NIU College of Business
STRATEGIC PLANNING COUNCIL XV MEETING MINUTES
(Academic Year: 2011-12) ~ Friday, May 18, 2012 ~ 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
STRATEGIC PLANNING COUNCIL XV (SPC)
SPC Members:
Tim Aurand (MKTG Faculty), Curtis Batterton (Graduate Student), Amy Buhrow (Coordinator AACSB/Assessment), Ann
Carrel (Director, Executive, Professional, & Fast-Track MBA Programs), Virginia Cassidy (Vice Provost), 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), Charles Gowen III (MGMT Faculty),
Lenita Hepker (Administrative Assistant to the Dean), Vijay Krishnan (MKTG Faculty), Chang Liu (OMIS Chair), Brain
Mackie (OMIS Faculty), Lori Marcellus (Director Undergraduate Studies), Sarah Marsh (MGMT Chair), Mark Misic
(Director of Technology), Paul Prabhaker (Associate Dean, College of Business), Nancy Russo (OMIS Faculty), Denise
Schoenbachler (Dean, College of Business), Beth Towell (Associate Dean of Undergraduate), Michael Welsh (Welsh
Industries, Owner), Dan Wunsch (Associate Dean for Administration),Cassandra Young (Director, Alumni Relations), and
Jim Young (ACCY Chair)
SPC Members Unable to Attend:
Mike Cahill (Undergraduate Student Rep), Joe Cullinane (President – Joe Cullinane Enterprises, Inc.), Peter Magnusson,
(MKTG Faculty), Jane Mall (Director, COB Experiential Learning and Corporate Relations), Jessalyn Murray
(Undergraduate Student Rep), Marc Simpson (FINA Chair)¸ Rebecca Shortridge (ACCY Faculty), Pam Smith (ACCY
Faculty), Kelly Stewart (Office Manager OM&IS), and Lei Zhou (FINA Faculty)
Guests:
Lori Jackson (Coordinator, Retention and Recruitment and Carolinda Douglass (Vice Provost)
The Dean welcomed the group and reviewed the agenda for the meeting. Cassandra Young, the new director of Alumni
Relations and Carolinda Douglass, the new Vice Provost joining SPC XVI were introduced.
The Dean asked for approval of the minutes from the April 20, 2012 meeting. Sarah Marsh made the motion, Ann
Carrel seconded the motion. The minutes were approved as presented.
Strategic Objectives – Dr. Geoff Gordon
Geoff Gordon thanked all who gave feedback on the strategic objectives. Most of the suggestions were incorporated.
Major changes since the last iteration are:
 Objectives were made active.
 Objectives were reordered to reflect a more logical progression.
 Operations were eliminated from the objective focusing on faculty and staff and a balance in teaching and
research excellence was added.
Virginia Cassidy suggested changing “a high quality, dynamic, and innovative curriculum” to “high quality, dynamic, and
innovative curricula.”
The Strategic Objectives were approved with Dr. Cassidy’s change.
SPC XV Meeting Minutes ~ Friday, May 18, 2012
Page 1
Differential Tuition – Dr. Denise Schoenbachler
Dr. Mark Misic, Dr. Shortridge, Dr. Dan Wuncsch, and Dr. Schoenbachler have been investigating differential tuition
models at other schools. They focused on the schools included in the Vision 2020 benchmarking.
Over the summer the Differential Tuition Team will create a proposal and roll out plan to present to the Provost,
President Peters, and ultimately, the Board of Trustees in the spring of next year. The proposal will discuss how the
College will use the funds generated from the differential tuition and how the uses link to Vision 2020.
It was recommended that the team consider an incremental roll out plan and tie it to other tuition increases so the
College does not have to continually ask for Board of Trustee approval of future increases in the differential tuition.
Priorities and Resource Allocations
The SPC will be instrumental in determining the priorities of the College and resource allocations for 2012-13. The
Dean reminded the SPC of their role as liaisons to the departments and units and requested that they share
information with colleagues, answer questions and dispel myths as necessary. She encouraged the SPC to ask
questions about the use of restricted and unrestricted funds.
Appropriations have been reduced by 3% for the 2012-13 academic year. This reduction is in addition to the 2.5-3%
reduction and the 1.5% set aside experienced a couple years ago. The previous reduction and set-aside were absorbed
and expenses, mainly salaries, were moved to revenue generating programs in the College. This is not sustainable.
Salaries need to be moved back to centrally funded lines to support salary increases and reduce the pressure on our
revenue generating programs.
The College receives considerable funding from three other sources. The University lets the College retain revenue from
Revenue Generating Programs.
1. NIU Foundation: $30,000-$40,000 to be used for technology innovation, student development and faculty
development.
2. Global Executive Education
3. MBA programs: EMBA, PMBA, and Fast Trak revenue is available for general use. Evening tuition and delivery
fees are tied to MBA expenses.
The 2012-13 reduction will be funded by primarily by attrition and retirement. The College has lost eight tenure/tenure
track faculty from key programs – Global, Entrepreneurship, Sales, Interactive. In addition, summer support has
decreased in number and amount and graduate assistant support is fixed.
Going forward, faculty retention and core academic program preservation are concerns. Three faculty members
(MGMT, OMIS, MKTG) will join the College in Fall 2012. Two were hired to fill vacancies from two years ago and one in
anticipation of a retirement. Still, the College is well below its AACSB peers with 60-65 faculty lines.
Replacing faculty is costly. Each time a faculty member leaves, 10% of the salary is returned to the Provost’s budget to
pool resources to fund positions or new lines in other areas in need. At the same time, the market price for business
faculty is continually increasing. The College must pay more to hire assistant professors to replace senior, retiring
faculty members.
The University is facing budgetary uncertainty as well. The University is trying to plan for an unclear Performance Based
Funding model, an anticipated shift of the pension match back to the state universities (12% of state appropriations),
and delinquency of state appropriation disbursement (1/3 for FY12).
In spite of the budget challenges, the University and/or the Illinois Board of Higher Education do not seem to be
evaluating programs based on productivity, performance or quality as they have in past years.
SPC XV Meeting Minutes ~ Friday, May 18, 2012
Page 2
The XVI SPC will set the priorities for the college. We will look critically at everything we do, determine areas in which
we will invest or cut, and set the direction for the next year.
Anthony D’Andrea shared the opportunity that lies in development. Of the 44,000 living College of Business alumni,
only 5% give. AACSB peer institutions our size have three or four development officers to leverage this revenue source.
We could do more in this area.
The Dean encouraged the chairs to carefully consider new faculty representatives. She also asked staff with terms
expiring summer 2012 to let Amy Buhrow if they would like to continue. All members should consider themselves as
spokesman for the College and liaisons to the departments and units.
It was suggested we develop a framework from which we can determine our priorities. Elements could include
headcount, accreditation or AACSB standards, costs, and/or other productivity measures. As we begin to look at
current programs, we will need briefing about each program. The AACSB Annual Maintenance Reports can help inform
SPC members about the College programs to some extent. Amy Buhrow will send members reports from the previous
two years.
Action Items and Wrap-up
1. Staff SPC members with terms expiring summer 2012 should let Amy Buhrow know if they would like to
continue.
2. Amy Buhrow will send the AACSB standards and last two Annual Maintenance Reports to SPC members.
3. Amy Buhrow and Mark Misc will set up an online collaboration tool.
4. Amy Buhrow will gaugue interest in summer meetings to learn more about the College programs.
Lori Marcellus moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Curt Batterton. Meeting adjourned at
12:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Amy Buhrow.
SPC XV Meeting Minutes ~ Friday, May 18, 2012
Page 3
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
“Where the Classroom Meets the Business World”
Vision, Mission, and Strategic Objectives
Approved by SPC XV on May 18, 2012
Vision
Inspire Excellence…
Develop Leaders…
Mission
Create innovative academic and business experiences through partnerships among
students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the business community.
Strategic Objectives

Recruit quality undergraduate and graduate students, primarily from the Midwest, and support
their development towards achieving career success in the global business environment.

Prepare a foundation for individuals to engage in life-long learning and achievement in a rapidly
changing, increasingly diverse society.

Deliver high quality, dynamic, and innovative curricula that is technologically at the forefront.

Promote high quality research with primary emphasis on discipline-based scholarship and
contributions to practice and a secondary emphasis on learning and pedagogical research.

Recruit, support, and retain high quality faculty and staff to achieve a balance in teaching and
research excellence.

Build internal and external partnerships to create mutual value.
Strategic Initiatives
Outreach
Recruitment, Retention, and Diversity
Passport