
formed around 2006 with development, alumni relations, the ELC, and corporate
relations. More recently, there has been an increased focus on major gift development
and a decrease in staff. Annual fund contributions are still an NIU centralized function.
The Executive Club and Young Professionals Network have transitioned to the NIU
Alumni Association.

Much of the development work focuses on students and faculty through scholarships
and professorships.

Strengths include leadership that are involved and engaged; innovative academic
programs; engaged faculty; incredible students; our market constituency (alumni and
corporate partners); and strong and steady growth in major and planned giving.

Weaknesses include lack of donor maturity in charitable giving; development
staffing/coverage of COB; lack of stewardship focus; and low alumni participation in
giving and involvement.

Opportunities include new engagement strategies and metrics for measuring success;
continued maturity of the Alumni and Development Office including a focus on $1,000$5,000 (Dean’s Circle) market; alignment with the NIU Alumni Association; and
interdisciplinary engagement activities. The new president presents an opportunity for
the college as does a renewed focus on Academic Excellence.

Threats include changes in tax laws; negative publicity; decreased state appropriations;
and inter-college/inter-department competitiveness.
Experiential Learning Center (ELC) – Joan Petros (See Appendix G)
 The ELC forms of teams of five to seven students to work with a real business on a real
problem. Interdisciplinary teams are coached by a faculty member. Students earn three
credit hours for their participation.

Joan used her new experience as director, her past experience as a coach, input from
students, and input from faculty coaches to create the SWOT analysis using the Program
Exploration Framework.

The ELC has a positive impact on all of the College strategic objectives. Key strengths
include growth of students; engagement of companies; and recruitment of prospective
students.

Neutral aspects of the program include scope of faculty involvement; the project
management methodology; involvement of assistant coaches; the exposure to the
business environment; a recent decrease in ELC applications; and the faculty stipend.

Weaknesses include lack of marketing expertise for ELC student recruitment; too few
opportunities for deserving students to participate; inflexibility of the calendar; difficulty
in doing work for non-profit organizations; and lack of staff in the ELC.

The largest expenses in the ELC are personnel related. Clients pay a $10,000 project fee.
Revenue and donations cover operations with the exception of salaries.

A sliding project fee scale was suggested. The Advisory Board has considered but not
pursued the sliding scale.

The ELC has experienced 100% turnover in staff in the last year. This presents an
opportunity for Joan as the new director and the college, to pursue new model for the
ELC, if necessary.
BELIEF – Bill McCoy (See Appendix H)
 The Building Ethical Leaders Using an Integrated Ethics Framework (BELIEF) Program is
the means by which ethics is taught in the College of Business. Bill McCoy is the first
full-time director of BELIEF. Bill used The BELIEF Program 2012 Annual Report to
provide an overview of the program.

Major components of BELIEF include the Annual BELIEF Day; the LEAD Student
Organization; the International Eller Ethics Case Competition in Arizona; the NIU Case
Competition; the Faculty for Ethics committee; and annual workshops. The number of
BELIEF corporate partners has expanded from six to nine.

The BELIEF SWOT analysis was created with the help of the Faculty for Ethics committee.

Key strengths include national ranking; partial funding; hierarchy within the program;
interdepartmental ownership; curricular integration; the LEAD organization; long-term
involvement of faculty; the Ethics Handbook; and BELIEF Week.

Weaknesses include funding; faculty involvement in workshops; visibility of LEAD within
student body; the free Ethics Handbook; lack of aggressive fundraising; and faculty
involvement.

Opportunities include creating a Center for Ethics; improving the Businessweek ranking
to #1; expanding BELIEF across NIU colleges; expanding program to feeder high schools;
and the Passport Program.

Threats include lack of funding and sponsors; issues with public perception of NIU; and
out of date financials.
Action Items and Wrap-up
The Dean closed the meeting by thanking the group for participating and re-emphasizing the
goal of the meeting was to share information about a sub-set Co-Curricular and Support
Programs and Units. The next meeting is scheduled for February 22, 2013 for the Summer
Research, MBA, Global, and Dean’s Office programs/units to report. Actions items and priorities
for the College will be generated based on what is learned during the entire exploration process
at the March 2013 SPC retreat.
The next meeting will be Friday, February 22, 2013 from 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by Amy Buhrow