MINUTES
Board of Trustees
Illinois State University
July 27, 2012
The Board of Trustees convened at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, July 27, 2012, in the Old Main Room of the Bone Student
Center, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois. Chairperson McCuskey called the meeting to order and Trustee
Davis called the role.
The following members were present.
Trustee Bergman
Trustee Davis
Trustee Dobski
Trustee Donahue
Trustee Kinser
Trustee McCuskey
Trustee Von Qualen
Absent:
Trustee Maitland
A quorum was declared. Also present for the public session were:
President Al Bowman
Vice President and Provost Sheri Everts
Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Dietz
Vice President for Finance & Planning Dan Layzell
Vice President for University Advancement Erin Minné
Assistant to the President Jay Groves
Board Legal Counsel Jane Denes
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? Trustee Davis so moved and was seconded by Trustee Dobski. Motion
made, seconded and vote recorded as all members present voting aye.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
We now need to approve the Minutes of our May 11, 2012, Board meeting. Do I have a motion to approve? Trustee
Dobski so moved and was seconded by Trustee Kinser. Motion made, seconded and vote recorded as all members
present voting aye.
OATH OF OFFICE
Good morning everyone. It is a great pleasure to welcome our newest member of the Board of Trustees of Illinois
State University. Our new student trustee is Aaron Von Qualen, who this summer began his graduate studies in
College Student Personnel Administration. He also is working in the University Office of Community Rights and
Responsibilities this summer. Aaron is from Champaign, and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in Music in
May. And so, as our first order of business today, I would ask Aaron to join me here and receive the oath of office.
Please repeat after me:
I do solemnly swear (pause)
that I will uphold the Constitution of the United States (pause)
and of the State of Illinois, (pause)
and that I will faithfully discharge the duties (pause)
of the office of member of the Board of Trustees (pause)
of Illinois State University (pause)
to the best of my ability.
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Congratulations Aaron. Aaron, we are all looking forward to working with you during the coming year. Please take
a few minutes to give us your thoughts.
Von Qualen: Thank you. I would like to start by thanking former student trustee Sean Palmer, Dr. Bowman and Mr.
Jay Groves for the guidance as I have transitioned into this new role as student trustee. I would also like to thank my
fellow trustees for being so accepting to the student trustee position. I have big shoes to fill this year and I am very
excited about the opportunity to serve this university that we all love. I also would like to thank Dr. Gilreath for her
support the last four years as well as Dr. Major and Dr. Dietz for their continued mentorships. And last, but certainly
least, I would like to thank my mom and stepdad who made the drive from Champaign this morning. Thank you.
McCuskey: Thank you Aaron. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a busy and full agenda for you this morning—but as
it is with each first Board meeting of the fiscal year, we begin with the election of officers.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
According to our Bylaws, the Chairperson and Secretary of the Board will stand for election, and voting will be by a
voice roll-call vote. I will ask Secretary Davis to ask for nominations and conduct the vote for the position of
Chairperson.
Davis: The floor is now open for nominations for Chairperson. Are there nominations for the position of
chairperson?
Trustee Dobski nominated Michael McCuskey and was seconded by Trustee Donahue.
Davis: Are there other nominations for the position of chairperson? Hearing none I move for the nominations to be
closed. Michael McCuskey has been nominated as Chairperson of Illinois State University Board of Trustees.
I will now call the roll asking each Trustee for their voice vote. Please respond with the last name of the candidate
you are voting for.
Trustee Bergman - McCuskey
Trustee Davis - McCuskey
Trustee Dobski - McCuskey
Trustee Donahue - McCuskey
Trustee Kinser - McCuskey
Trustee Von Qualen - McCuskey
Michael McCuskey has been elected as Chairperson. Congratulations Mr. Chairperson and we would like to thank
you for once again taking on the responsibility with the outstanding leadership that you have shown in the past.
McCuskey: Thank you Trustee Davis. One of things I want to say quickly before we move on to the nomination for
secretary and that I have been on many boards but this board has wonderful collegiality. We have been very lucky
with the choices our Governor has made. I view this position as Chairperson as merely first among equals – we are
all equal on the Board and we all have our input. The Board cares very much about this University, many of us are
graduates. So I look forward to the coming year as we continue the success of the University moving forward.
The floor is now open for nominations for Secretary. Trustee Kinser nominated Joanne Maitland and was seconded
by Trustee Von Qualen.
McCuskey: Are there any other nominations? Hearing none I move nominations be closed. Joanne Maitland has
been nominated for the position of Secretary of the Illinois State University Board of Trustees. I will now call the
roll asking each Trustee for their voice vote. Please respond with the last name of the candidate you are voting for.
Trustee Bergman - Maitland
Trustee Davis - Maitland
Trustee Dobski - Maitland
Trustee Donahue - Maitland
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Trustee Kinser - Maitland
Trustee McCuskey - Maitland
Trustee Von Qualen – Maitland
And congratulations go out to Secretary Joanne Maitland. I know I speak for Joanne as well as our entire Board
when I say we have been proud to serve as Trustees of Illinois State University, and I am honored to serve you as
Board Chair. I know all of the Trustees take their governance positions very seriously, and that we work hard to
represent Illinois State University in the very best way we know how. We have always received the support of the
University community, and I want you to know we all appreciate your trust and confidence.
Two other important notes: It is the duty of the Board to select from the University's staff an employee to serve as
Treasurer but not as a member. The Treasurer serves in an ex-officio capacity and receives and disburses all monies
and reports to the Board of Trustees on the financial status and fiscal affairs of the University. At Illinois State, that
person has traditionally been the Vice President of Finance and Planning, and Dan Layzell will continue to fill that
role.
In addition, it is a duty of the Board Chair to designate a University representative to serve as an ex-officio member
of the Municipal Clerks Training Institute committee. The committee serves in an advisory capacity and helps
develop curriculum for Municipal Clerks training courses. I have designated University Audit Director Rob Blemler
for that task.
I also want to take a moment to formally introduce the newest member of President Bowman’s team. But before I do
that I want to take a moment to introduce a person who we think is a member of our team because we know how
hard he works for the University and he is always here in support of the University, not just at Board meetings but at
all kinds of athletic events – State Representative Dan Brady is here and let’s give him a round of applause.
The newest member of President Bowman’s team is a person who has a great deal of contact with the Board through
his role as Assistant to the President for Governmental Relations. Jay Hoffman is the principal lawyer of Hoffman
Law Firm in Collinsville, Illinois, but more importantly, he is an alumnus of Illinois State University—a 1983
Finance graduate—AND a former Redbird baseball player. He is also a former State Representative from Illinois’
112th district. Jay, could you please stand? A bit later in the meeting, Jay will provide us with a legislative update,
but I wanted all of you to meet him. He is doing a great job providing transitional legislative services following the
retirement of Phil Adams, so Jay it is great to have you aboard.
REPORT OF RELEASED EXECUTIVE SESSION MINUTES
In accordance with the provisions of the Open Meetings Act, the Illinois State University Board of Trustees is
required to periodically review the Minutes of its Executive Sessions to determine the necessity of retaining the
confidentiality of those minutes. The Board has received a recommendation from its legal counsel to release the
following Minutes.
October 21, 2011
February 17, 2012
Release all
Release all
Copies of these Minutes are in your meeting folders. As Board Chairperson, I will entertain a motion at this time to
release as public the above list of Minutes of the Executive Sessions held by the Illinois State University Board of
Trustees. Trustee Donahue so moved and was seconded by Trustee Dobski. Motion made, seconded and voted
recorded with all members present voting aye.
CHAIRPERSON’S REMARKS
I want to thank the Campus Communication Committee for organizing this morning’s discussion hour—and I
particularly want to thank Normal Mayor Chris Koos, Bloomington Mayor Steve Stockton and also an ISU grad
Barb Adkins for updating all of us on the many exciting things that are happening in Normal and Bloomington.
Illinois State University plays a major role in the vitality of the greater community and we were glad to hear how our
strong town and gown partnership continues to thrive.
If you didn’t hear before, today the state unemployment figures were released and Bloomington/Normal did not go
up 2% like most of the state did. This is the first time that I remember that Champaign/Urbana being above 9%
unemployment and Bloomington/Normal being above 7% in a 2% spread between what people view as the two
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communities that haven’t suffered. And, of course, around the rest of the state when you hear the numbers and
compare them to Bloomington/Normal, it’s dramatic. So we were glad to hear about the strong communities of
Bloomington/Normal and the partnership that continues to thrive.
I would now like to invite the other Trustees to share their comments since our last meeting.
Trustee Dobski: First, congratulations to Mike and Joanne on your appointments. I want to thank the two mayors for
this morning’s meeting. As far as comments about what has been going on – the weather for graduation couldn’t
have been better so it wasn’t bad sitting up on the stage. Looking forward to the new football stadium getting
underway – other than that we have been pretty busy with some business things going on in the community – it’s
been a great year and looking forward to another year.
Bergman: Obviously since our last meeting there hasn’t been a lot going on, but I did find out an interesting piece of
ISU history. Several months ago I was going to a meeting at what they call an administrative center in a bank. It was
east of Mantino and a little bit north of Kankakee. When I get to an entrance road and I turn in and I see about ¼
mile back and old big red brick building with a bell tower in the center of it. The first thing that came to my mind
was a school building and that’s the administrative center of this bank now. I look again at the building and in
addition to the bell tower over the door they have some concrete pieces with designs in it like some of the buildings
here on campus. When I went in the first thought I had was Williams Hall because of the type of marble used. I
asked the receptionist and asked if this had ever been a school or university or private school or something and she
said no. This used to be the administrative center for the Mantino State Hospital for the Insane. It had closed in the
1980s for financial reasons and at one time it was the largest insane asylum in the United States. Later that day I got
on the Internet and pulled up the Mantino project and I found out the architect associated with the plans of the
Mantino State Hospital was William J. Lindstrom. He was also the architect for Illinois State University and
designed Felmley and McCormack Halls. So our bit of history today is that many of our buildings were designed by
the same individual that designed the nation’s largest insane asylum.
Davis: I would like to compliment faculty and staff for the outstanding job you did with Commencement. You do it
over and over again and you make it look so very easy. I know a lot of hard work, preparation and planning goes
into those exercises, but again thank you so very much for the wonderful job that you do. I would also compliment
our Black Colleagues Association – they had a wonderful reception and dinner last week and I was relatively
surprised because I came upon some alums who had graduated in the 60s and I was able to make some new friends
as well and greet others, so congratulations to them as well.
Von Qualen: I had the opportunity to attend two university events since the beginning of summer. The first was on
June 21 – the Legacy of Leadership dinner at Lake Point Tower in Chicago – it’s an annual dinner and friend and
fund raising event for the University. It invited student leaders from their time at ISU back to this dinner. We had
alumni dating back 50 years I believe, and I enjoyed hearing a lot of their stories of their times at ISU as well as
informing them of the advancements that the University has made in recent years. The other event was the Black
Colleagues Association dinner last Tuesday at the Cultural Center in Chicago. It was a really great event and I
enjoyed learning about the association’s initiatives of outreach to young African American students, faculty and
staff as well as scholarship opportunities that they bring to the University.
Bowman: I would mention that dinner in Chicago with the Black Colleagues Association included an alum named
Reg Weaver, who was the former president of the National Education Association.
Kinser: I would like to give some time to women’s athletics because the women’s basketball team has been selected
to play in the preseason WNIT tournaments. I think that is pretty great. The one great thing that I attended was the
Town of Normal’s Multi-Transportation Center opening in Uptown Normal. The Department of Transportation
Director Ray LaHood gave a great speech about the community and the University – very complimentary of Illinois
State University as well as Senator Durbin. One thing I have to chide Mayor Koos about – he didn’t mention the
fabulous art collection that is in the town center and everyone in the community is really complimenting the town
and the people that selected the art and the people in the show. It’s a really nice place to visit and tour. Also at that
event the host did a great job – Linda Bowman. I was very impressed with her dealing with something that probably
could have been boring but she made it very entertaining. The one last thing that I will be attending Saturday is the
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opening of the glass show, which if you can please go to that – it’s going to be great. John Miller has coordinated a
glass show from a lot of different glass blowers – very well known glass blowers – and I really encourage you go to
see that.
McCuskey: Thank you Betty for all you do for us because some of us our out-of-town and can’t attend all these
events.
Donahue: I would also like to commend and thank the staff for the graduation ceremonies this past May. This was
my first graduation since 1982 when I went to one – this past May I went to seven. It looks so easy and you guys do
such a marvelous job. I know there are a host of people that go into this but I really want to thank Jonathan because
he always told me where I needed to be, but thanks to the entire staff. In May I spent a couple of days in Springfield
and Al I would like to commend you on hiring Jay Hoffman – I saw Jay down there and he was everywhere. I
literally ran into Jay 10-15 times so it was nice to see that ISU presence. I was able to go to the Professional Sales
Institute Golf Outing for dinner and Tim Longfellow and Mike Baum – it was an amazing evening and the two of
them also really educated me on the great things that sales institute does. At the end I believe they placed 100% of
their graduates in jobs and that was absolutely amazing. But the highlight that evening was Jennifer Froelich who
literally took me by my hand when I got there and knew I didn’t know anyone there and talked and educated me and
I couldn’t thank her enough. I need to thank her as well because a non-for-profit was looking for a recent college
graduate in marketing and I asked Jennifer if she could help with it and literally in an hour they had gotten five
resumes so thank you for assisting them with that. Speaking of college students our company has two interns from
Illinois State and I can tell you they are amazing kids. If this is any indication of what you guys do with the students
– they are polite, they ask the right questions, they will roll up their sleeves and they are humble and not too good to
do anything and I was just proud to see those two running around and doing the best they can.
I was also able to attend the Black Colleagues dinner and had a wonderful time. I was fortunate enough and got to sit
next to Mr. Weaver and he had many stories to tell and I really enjoyed myself and commend that group for the hard
work they do for the University. As always I have to thank Jay Groves, Julie Barnhill, Jackie Snelling for all their
help.
McCuskey: I do want to say about the addition of Trustee Donahue. In the left field bleachers there were a number
of Republicans and Democrats, state representatives and lobbyists and Joe Lyons is the assistant majority leader for
Speaker Madigan and Dan Brady as I said gets along with democrats and Chicago and downstate, so Dan put
together an event – Rocky brought a number of state representatives down from Chicago and then Dan had
everybody for pizza and beverages in the 2nd floor of Lucca Grill and the first thing Joe Lyons says I have got to
come back down there to a basketball game and go back to Lucca Grill. So what Rocky has done as a member of the
Board is starting to expand the legislative outreach of Illinois State University to the Chicago area and Dan Brady of
course gave them an opportunity to have time that we could spend together and all of them said they wanted to do
that again. So I do want to thank you Rocky for that input that you have started as a member of the Board that is
something we are going to benefit from and it is very important the things that you can do for us with the
connections you have and then people like Dan Brady and Jay Hoffman facilitating them at this end.
I do want to thank Dr. Wood for the tour of the farm on a good day. What a great day as far as weather – we have
been very lucky with our events this year.
Now I will turn to President Bowman for his remarks.
PRESIDENT’S REMARKS
Thank you, Chairperson McCuskey, and congratulations to both you and Trustee Maitland on your re-election to
your Board leadership positions. I also want to congratulate Trustee Von Qualen—Aaron, we look forward to
working with you in the coming year.
I want to thank the Campus Communication Committee and our city leaders for this morning’s presentation. I was
able to attend the recent dedication of the Uptown Station—it is a fantastic facility and Trustee Kinser mentioned the
artwork in that building – some of that artwork was produced by Illinois State students and graduates. If you look
closely at the growth of Illinois State, the Town of Normal and the City of Bloomington, it is easy to see the
parallels and the many areas of mutual benefit.
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7/27/2012
Governor Quinn has signed the FY2013 operating budget for the State. Illinois State University received an
appropriation of about $74.1 million—which is a $4.8 million or 6.07 percent reduction from last fiscal year. This is
the exact amount we had predicted for you during the May Board meeting, and the budget level we had been
preparing for during most of the spring. Still, it does show the continued de-prioritization of public higher education,
and brings the percentage of the funding we receive from the state down to the 18 percent level. In addition, it is
possible the Legislature could revisit pension issues this summer or fall, and one of the proposals involves
universities picking up a portion of the employers pension contribution, a cost that historically has been the
responsibility of the state.
Given these circumstances, I have informed our faculty and staff members that a decision regarding FY2013 salary
increases will be postponed until later in the academic year. Providing a competitive compensation package to our
outstanding faculty and staff members has always been one of my top priorities, and I still hope to be able to provide
a modest, merit-based salary increase that would be retroactive to the beginning of this fiscal year. Over the coming
weeks, I will be meeting with our financial and shared governance leadership regarding FY2013 compensation.
Meanwhile, I have assured the campus community that Illinois State remains financially stable due to careful
planning, prudent spending and a lower than average debt load. I do not foresee a circumstance that would cause the
University to use layoffs or furlough days as a budgetary measure.
FY2012 ended with the State still owing the University $23.5 million of our $78 million state appropriation, but we
are promised that money by the end of the calendar year. The big news was in fund raising and grant activity for this
past year. Privately raised funds for FY2012 totaled nearly $15 million in new cash and commitments—surpassing
all but the final year of our Redefining Normal comprehensive campaign. The number of alumni who are giving
back also continues to grow. This is the second year in a row that we have seen increases in alumni participation in
our annual fund.
The University endowment currently stands at $78.2 million. The markets have been somewhat volatile during
FY2012, and our Foundation investment partner, Commonfund, reports that endowment dollars are down slightly
over the past 12 months. I would like to ask Erin Minne to stand and be recognized – you have had a fantastic year –
congratulations.
Minne: I just wanted to say it is a team effort and only possible because of the tremendous and stable leadership at
the top that inspires the confidence of our alumni. It is also thanks to terrific faculty and staff who are wonderful
partners and who have been transforming the lives of students for many, many years. And then, of course, we have
so many generous alumni and friends out there. I take very little credit for this but I thank you for the opportunity to
acknowledge all of those who participate in our success.
Bowman: Since the last Board meeting, two of our corporate partners have made significant gifts to Illinois State. A
recent large gift from the State Farm Companies Foundation will support a wide range of departments and programs
across campus. The list includes Katie School of Insurance, College of Business programs and scholarships, the
College of Applied Science and Technology, the Shakespeare Festival, WGLT, the Little Village project, Mennonite
College of Nursing, minority achievement, service-learning, and other academic programming.
The Caterpillar Foundation has also continued to support student success through substantial gifts toward
scholarships. These dollars will be used to fund scholarships in the College of Applied Science and Technology,
College of Business, School of Communication, and the Department of Economics, as well as an additional
Diversity Scholarship.
Meanwhile, grants for FY2012 totaled more than $25.5 million with 263 grants awarded. If you take away last
year’s huge Central Illinois Broadband grant of $17 million, the $25.5 million figure represents our best grant year
by about $3 million.As you may also know, we announced another major grant just last week. The Mennonite
College of Nursing is the recipient of a grant of more than $1.1 million from the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services to support developing diversity in the nursing workforce. The three-year Nursing Workforce
Diversity grant will allow $370,000 each year toward recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups to the
nursing profession, as well as leadership development throughout the educational experience.
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I want to thank and congratulate Sheri Everts, our Vice President and Provost, as well as their busy staffs, for a
remarkably productive year grant activity.
As we wrap up a busy and productive summer session, we are actually less than a month away from the start of our
2012-2013 academic year. The numbers and academic quality of our emerging class once again looks very good.
We received more than 12,400 freshman applications for this fall’s class. That number is down slightly from last
year due to the economy and a smaller pool of graduating Illinois high school seniors, but I know we all remember
the days not too long ago when we were thrilled with 10,000 applications.
The academic quality of our incoming freshmen remains strong, with an average ACT near 24 and a GPA of 3.36.
As we seek to moderate enrollment somewhat after last year’s 19-year enrollment high, we believe our incoming
2012 class will meet projections.
Enrollment deposits from students belonging to underrepresented groups are up 5 percent with an average ACT
above 22 and a GPA of 3.25. We are proud that Illinois State continues to recruit talented students from
underrepresented groups who graduate at rates other college campuses would envy.
I want to thank Jonathon Rosenthal, our Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management and Academic
Services, as well as Admissions Director Doris Groves and the entire Admissions staff for their hard work in a very
competitive student recruiting environment.
I am pleased this morning to introduce a couple of new members of our administrative team. Perry Schoon is the
new Dean of the College of Education. Perry returns to Illinois State after serving as the dean of the College of
Education and Allied Professions at Western Carolina University. Perry is an Illinois State alumnus, having earned
a bachelor’s degree in technology and a doctorate in education from the University. Perry, please stand and be
recognized.
Also, Jim Jawahar, professor and former chair of our Department of Management and Quantitative Methods, is our
new associate provost. Jim will serve as the primary liaison for the campus and the Illinois Board of Higher
Education for new and existing academic programs, as well as the North Central Association Higher Learning
Commission for the University's accreditation. Jim, would you please stand.
Congratulations to David Loomis, the director of Illinois State’s Center for Renewable Energy and to the Wind
Working group on last week’s sixth annual Advancing Wind Energy in Illinois conference in Normal. During the
conference, the Center presented a report showing that Illinois’ 23 largest wind farms have generated more than
19,000 construction and maintenance jobs and will add $5.8 billion to local economies over the lifetime of the
projects. The report adds that wind farms support about 814 permanent jobs in rural areas with an annual payroll of
nearly $48 million. The conference received statewide and national media coverage.
Moving from wind energy to solar energy— congratulations on a great showing by our Team Mercury student Solar
Car crew in this year’s race. The team crossed the finish line in good standing and persevered through many
challenges, including a troublesome battery and being pulled over by a Pennsylvania state trooper.
I would like to invite everyone to attend the formal dedication for the new Cardinal Court Apartments on Thursday,
August 9 at 10 a.m. at the Gregory St. location. We will be offering tours, and we will hear from representatives
from American Campus Communities, and meet some ISU students who actually participated in the construction
project.
In just a few short weeks, the complex will be home to approximately 900 students, mostly sophomores, who will
enjoy apartment-style living, but still benefit from the many programs that are offered in our traditional residence
halls. We are very excited about our first-ever private-public student housing initiative, so we hope you can join us
on August 9.
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After more than 50 years as a home to thousands of Illinois State University students, four residence halls and a
dining center in South Campus will be decommissioned in August. To celebrate the history of these buildings and all
those who called them home, an open house will be held tomorrow. Everyone is invited to tour portions of Atkin,
Colby, Hamilton and Whitten halls as well as Feeney Dining Center, all soon to be closed. We will even be serving
one last lunch in Feeney Dining Center, so bring your walking shoes and your appetites.
A few other construction related notes. Among them—work on the improvements to Hovey Hall continues. The
project involves three distinct activities: repair of the exterior building envelope, remodeling of the first floor, and
repair of exterior columns.
Also in process is the Student Health Services Renovation. This project provides for reconfiguration of second floor
of Student Services Building to increase number of exam rooms and to provide for better patient flow.
Finally, the process to begin renovations to Hancock Stadium continues, and, as you know with state regulations, it
is quite a process. Our Purchasing Office is working with the State Purchasing Officer and the State Construction
Procurement Compliance Monitor to get materials in place for posting of bids to the State Procurement website.
Once bids are posted, and the work of the State Procurement Policy Board is completed, our Facilities Planning
office will instruct the designers to send contracts that have already been prepared immediately to the seven low
bidders for the project. We expect construction to begin in late August and continue through the Redbird home
football season.
Elsewhere in Athletics, for the second-straight semester, the Illinois State Athletics Department posted a schoolrecord 3.15 department grade-point average this past spring semester. In addition, the Redbirds were the top
Missouri Valley Conference program in the final standings of the 2011-12 Learfield Director’s Cup. Illinois State
Athletics ranked No. 82 nationally, and finished ahead of such BCS programs as Cincinnati, Wake Forest,
Villanova, Washington State, Marquette, Rutgers and Pittsburgh.
In July, Illinois State junior throwers Tim Glover and Brittany Smith each won gold at the 2012 North American
Central American and Caribbean Under-23 Championships, competing for Team USA. Smith won the shot put
competition, while Glover claimed his win in the javelin.
Heading into the fall, the athletics department is preparing to announce its largest local television package in school
history. ISU Athletics is planning to produce 20 television broadcasts with its partner the Niles Media Group, which
will include four football telecasts and 13 men’s basketball games to be seen on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, which
reaches 4.7 million homes.
McCuskey: For those of us who have Direct TV everywhere in the world and the last I heard there are 30 million
subscribers. If you subscribe to their sports package you get Chicago Comcast wherever you are at in the world, so
nobody other than Direct TV could give us those numbers, but it is a lot more than 4.7 million homes.
That concludes my initial remarks. I would now like to call to the podium Dan Holland from the Campus
Communication Committee.
CAMPUS COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE
The Campus Communications Committee would like to thank Mayor Chris Koos and City Manager Mark Peterson
of Normal and Mayor Steve Stockton and Deputy City Manager Barb Adkins of Bloomington for their updates on
their respective communities.
We welcome our new Student Trustee, Aaron Von Qualen and congratulate Trustee McCuskey and Trustee
Maitland on their re-election as the Board Chair and Board Secretary. We look forward to working with you in the
coming year and thank you for your service and leadership. The committee would also like to welcome Dr. Perry
Schoon as the Dean of the College of Education and Dr. Jim Jawahar as the Associate Provost. ISU has a strong
contingent of excellent leaders, and we have every confidence that you will both make significant contributions in
your respective areas. We bid a fond farewell to Phil Adams and thank him for his years of exemplary service as the
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Assistant to the President for Government Relations. Finally, we welcome ISU alum, Jay Hoffman, as the Interim
Assistant to the President for Government Relations.
Even with the continuing economic woes of the State of Illinois, good things continue to happen at Illinois State.
Whereas the state appropriation for the University has decreased by four million dollars, the University Foundation
raised fifteen million dollars in donations, and the University faculty has been awarded twenty five and a half
million dollars in external contracts and grants, both near record levels. In the area of facilities, we are pleased that
the public/private partnership for the construction of the new Cardinal Court apartments will come to fruition with
their commissioning on August 9. We are also excited by the beginning of construction on the new Hancock
Stadium. This project will greatly enhance the appearance of the campus along the Main Street corridor.
The University also continues to move forward with its academic mission. This fall, we once again welcome a very
strong cohort of freshmen and transfer students. In spite of the challenging weather, Mary Jo Fabich and the rest of
the Preview staff did an outstanding job in welcoming the new students to ISU and preparing them for the year to
come. We added two new programs in Nursing and Anthropology. The Educating Illinois Task Force continues to
make progress on the latest version of the University strategic plan with presentations to various constituencies
scheduled for the fall. The LEAP Forward Project is making great strides in redesigning the University’s
administrative enterprise architecture, and the Center for Teaching and Learning Technology has done a tremendous
job in rolling out the new learning management system, ReggieNet. We also continue to serve the community as a
whole with programs such as the sixth annual Advancing Wind Power in Illinois Conference that was administered
by Illinois State University’s Center for Renewable Energy.
The committee is very proud of the accomplishments of our students. Of particular note are Tim Glover, Leigh
Patronoff, Aisha Prought, and Brittany Smith from the ISU Track and Field team who competed in the U.S.
Olympic Trials. Tim Glover also won a second consecutive NCAA championship in the Javelin. Additionally,
former ISU basketball star, Champ Oguchi, will participate in the Olympic Games for the Nigerian men’s basketball
team. The ISU Solar car team recently competed in the Formula Sun Grand Prix and the American Solar Challenge
from New York to Minnesota, capturing 4th and 7th place, respectively. Thanks go to CeMaST and all the volunteers
for their help in hosting a stage stop during the race.
Although good things are happening at Illinois State, there are several potential clouds on the horizon. The
continuing state budget crisis is placing a significant burden on all state agencies and forcing tough decisions. We
encourage the Board of Trustees and the administration to do all in their power to ensure that the faculty and staff
are treated equitably. In particular, we are concerned with the ramifications of proposed modifications to State
University Retirement System on the recruitment and retention of faculty and staff. We also recognize the
uncertainty in the University budget that necessitates putting a hold on any potential raises, but hope that a raise may
be enacted later in the fiscal year. Finally, although it is well-deserved, we applaud President Bowman for his
solidarity with the faculty and staff in refusing any salary increases, as long as none are forthcoming for the rest of
the University.
Bowman: Now, I would like to welcome and call to the podium, Jay Hoffman for a legislative update.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Hoffman: Thank you. I really appreciate this opportunity. When Phil decided to retire the President called and asked
me to help with government affairs, I can tell you I wish it were five or six years ago – it would be a lot more fun
doing this job. I want to just say and re-iterate what Chairman McCuskey indicated, Dan Brady is such an advocate
for Illinois State University. He is in the room when the budgets are made. I know it was a tough year – 6.14%
decrease in the amount that Illinois State is getting, but it would have more if it wasn’t for the tireless efforts of
Representative Brady. I also wanted to say that this is such a great opportunity for me to give back to Illinois State
University for some of the things it has done for me and my family. Rocky graduated in 1982 and I graduated in
1983 and I remember in the spring of 1983 Coach Bass called me into his office and told me he wanted me to meet
an individual who went to St. Louis University Law School because I think you should go to law school. I said to
Coach Bass you know this is my senior year and I am hoping I might get drafted and I really would like to play in
the major leagues and he looked at me and said – I think you should go to law school. And that is when I first met
Judge McCuskey and we have been friends for many years.
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The state is in a very difficult situation as we all know. But it is not only the budgetary issues that we are facing.
There are also pension issues that the General Assembly is tackling. You probably read in the paper that nothing was
passed this legislative session but we were on top of it – not only understanding and trying to figure out and lessen
the impact on the employees and retirees, but also lessen the impact on some of the possibility of transferring some
of the financial obligations of pensions that have not been borne by the state and not being paid by the state over
time to Illinois and other universities and secondary and elementary educational institutions. So we are on top of it.
August 17 the General Assembly is going to be called back into session, or at least the House will be to deal with
some disciplinary matters of a member. There is a possibility the pension issue could be brought up. I am not sure
right now and I hate to predict these things that the votes are there to pass it, but we need to be vigilant and remain
vigilant even though this should be a down time for the General Assembly.
The issue of tuition benefits for employees and their families. There were provisions that were introduced that would
take that benefit away – we fought and were able to stop that. Dan Brady was an advocate for maintaining those
benefits and it failed in the Illinois House. The General Assembly scholarship program finally has been ended – it
passed the House and Senate and the Governor has signed it. As part of that legislation, is a creation of a task force
which we are hopeful that Dan will be on and will look at the waivers and the issue of tuition waivers generally,
whether it is the tuition waivers for members of Illinois State University and their families or other waivers – they
are going to look at them generally. Although it is just a task force, we need to be sure to monitor that.
Issues such as search committees and search committee firms – a different and much larger university in the state of
Illinois has some issues regarding that so there is some legislation that was introduced. The Board ultimately will
have to pass a policy regarding search firms and I know that the legal department is working on that. We were able
to make sure it wasn’t totally go by the wayside where you can still use search firms but there will have to be
policies in place as to how they are used.
Fine Arts building – the re-appropriations of capital for Illinois State University was re-appropriated – we just have
to get it released. We are working diligently to try to get the Governor’s office to release it and I want to commend
Rocky for that. I know, to use a sports metaphor, they said a good defense is a good offence. I think we at Illinois
State can work together and take the offensive and I know that you in this room as well as members of the Board
have so many contacts. I would like to begin to utilize those contacts so that we can tell the story of Illinois State
University and have a good offense as opposed to just playing defense all the time, so that next fiscal year we won’t
see the continuing decline of state amounts of money that go to higher education. So with that I would just like to
thank Illinois State University for everything you have done for me and my family. Thank you.
REPORTS
I have two reports for you this morning. With your approval Trustee McCuskey I will move to the reports.
Report 2012.07/1100.01: Educating Illinois Progress Report
In May 2008 the Board endorsed what was then the newly revised strategic plan for Illinois State University –
Educating Illinois 2008-2014. At that time, you also asked for annual updates on the plan’s implementation, and in
the materials you received is this year’s update which shows we have made major progress.
As you also know, during my last State of the University Address in September 2011, I asked our four Vice
Presidents to once again lead a process to update and revise our institution’s most important strategic planning
document. Since then, an exhaustive and inclusive process has taken place, involving the entire campus community,
leadership and citizens of the greater local community, alumni, and other University stakeholders.
As always, this process has evolved within the parameters of Illinois State’s mission, vision and values, using the
Board’s annual goals and periodic vision statements as a guidepost. A draft of the new Educating Illinois will be
released next month for public review and comment. The Educating Illinois Task Force plans to host public forums,
meet with targeted groups and conduct an online survey this fall to address specifics of the new draft.
That input will be incorporated into another draft to be submitted to our shared governance constituencies for
endorsement in December and January, and then submitted to this Board for endorsement in February 2013.
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I want to thank everyone from the University community who has participated in this important process. I am
particularly grateful for the leadership of Vice Presidents Everts, Layzell, Minne’ and Dietz, and for the hard work
of the Educating Illinois Task Force, and those who have kept the Task Force on task—namely Kristen Hendrickson
and Angela Engel from the Office of Planning, Research and Policy Analysis. If you have any questions I would be
happy to answer but we will discuss this topic in length at our retreat in November.
Report 2012.07/1100.02: LEAP Forward Project Overview
First, you should know that the “LEAP” in LEAP Forward stands for Lean Enterprise Architecture and Processes.
More important than the acronym, however, is what this initiative aims to accomplish over the next five years—to
redesign the complex information infrastructure that serves our students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni and
university leaders. As you might suspect, this is a large undertaking that will take time, resources and a great deal of
organizational talent and cooperation.
A resolution asking Board authorization for services relative to Leap Forward will be presented just a bit later. For
now, we would like to give the Board a brief overview of the Leap Forward Project, and for that, I invite to the
podium Andrea Ballinger, our Associate Vice President for Administrative Technology, and Mark Walbert, our
chief Technology Officer.
Ballinger: Good morning. Thank you so much for allowing us to come over and talk a little bit about this massive
undertaking we are going to take Illinois State on. But I did not know that Trustee Donahue – 1982 had a special
meaning to you so we are going to go then – so 30 years ago. So 30 years ago you are going to see students at the
Quad looking at spiral notebooks, taking notes, doing homework, writing letters to friends and family. In the
classroom you saw a lot of blackboards and chalkboards and in the residence halls you saw students congregating
and doing homework together – again physically where they can share information. The academic infrastructure that
we have today at ISU had already been there.
Today the story is very different, the environment is very different. When you go on the same Quad you are looking
at students bringing the latest devices. You think about tablets, smart phones, laptops, etc. They expect to have a lot
more interactive engagement with the University in classrooms. The faculty are bringing more and more technology
into those classrooms, including smart boarding. And yet the students still get together in their hallways and in the
residence halls and other places. Right now they do a lot more over the Internet. They are not only communicating
with students on campus but they are communicating with folks around the world. The academic infrastructure was
not designed for that. It was designed for 389 direct terminals attached to that and last year alone, 2011, we had over
26,000 devices hitting the same academic infrastructure with over 88 million transactions. ISU has grown a lot and
the sophistication level and the expectations from faculty, staff, students, alumni, and stakeholders is up there.
But the current expectations were raised because of those new devices coming in and this new environment. In fact
in 2011 a survey was sent to all the students and asked the question – so in order for you to study how heavily do
you rely on technology? Three out of four students said they could not study if they did not have technology
available to them. Those students were the only ones that actually rated – strongly agree. So the number is higher if
you count the agrees as well.
So what does our current academic infrastructure look like? We have several systems, 44 to name the majority of
them that actually were put together in an organic manner, but the picture I have for you on this slide is very
different than the reality of what Matthew and Dena are showing you. This is our actual architecture. I know you
cannot see the detail but there are many, many, many little lines connecting those things and many human
interaction taking place in between them to make the University work.
So what do we envision with this new academic infrastructure? A much leaner environment, a much more flexible
and agile environment and in fact, more green because if you replace a lot of the software and hardware that we
have there and you actually reduce the number, we become more green. So there are no silver bullets when it comes
to creating the optimal infrastructure, but we have many land mines. As you can imagine there are many
universities, peers of ours both in the private and public sector that have already gone thru this exercise in the past
10-15 years. So we are learning a lot from those experiencing and talking with a lot of them to see what worked and
what didn’t. And we are organizing this effort to actually minimize the impact and maximize our ability to succeed
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starting with business process redesign. So technology is usually not the issue – so how do we use the process that
we have, how do we go about streamlining those processes to take advantage of those best practices. How do we
actually aggregate all of that data and create knowledge out of it – the business intelligence comes in. How do we
modernize this technology so that we are not coming to you every five to ten years asking for yet more resources to
take care of the new expectations that are coming in. It touches everyone on campus so the scope is very large. So
how do we go about again positioning ourselves. We have to use expertise from recruiting the right people to come
in, retooling our staff with those new technologies, bringing new consultants, as President Bowman mentioned there
is a resolution asking for one of them today. And also need to look at those best practices, standards and frameworks
that have been used in the past and take advantage of those so that we can be positioned to succeed. But most
importantly, we have to be listening to the folks that are going to take advantage of this – the students. Talking to
faculty and staff and finding out what they want to gain out of this. Looking at our peers and finding out what they
are doing different than us and how can we add value when it comes to information and knowledge.
The timeline is a little long for technology projects but we have to actually build this house while we are living in it.
So we have started already as it was mentioned by a previous report – we started in December and we are getting
into high gear, but we expect to be done by fall of 2015 when we actually retire the current academic infrastructure
that we have – that we currently have it on a cloud environment in New York.
So in order to keep everyone engaged and excited and involved in terms of the input, in terms of ideas, we created a
very vast technology website so that people can see what is going on throughout this process. But how are we
actually getting the IT community at ISU to work together and think about reallocation of resources and time can we
put in place in order to support this effort. With that I will ask to the podium Mark Walbert.
Walbert: The Leap Forward project is one piece of a number of different IT initiatives that started last summer when
we released our IT Strategic Plan 2011-2013. During the President’s State of the University Address that fall he
charged the IT council with putting together a cost benefit look at what IT current services and costs are currently on
campus – something we had never done before. The idea behind doing that was to create a task force that would
look at five different measures of IT, both personnel, operating costs, services that are offered, procurement issues,
all kinds of measures that a lot of people know about but no one had actual data on. So we could put a definite
number to and scope to what IT services were being offered on campus from the prospective of what can we do with
what is currently out there to find a way to free up resources to apply them to other kinds of initiatives such as the
LeapForward project. Of course, there are four over arching goals in the IT strategic plan, but there are 42 different
action items in that plan and as President Bowman mentioned at the time it is not possible for us to fund all of those
at once – take a look at what we are doing – find how we can reallocate the resources. That is what this task force
and its five separate teams were put together to take a look at.
Since last fall we put over a 1,000 hours in gathering this data. One of the things that we discovered is it would be
very nice and a lot easier to gather this data in the future and that is a very important part of what this task force has
been able to do – now we have a baseline from which we can start and hopefully more easily measure how this
service and cost change in the future. We have identified several different low-hanging fruit we will call them, that
most people know about but we never had the data to support before including things like duplication of resources.
We have several different server farms on campus – we have a lot of different services to offer in different areas that
really do the same things. And of course there is a big need for sharing information across campus so that one unit
will know what another unit is doing so they can work collaboratively rather than working independent of each
other. Now we have the best data than we have ever had in one place that describes the environment and points out
these inefficiencies. Our next goal, of course, if to write a set of recommendations for cost savings and resource
allocations so that we can go back and address those four over arching goals and the 42 action items they are in.
The importance of this tactical IT planning is crucial for the University to continue to looking ahead and how it
improves its IT infrastructure and architecture and services, such as projects like LeapForward.
Bergman: I have a question. I remember that six or seven years ago we had a presentation here of the accounting
program. The software at ISU at that time had been around for a long time, wasn’t working very well – and the
Board approved the new software and upgrade the system. Now in those cases like that where we have newer
software, once this system is done will that existing software be incorporated into the new system or will we have to
get all new software to match everything else we are getting?
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Ballinger: That particular software is the PeopleSoft that we implemented and it was designed already with this new
vision in mind so the hardware and software that we purchased are connecting into this new architecture. So that
was step number one towards rejuvenating the entire technology.
Bergman: I don’t know if there is any, but how about any other major software packages that we have purchased say
in the last five or six years – is that going to tie into this new system?
Ballinger: The idea is if the new technology that was purchased the last five years contains that plug into the new
infrastructure, it will stay in. Right now we are analyzing all the functionality of those – are they working and can
we get the data to be integrated into this environment. If the answers are yet, then we will connect to it – if the
answer is no then we would have to replace the software.
Bowman: What do you expect to happen in terms of usage over the next five years as different devices proliferate?
Ballinger: The enthusiasm of this project from our perspective is that the usage is going to increase drastically,
especially when you talk about the business intelligence sites where people right now have to spend a lot of time
collecting data and analyzing the data is the difficult part because we spend so much time collecting it. So once it is
one place and we can open it up to the campus with the proper security, we can allow more people to touch this
infrastructure at the same time.
Bowman: Could you tell us the two or three challenges that you have had to overcome as you have gone through this
process. You started with an aging mainframe system that I guess is called a legacy system.
Ballinger: We started with that because it is year seven out of a five-year time span and we really needed to look at
the entire architecture. What was taking us to where we actually plug in all those expectations from students, faculty
and staff was taking more and more creative work on our side and maintaining those systems takes a lot. So we
started looking at other opportunities because now that the technology exists and services exist when you think
about the cloud environment. So we start thinking about what is the combination of things that you have to put in
place to make that decision – looking at business process and giving an opportunity for the entire campus to say
what do they want to see, how effective do you want to me, how streamlined do you want to be, what do students
want to see when they come in, and they have been wonderful. We posted a poling question on Facebook and within
three days we had over 175 responses and this is summer. We have hired 29 employees that are working with us and
many of them are here today – students that are here today that are working with us on this project to get their voice
into this. The main challenge really is trying to think about what does this future look like when we have to do the
business that we are doing today. So we have to play a little balancing act to get that done.
Bowman: Thank you. We have come a long way from the days in the mid 90s when we were struck with the
occasional email outage across campus. I can’t remember the last time that has happened.
ACTION ITEMS
There are 8 resolutions this morning. With your approval, Trustee McCuskey, I will move to them now.
Resolution 2012.07/26 Approval of Academic Plan 2012-2017
The Academic Plan, 2012-2017, was included in your Board materials. It includes four sections—Mission
Statements, Institutional Priorities, Academic Unit Objectives and Program Reviews. This plan was submitted to
the Academic Senate on May 9 of this year, and is now submitted for Trustee approval. I ask your approval of this
resolution.
McCuskey: Do I have a motion to approve? Trustee Davis so moved and was seconded by Trustee Kinser. Any
discussion? Motion made, seconded and vote recorded as all members present voting aye.
Resolution 2012.07/27 Authorization to Engage LEAP Project Consulting Services
This resolution is a follow up to the report you received earlier. We request authorization to utilize experienced
consultants to offer advice on best practices, create evaluation tools, mentor LEAP Forward project team members
and assist in the creation of work schedules and project plan.
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7/27/2012
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We seek to enter into a three-year contract with up to six, one-year mutually agreeable renewals at the estimated cost
of $2.5 million, and with hourly rates not to increase by more than 2 percent per year during the annual renewal
phase. I ask your approval of this resolution.
McCuskey: Do I have a motion to approve? Trustee Donahue so moved and was seconded by Trustee Dobski. Any
discussion? Motion made, seconded and vote recorded as all members present voting aye.
Resolution 2012.07/28: Town of Normal Fire Services Agreement
Although Illinois State University has its own police department, fire services are contracted though the Town of
Normal. The FY2013 contract for fire protection services is at a cost not to exceed $517,666. I ask your approval of
this resolution.
McCuskey: Is there a motion to approve? Trustee Kinser and was seconded by Trustee Dobski. Any discussion?
Motion made, seconded and vote recorded as all members present voting aye.
Resolution 2012.07/29 Authorization for Creation of Central Illinois Regional Broadband Network Limited Liability
Company
In August of 2010, Illinois State learned the University would receive over $17 million in grant funding for creation
of the Central Illinois Regional Broadband Network as a sub-recipient of a larger statewide broadband initiative.
Later, this Board approved the specifics of installing the network—a process that is now in its second year. Illinois
State will not operate the network once it is completed, necessitating the creation of a limited liability company, of
which Illinois State will be a member. I ask your approval for creation of the CIRBN LLC.
McCuskey: Is there a motion to approve? Trustee Davis so moved and was seconded by Trustee Dobski. Any
discussion? Motion made, seconded and vote recorded as all members present voting aye.
Resolution 2012.07/30 Approval of Doctor of Nursing Practice
As a statewide leader in nursing education, our Mennonite College of Nursing is prepared to meet the new standards
for advanced practice nursing as stipulated by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
The proposed Doctor of Nursing Practice program is designed to prepare nurses with a blend of clinical,
organizational, economic health care improvement, and the leadership abilities to serve as clinical and/or
administrative leaders in health care systems. Following Board approval, the University will seek program approval
from the Illinois Board of Higher Education. I ask your approval of this resolution.
McCuskey: Is there a motion to approve? Trustee Kinser so moved and was seconded by Trustee Davis. Any
discussion?
Trustee Bergman: This type of degree is now being offered at other universities both public and private. It is the
incoming thing – it is one stop below a Ph.D., but it is something a lot of entities are offering and I am 100% in
favor of ISU doing it, but as a member of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, which is the ultimate approving
authority for this, I am going to have to abstain.
McCuskey: I would comment that one of the things that Trustee Bergman has pushed vigorously and correctly is
nursing is something that is a growing field and from the time I came on the Board he has been pushing us to
continue to improve the nursing school, to expand the nursing school and the degrees that we have, so I echo the
thought this is something that is very good for the University. If it is approved by the Board of Higher Education the
complaint will be there is not enough room – we need more. There is only so many teachers and space that we have
for the education process.
Any further discussion? Motion made, seconded and vote recorded as all members present voting aye with one
abstention.
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Resolution 2012.07/31 Approval of M.A., M.S. in Anthropology
This proposed program will incorporate and expand on areas currently taught in the Archaeology program.
Graduates may seek employment in a wide range of government and private sector specialization, including
prehistory, biology, mapping, curation and others.
If the program is approved by this Board and the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the M.A., M.S. in Archeology
will be disestablished once all students in the current program have graduated or are readmitted to the new program.
I ask your approval for this resolution.
McCuskey: Is there a motion to approve? Trustee Donahue so moved and was seconded by Trustee Dobski. I don’t
know if there is anybody here from the anthropology program to say anything, but the way I read this is that institute
the anthropology M.A. and M.S. and then disestablish archeology?
Bowman: Correct.
Everts: You are correct if the Board passes this resolution.
Kinser: I do want to say that I think we need to remember that in our anthropology department we have professors
that are working on studies in women’s issues and low economic rights for women in Brazil and Professor Hunter is
doing a great job. Her credentials are just fabulous. It’s not just archeology and rocks and things like that. It’s a
social study, cultural study and it’s not difficult – we need to know and learn about our past in all those areas as
opposed to just digging in the dirt, which people interpret archeology and anthropology being. But I do think the
anthropology department is doing a really good job and has some really interesting professors and faculty.
McCuskey: Motion made, seconded and vote recorded with all members present voting aye and one abstention.
Bowman: Trustee McCuskey, I turn the agenda back to you for the remaining two resolutions.
McCuskey: Thank you President Bowman.
Resolution 2012.07/32: 2013 Board Meeting Calendar
In order to provide adequate notice of future meetings in accordance with the Open Meetings Act, the Board of
Trustees of Illinois State University hereby determines the dates of meetings in the year 2013 and provides public
notice of the dates of those meeting.
Those dates in 2013 are February 22, May 10, July 26, October 25, and November 6-8. Do I have a motion to
approve? Trustee Davis so moved and was seconded by Trustee Dobski. Motion made, seconded and vote recorded
as all members present voting aye.
Resolution 2012.07/33: Presidential Compensation
The Board of Trustees conducts an annual performance review of the President of Illinois State University that takes
place during the second half of each spring semester. The evaluation of the President is certainly the most
exhaustive review of any Illinois State University employee, inviting comments from students, faculty, staff
members, his administrative team, and of course the Trustees themselves.
Following the evaluation, the Board commonly takes action on the salary portion of the President’s compensation
package during the July Board session. What I am asking the Board to do is to approve what will be a raise from
$384,000 to $400,000, but that pay raise is not going to go into effect unless and until there is a merit-based salary
increase program that is made available to faculty and staff members. I thank the Campus Communications
Committee on commenting on that and commenting favorably that if the Board votes a salary increase that it will
not come unless and until there is a merit-based salary increase for faculty and staff. This is in keeping with
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7/27/2012
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decisions President Bowman has made in previous years when merit-based salary increases were delayed or not
awarded due to economic circumstances.
I also note for the record that President Bowman’s current contract affords him benefits common to public university
presidents, including former Illinois State University presidents. These benefits include use of the University
Residence, the use of an automobile, a contribution to the State of Illinois Employees Deferred Compensation Plan
and memberships at the Bloomington Country Club paid and the University Club in Chicago.
Therefore, this resolution sets the salary level of President Al Bowman at $400,000 for FY2013, commencing with
the adoption of an FY2013 university merit based salary increase program. Do I have a motion to approve this
resolution? Trustee Dobski so moved and was seconded by Trustee Davis.
McCuskey: I did as a lawyer a lot of estate planning, financial planning for individuals. If President Bowman came
to me four years ago at age 55 after 30 years of service I would have said to him is he needed to retire – take your
pension, receive a 3% automatic COLA, which will be over $10,000/yr, free healthcare and then go to a private
university. Bradley pays $650,000 for their president and has something that we don’t have here. We have
basketball coaches that have made more than the president – that will never happen at Bradley. In her contract she
will always be paid more than a basketball coach. We know Tim Jankovich left here at around $400,000 to go get
$800,000 just to be an assistant coach. We know that Rick Greenspan worked faithfully at Indiana, was fired, and
now makes $650,000 as the athletic director at Rice. Take your state’s pension, take your 3% COLA, which is more
than $10,000 raise/yr, and go to a private university and start making more money. He didn’t do that. He stayed at
Illinois State University the last four years. He could have done that, he could do that today. President Boschini left
here and makes more than $1 million/yr at Texas Christian University.
The average compensation for presidents of public universities is published at $400,000. President Bowman is not
average at all. During the eight years he has been here I can’t count the number of presidents at the University of
Illinois who I have met. Their average life expectancy is less than four years and we have to get onto one hand to
count all the ones who have been there eight years. And this compensation is less than the University of Illinois. It’s
average for an above average person. I spoke recently to the Farm Bureau of Champaign County. The president of
the farm bureau is an ISU graduate and he said my daughter says President Bowman is a rock star. If you go back
four years the $16,000 pay increase really doesn’t cover what he could have had in COLAs and if anything its
merely approximately a fourth percent increase and sort of a bonus for outstanding work, which is not great
compensation when you look at other presidents at other universities. Every time I talk on compensation I would
like to get him ahead of the president at Northern’s compensation package but we never do that. We get equal and
then things change, but I would say that since we were given separate Boards, you look at what has happened to the
two universities and you look at what has happened to ISU, there is no comparison. When my son graduated high
school I was proud how they did the graduation. It is done in the assembly hall with two giant screens and as the
names are announced of the student up goes the logo of the university they are going to. Of course, most were going
to Parkland College for economic reasons and most of the students in town with the salary waiver of the number of
university employees there, University of Illinois. And then I watched and counted and Illinois State was next.
Interestingly enough where my son was going, Iowa was next and Illinois State and Iowa had more students from
Champaign Centennial High School going to Iowa and Illinois State than all the other state universities combined
after the University of Illinois. One student out of 360 graduates was going to Northern and only one to Carbondale
and three to Edwardsville. We have exceeded our sister schools in all areas thanks to you in the audience and thanks
to President Al Bowman. I hope the trustees will approve the resolution.
Bergman: With my service on the Board of Higher Education I have a general understanding of what the other
university presidents make. I may not know about all of the benefits. University of Illinois is the highest. Generally
Southern and Northern are next then Al Bowman and the others below us. I assume it is still about that, so again
when I am looking to vote on something I am not looking at what Boschini makes or someone out in California, but
what do the other presidents of the other public universities in Illinois make and how does this salary fit in. It fits in
essentially as I told you so certainly if not a little low, a very fair compensation.
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Donahue: I will be supporting the resolution. Being the newest member of the Board I took this very seriously
because it was something I didn’t really know a lot about. I read every one of the reviews that the Chairman sent to
us and those reviews for the audience because they may not know this I will call a 360 degree review. We were
getting reviews from faculty, direct reports, trustees, students and I was hard to find anything negative. The events
that I have been at the president is received with such a welcome that I have never seen before. I am not saying
everyone in the world likes this man but the people that come to him and appreciate him at the Black Colleagues
dinner – he received a standing ovation twice. So I think what comes into play is we are a public institution and to
some degree we are supported by taxpayers and I think it’s hard for the average person to wrap their arms around
$400,000, but it’s the average of the going rates of what university presidents make. So is he deserving of it – yes, I
absolutely believe so. In my mind what makes it even better is the president’s willingness that this only goes into
effect if the employees of the University are also granted some type of merit increase. I want to make sure even
though we are approving it – it doesn’t mean he’s going to get it. So I will be voting in favor of the resolution.
Dobski: I just would like to reinforce everything you said Mike. Everything you said with President Bowman’s track
record and the success we have had here is well deserved, especially with the recent tragic news out of Penn State
and even locally here with the University of Illinois leadership and the issues going on there, is that President
Bowman has done above and beyond job as far as enhancing and increasing the University’s status. Again, being a
local resident I would also have to add that without his better half here, Linda, as part of the partnership here is
another asset that we are really fortunate to have here in this community.
Davis: I would echo what my colleagues have mentioned in regards to President Bowman – his performance here at
the University. He certainly does set a very positive tone. We all know that we are facing difficult times now
financially and otherwise, and throughout all of the struggles and difficulties that we face I am pleased to say that
President Bowman with his leadership has kept the focus and a follow through with our strategic plan. Because we
have stayed focused on that strategic plan we have been able to achieve much more than even we as a Board thought
we would be able to do. I do thank you for keeping that focus and keeping very positive about what we can do and
so I too will be supporting this resolution.
Kinser: Without duplication I won’t say any of the other things that everyone else has said but I can say living in the
community it is really nice not to be afraid to walk down the streets and have people stop you and make complaints
about the University because they know we are in good hands. But anyway it is nice to hear the community giving
great kudos, especially after last week and the interviews that were done on WJBC, which were very good, and I got
lots of comments from people talking about the statements that were made by President Bowman. So thank you very
much.
McCuskey: Compensation no matter what it is, we have tried to make sure that in the budget there was always
something for the employees. In Champaign they laid off university employees. In Champaign they furloughed
university employees. More than one year they did not give any cost of living benefit and then gave a new president
who got fired $685,000, while they were doing all that to the faculty and staff. We have been blessed with good
financial management here that has valued employees and have found a way to you might say share the revenue
with everyone. I think we have been good stewards and with that I will ask for the voice vote. Motion made,
seconded and vote recorded as all members present voting aye.
That concludes today’s business. Thank you, President Bowman, and thank you all for joining us today.
I would now entertain a motion to move into Executive Session for the purpose of considering the appointment,
employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees pursuant to 5ILCS, Section
120/2 (c)(1); collective negotiating matters between the University and its employees, 5ILCS, Section 120/2 (c)(2);
litigation which has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal, as allowed in 5ILCS, Section
120/2 (c)(11); and the purchase or lease of real property as allowed in 5ILCS, Section 120/2 (c)(5). Is there a
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motion? Trustee Dobski so moved and was seconded by Trustee Kinser. Motion made, seconded and vote recorded
as all members present voting aye.
We will now move into Executive Session. At the close of Executive Session, the Board will reconvene in public
session only for the purpose to adjourn today’s meeting. A meeting of the audit committee will follow. Thank you.
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