CAH Dean

What is the program’s mission statement or statement of purpose? Why does the program exist?

Mission Statement: “The College of Arts and Humanities (CAH) is committed to the University’s goal of providing a comprehensive undergraduate program of liberal studies as a foundation for all students. Its mission is to instill knowledge, skills and values that will enable students to emerge as responsible citizens. Specifically, the College seeks to provide intensive training in a discipline, to enhance the development of talented performing and creative artists, and to develop in students a capacity for critical judgment, the ability to communicate effectively, and a sense of ethical responsibility.

In addition, the College sponsors many cultural activities and programs which are both aesthetically and intellectually stimulating. The mission of the College is complemented by select graduate programs.”

The college offices exist in order to lead and provide support for the functions of the nine departments (Art, Communication Studies, English, Foreign Language, History, Journalism, Music, Philosophy, Theatre Arts); four centers (Center for the Humanities, Doudna Fine Arts Center, Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity, Tarble Arts Center); three academic programs (Africana Studies, Social Sciences Studies, Women’s Studies), and numerous interdisciplinary minors. Support included processing contracts, certifying graduation, evaluating faculty, managing budgets, marketing, among other things.

How does the program mission align with the university mission?

As one of the four academic colleges on campus, the College of Arts and Humanities aligns with the university mission in ensuring the quality of superior, accessible undergraduate and graduate education in the Arts and Humanities. In addition the college supports the work of the faculty in teaching, research and creative activity, and service. The college fosters opportunities for student-faculty scholarship and applied learning experiences within a student-centered and diverse culture.

Whom does the program serve?

The dean and associate dean address a wide array of faculty and student needs and concerns.

The staff of the college additionally serves alumni, donors, departments within the college, and the greater community

What are the services provided? How do these services align with the university mission and program mission?

The CAH offices serve faculty through evaluating their performance, providing equipment, funding travel for research, and hosting professional development activities. The college supports students with travel funding, ensuring that their learning facilities are up-to-date, and by tracking their academic progress through graduation. For the units within the college, the college provides logistical support for hiring, evaluation, curriculum, enrollment, and philanthropy. Support also includes processing contracts, managing budgets, marketing, among other things. Bi-weekly meetings of the dean, associate dean, and assistant to the dean with the department chairs facilitates this work. In addition the college staff administers some scholarship funds and program endowments in addition to pursuing alumni and community relations and stewarding donors.

Describe the program’s origins (e.g. year established, purpose, expectations).

With the reorganization of the academic colleges in 1993, the College of Arts and Humanities was created to replace the College of Fine Arts and to include the Humanities, formerly part of the College of Letters and Sciences. The college comprises nine departments (Art, Communication Studies, English, Foreign Language, History, Journalism, Music, Philosophy, Theatre Arts); four centers (Center for the Humanities, Doudna Fine Arts Center, Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity, Tarble Arts Center); three academic programs (Africana Studies, Social Sciences Studies, Women’s Studies), and numerous interdisciplinary minors.

How has the unit changed or adapted over time?

As the needs and priorities of the campus change, so too do the services provided by the college. As departmental funds have been limited, the college provided travel support for faculty. Since 2010, the college has supported the creation of a Center for the Humanities, which provides an annual lecture series (supported by New and Emerging Artist funds through Doudna), and which offers two interdisciplinary courses. This center, along with the dean, provides a forum for the discussion of interdisciplinary topics of interest to students and faculty. Other initiatives supported by the college are a faculty D2L liaison to assist faculty with maximizing the effectiveness of the LMS, and an initiative to support students entitled Making Excellence Inclusive. This latter initiative, led by the dean, brings faculty together to work to remove obstacles to student success.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the program’s history and relevance to university mission.

Please note that the Doudna Fine Arts Center though closely allied with the College of Arts and Humanities, will be addressed in a separate report.

Provide data showing the four-year trend in the number of majors, minors, options, and concentrations.

Provide data showing the four-year trend in student credit hour (SCH) production, percent of SCHs that are general education, and percent of SCHs that are taught to non-majors.

What elements of the program’s curriculum are offered specifically to support other academic majors, minors, options, and concentrations?

The College of Arts and Humanities, upon request, provides internship opportunities for students and employs students in a variety of ways. Most notable is the graduate assistant attached to the Humanities Center, who assists with programming, teaching, and communications.

For administrative programs: Does the program contribute to the delivery of academic programs (e.g., providing professional expertise, serving as adjunct faculty)? Please describe.

The Dean teaches STA 4000G and in FA 11 taught an English class.

Another staff member is teaching for the journalism department and has taught for communication studies.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the internal demand for the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., curriculum changes made by another program) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

The deans’ office engages all 186 faculty and over 1,600 majors with our services. This engagement includes

Student-centered activities

• Undergraduate graduation certification, degree audits, major/minor changes
• Assistance with New Student Programs for first-year students and transfers

Faculty support activities

• Evaluation of faculty portfolios
• Support for recruitment and hiring of new faculty and staff
• Grade change approvals
• Assistance in grant applications
• Faculty Travel Grants
• Covering hospitality costs for Center for the Humanities interdisciplinary lunches

Program support

• Budget oversight and financial support of special programs, such as faculty professional development, student travel, and visiting speakers.
• Arbitration of faculty and student concerns
• Preparation of reports and support for accreditation reviews (Art, Music, Theatre, Journalism)
• Assistance with IBHE program reviews and NCA self-study requests for information
• Curriculum review and coordination
• Administration of summer school
• Oversight of faculty assignment of duties and overloads
• Facilitation of campus-wide initiatives: online learning, interdisciplinary studies, integrative learning, undergraduate research
• Facilitating communication among departments through college-wide electronic communications
• Preparation of reports of gifts received
• Coordination of TRM and equipment reserve disbursements
• Issuing of press releases for college events
• Review of Positive Time Reports and p-card purchases for college staff and department chairs

Other services

• Staff evaluations and professional development, staff appreciation events
• Publishing Scholars event logistics and bibliography
• Representation on committees and councils (Plantworx, Summer School Coordinating Council, NCA self-study team, EIU Reads, Legacy Planning Committee, Center for the Humanities Steering Committee, Faculty Development Advisory Committee)

The greatest amount of contact with our internal constituencies is through our graduation certification and academic assistance functions. The total number of graduates certified for the last three years:

AY10 = 432 AY11 = 385 AY12 = 399   Average number of phone calls per year = 1,600

 Average number of e-mails per year = 16,000  Average number of walk-ins per year = 800

Please note that although the Writing Center accounts are included in the CAH Template, demand and mission data will be included in the English Department Program Analysis Report.

List relevant data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) New Graduate Salary Survey, and the EIU Career Services Annual Report.

Is the program accredited or approved by a recognized external agency or otherwise certified to meet established professional standards? Provide an executive summary of and link to the program’s most recent accreditation or certification report, if available.

While the College of Arts and Humanities is not subject to any special accreditation, the college supports the accreditation efforts by the programs within the college: namely Art, Music, Theatre, and Journalism. The assistant to the dean also does the day-to-day management of the Doudna Fine Arts Center Budget and assists with any audits required.

Is the program required to meet any regulatory or legal requirements? Is the program subject to any special auditing requirements?

What are the most important outreach or public service activities supported by the program?

The largest outreach project in the college is Celebration of the Arts. With over a 20-year history, Celebration brings the community to campus to enjoy a variety of visual and performing arts. Thousands of people attend during a weekend in April.

In addition to Celebration, the College of Arts and Humanities contributes financially to a number of outreach activities, and the dean and associate dean additionally participate in many of these events. For example, the College provides financial and logistical support for the local Phi Beta Kappa Association and provides support for departmental outreach activities and events of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

The dean and associate dean participate in many activities for returning teachers, such as the history conference, the Art and Media conference, the English literature conference, etc., and the dean serves on the Tarble Arts Center Advisory Board and the Legacy planning committee.

The bulk of other outreach efforts are directed toward alumni and donors, and include the following, in which several college staff, including the dean and associate dean are involved:

• Meeting with donors.
• Providing support for donor recognition events and selected donor-hosted events (such as the Tanner Gholson event).
• Writing notes to donors
• Nominating alumni for campus awards
• Participating in homecoming and legacy events

We are also in the process of creating a newsletter for the college.

How do the local community and the region benefit from the program?

In addition to the activities outlined above, many community members attend events hosted by the college and its departments: concerts, plays, lectures, workshops, conferences, etc.

If needed, provide supplemental comments or data sources to help the reader understand the external demand for the program.

If needed, provide supplemental comments or data sources to help the reader understand the quality of program outcomes.

The college provides support for IBHE Program Reviews by editing them as appropriate and posing additional questions based on campus quality initiatives.

The college provides data for departmental accreditation reviews, and for the occasional Phi Beta Kappa application.

The college provides staff support as needed for departmental quality efforts, including support for the three First Choice graduate programs.

Best Practices

The dean regularly nominates faculty for the CASE Professor of the Year competition, securing both of EIU’s winners to date.

The dean has launched an Inclusive Excellence Initiative, which brings faculty together to study the barriers to success of students who come to Eastern underprepared or otherwise disadvantaged.

The college provides travel support for faculty who attend conferences to improve their teaching, and to present research, thus assuring that faculty members are current in their fields and in their pedagogy. The faculty of the College of Arts and Humanities has a stellar record in publication and creative activity.

The College of Arts and Humanities is the only college on campus with a faculty D2L liaison, who works with CATS staff to assist faculty in instructional design and innovation.

External Recognition

The Dean is a fellow of the National Collegiate Honors Council.

Professional Organizations

Publications/Presentations by Dean Bonnie Irwin:

“We Are the Stories We Tell.” Honors In Practice. 8 (2012): 17-19.

Review of Eastern Dreams: How the Arabian Nights Came to the World. Marvels and Tales 26:1 (2012): 117-119.

“Intentionally Adrift: What the Pathways Project Can Teach Us About Teaching and Learning.” Oral Tradition. 26:2 (October 2011): 581-584.

“Hitting the Wall,” Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council, 11:2 (Fall/Winter 2010): 43-45.

“We Fail Our Students by Not Teaching Them to Fail.” (with Bud Fischer) AAC&U Annual Meeting: The Quality of U.S. Degrees. Atlanta, GA. 25 January 2013.

“Disruptive Leadership: Honoring Our Identities While Challenging Our Traditions.” (with Patricia Poulter). American Conference of Academic Deans Conference: The Academic Leader in the 21st Century. Atlanta, GA. 24 January 2013.

“Healing Ourselves: How We Learned to Stop Whining and Embrace the Crisis.” (With Patricia Poulter). American Conference of Academic Deans and Phi Beta Kappa Joint Conference on Are the Humanities Now a Luxury? Charleston, SC. November 2011.

“Transforming Your Campus Into a Center of Engagement, Enlightenment, and Inspiration.” (With Patricia Poulter and Dwight Vaught) AAC&U Working Conference on Arts & Humanities: Toward a Flourishing State? Providence, RI. November 2011.

“Creative Tensions, Challenging Environments” the Arts & Humanities As Drivers of Interdisciplinary Change.” (With Patricia Poulter and Jinhee Lee). AAC&U Working Conference on Arts & Humanities: Toward a Flourishing State? Providence, RI. November 2011.

ACAD Pre-Conference Workshop on “Leadership for Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching and Learning” at AAC&U Next Generation STEM Learning Conference. (With Linda Halpern, et al.) Kansas City, MO. November 2012.

Workshop on Integrative Learning. St. Ambrose University. January 2012.

Publications/Presentations by Associate Dean Poulter

“The Campus as a Cultural Catalyst” With Haga, M. & Tymas‐Jones, R.
American Association of Colleges &Universities Conference:
Arts & Humanities: Toward a Flourishing State?: Providence, RI 2011
“Billings and Morgan: New Music for a New World”
“The College of the Arts and the Creative Economy” (Roundtable)
International Council of Fine Arts Deans Annual Conference: Sarasota, FL 2010
“The Developing Role of the Associate Dean” (Panel)
International Council of Fine Arts Deans Annual Conference: Sarasota, FL 2010

Offices Held by Dean Irwin

President, National Collegiate Honors Council, 2010-2011.

Immediate Past President, National Collegiate Honors Council, 2011-2012.

Lead Campus representative to the Association of American Colleges and Universities: 2009-present

AAC&U, Liberal Education and America’s Promise Campus Action Committee, 2010-present

Dan Crews serves on the Marshall, IL, School Board.

Note any special benefits (e.g., personnel support, equipment, permanent improvements) that the program has received in the past three years from its grants and other sponsored programs.

Celebration of the Arts receives a support grant from the Charleston Tourism Bureau. Other grants are covered in departmental reports.

How does the program benefit from donor gifts (e.g., scholarships, endowed chairs)? Does donor support provide a significant percentage of the program’s overall funding?

Gift monies support many activities in the college, from student scholarships to faculty development funds to visiting artist endowments. The details of most of these can be found in the reports from the units within the college. The deans’ office itself benefits from donations to our restricted gift account, which allows us to host special programs and events. A small number of scholarships (those shared among several departments) are administered by the deans’ office.

List two or three key relationships that the program maintains with external constituencies (e.g., community colleges, other universities, government bodies). How do these relationships advance the university mission or otherwise benefit the university?

The College of Arts and Humanities maintains relationships with community college through articulation agreements. The college office has general oversight over these programs and also helps departments generate new ones, leading to increased transfer enrollments.

The college office also participates in revenue generation through its outreach to donors and alumni and through its support of the grant writing of faculty.

Additionally, the dean serves as lead campus representative to AAC&U (Association of American Colleges and Universities) and its initiative LEAP (Liberal Education and America’s Promise). Through this activity, she brings back ideas to the campus on such issues as integrative learning, global learning, and inclusive excellence. These outcomes are not limited to CAH, but are disseminated across the campus.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the resources generated by the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., revenue pass-throughs) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the productivity of the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., accreditation requirements, curricular changes, program restructuring) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

In 2011, the office downsized its staff, going from two clerical support staff to one with a wider skill set. The deans’ office also provides clerical support to other units, such as the Humanities Center, to eliminate the need for additional staffing. We take advantage of on-campus workshops for professional development in areas such as Banner and Finance.

We have made concerted effort to put as many of our processes online as possible, thereby saving staff and faculty time and the cost of making multiple copies of applications. This change applies to our CU reassign pool process, our college travel grants program, and beginning in 2013, our faculty hiring process. We also have made liberal use of the scanning function of the new copiers to eliminate the need for paper copies of signed letters and memos.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the costs associated with the program. Note any clarifications or special circumstances (e.g., expenditures made centrally or externally, expenditures made on behalf of other units) that should be considered when reviewing the above data.

Please note that although the Writing Center accounts are included in the College Template, demand and mission data will be included in the English Department Program Analysis Report.

 Corrections to the tables above.

Staffing: The office had 14 headcount in FY 11 and 12. Two civil service staff positions were melded into 1, and the additional two (ISS positions) were transferred to CATS.  In FY 13, the headcount should be 11.  We had two student employees.

The deans’ office provides support for operations across the college. This support includes

Distributing gifts and gift reports

Loading and reviewing personnel contracts

Providing equipment through equipment reserve allocations

Providing funds for facilities and equipment renovation

Providing mentoring for staff in the college

How does the program seek to distinguish itself from similar programs at other institutions?

Note any unique and/or essential contributions that the program makes to the university.

The Doudna Fine Arts Center, The Tarble Arts Center, WEIU, and the DEN, each covered in a separate report, all make unique contributions to the university through giving students hands-on experiences in their field and providing opportunities for community (internal and external) engagement.

Provide any program-specific metrics that help to document program contributions or program quality. Examples of some commonly used program-specific metrics may be found here.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand the program impact on the university mission.

The dean provides support for study abroad program development and provides opportunities for faculty to teach abroad at Harlaxton. These efforts enhance the global learning of our students.

      The dean additionally encourages efforts to recruit and retain a diverse faculty and staff, supports students from underrepresented demographics through its inclusive excellence initiative, and provides support for access initiatives that include online learning.

      By successfully nominating EIU’s only two recipients of the CASE Professor of the Year Award for the state of Illinois, the dean supports EIU’s mission to offer a superior education and to be recognized for those efforts.

Provide a link to or listing of the program’s goals and/or strategic plan.

What role will the program have in the implementation of the university’s strategic plan (provide link to strategic plan)?

While the college does not have its own strategic plan, it has a central role in the implementation of the university’s strategic plan, particularly in the areas of Academic Excellence and Global Competition and Changing Demographics. Academic Excellence is already a hallmark of the college due to the quality of its faculty and the dedication to maintaining small class sizes where appropriate. The faculty of Arts and Humanities is quite active in research and creative activity, and we will develop increased opportunities for students in this area. Global Competition will be addressed through enhanced online offerings and, if approved, a fund raising campaign for student travel grants. We are addressing Changing Demographics through our Inclusive Excellence initiative, designed to provide supported for students from underrepresented group who are facing obstacles to success.

What are the program’s two or three most promising opportunities that could help advance the university’s academic mission? Provide an estimate of additional investments or other costs required and additional student credit hours, revenue, or other resources generated.

Interdisciplinary Studies

The knowledge and skills that students acquire through a study of the arts and humanities complement learning in other areas. There are many opportunities for partnering with other colleges to create new academic programs to meet the needs of the future. CAH has begun to explore these opportunities. One example within the college is a new major in Public Relations. Planned as a collaboration between CMN and JOU, a major in PR would distinguish us in the state and bring in additional students. It is estimated that we will need an additional faculty line (perhaps achieved by reallocation) and two new courses to bring this program about.

Making Excellence Inclusive

As our student body become more diverse, we need to pay increased attention to a diversity of needs among our students. Students coming from underrepresented groups and families with limited means, need help to thrive at our institution. CAH is working on programs for faculty and advisers to better serve these students. One aspect needed that will come at a cost is a fund for inclusive excellence. Such a fund will grant students access to opportunities such as study abroad and undergraduate research and creative activity regardless of their ability to pay. The plan is to make this a priority under the scholarship umbrella for college development efforts.

Integrative Learning/Undergraduate Research Creative Activity

Integrative Learning still has unrealized potential in the college. We plan to broaden and deepen the experience of students by providing more co-curricular opportunities, providing support and recognition for faculty mentors, and institutionalizing reflective practice. We hope to partner with faculty development in this last item.

If needed, provide supplemental comments to help the reader understand future opportunities for the program.