COS Dean

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

The Mission of the Office of the Dean of the COS is to help find, garner, distribute, and manage resources to enable students and faculty to participate in coursework and in other learning activities and practices using the Scientific Method to a full-measure.  We execute this mission by sharing in the governance, leadership, and management of personnel and physical resources of 11 academic departments and facilitating the attainment of their respective goals and objectives. 

The Dean's Office tries to maintain focus on doing things that enhance our students' learning and their being able to use the principles of the scientific method, demonstrated in part by their ability to:

• Read and think critically
• Create questions and carry out an investigation
• Analyze and interpret data/information
• Communicate data/information to external audiences

Our desire is that students will use the scientific method to create and communicate knowledge and skills that prepare them for:

• Jobs now and those not yet created
• Careers now and those not yet existing
• Technologies now and those not yet invented

How does the program mission align with the university mission?

 The Dean's Office helps our departments deliver:

Academic excellence (superior undergraduate and graduate education) by assisting hiring our first choice candidates for faculty and staff positions; by expecting evidence of academic rigor such as course syllabi and materials that document clear student learning expectations, course organization and management, and evidence of student learning outcomes; by expecting evidence of discipline-specific types of scholarship; and by expecting campus and professional service.

Accessible educational opportunities are enhanced by the Dean's Office by our providing financial support of students and faculty development through scholarships, awards, and reimbursement of education-learning activities among teaching, research, or service:

Diversity and inclusion are enhanced by the Dean's Office initiatives that include WiSM (Women in Science and Mathematics) and M3S (Minority Mentoring in Math and Sciences); and financial support of special opportunities as they arise.  Our office also assists departments during the hiring process and procedures to assure appropriate measures are followed for inclusive hiring.

Student-faculty scholarship and learning experiences are enhanced by the Dean's Office through our financial support of start-up funds for beginning faculty members; one-time equipment purchases; on-going support for both research projects and travel to present research findings at professional meetings.

Global citizenship initiatives are supported by the Dean's Office through our financial support of initiatives such as travel to foreign countries to teach study abroad courses; conduct research while on Sabbaticals; present papers at conferences; and special trips to present information about EIU and COS programs to prospective students.

Whom does the program serve?

The COS Dean's Office serves faculty and students in academic programs and special learning environments that are housed in 11 Departments and serve approximately 2,300 students majoring in and pursuing Baccalaureate degrees and 200 students pursuing Masters degrees. In total, we serve approximately 185 faculty members and 30,000 student enrollments per year in COS courses as the campus student population enrolls in science electives or pursues their COS major or minor.

While the COS Office technically serves all levels of undergraduate and graduate students, only undergraduates are provided formal advice and counsel regarding progress and processes toward graduation.

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

The COS Dean's Office provides advice and counsel and resources to students, faculty, and staff to facilitate/enable progress toward their academic or degree-related goals.  

Students who apply for graduation immediately receive e-mails and carefully annotated degree audits regarding their progress in the major and toward their degree. All major and minor programs in our College are programmed in the degree audit by staff in the COS Office, who also input all audit exceptions approved through course substitution or waiver, keeping the degree audits for students in COS highly accurate to the benefit of students and advisors.

The COS Dean’s Office seeks out students who need to apply to graduate by reviewing each semester the degree audits of all students who have earned 100 hours but have not applied for graduation. E-mails are sent to urge graduation applications to the students and to their advisors because having the COS Dean’s Office monitor their progress helps students move forward toward graduation, fulfilling the university goal of an accessible undergraduate education. Students receive updated degree audits at least every year after they apply and each time they make any change in their degree program. Notices are included on audits sent students and advisors of possible minors they could complete and situations that call for consideration of substitutions or possible waivers are highlighted. The College of Sciences prides itself on providing a very student-centered office that does all that is possible to help students succeed. The COS Dean’s Office provides advising advice to our faculty advisors and department chairs on a daily basis. Over 1500 degree audits were sent to students and their advisors during the 2012 Academic Year.

  The Dean's Office also directs resources toward both Undergraduate Research and Graduate Research, typically in the form of financial assistance for travel or research expenses by students or faculty. 

The COS Dean’s Office also frequently provides advice and guidance to faculty and department curriculum committees as new courses, majors, minors and degrees are developed and older courses are revised. Staff provide templates to departments for executive actions, major and minor revisions and routinely review course proposals for issues at all stages of curriculum development. The office also provides the recorder for the College of Sciences Curriculum Committee who circulates all curriculum matters to the departments and maintains an up to date curriculum committee website.

Faculty seeking a shared governance model seek advice and counsel from the Dean's Office on issues related to student behavior and performance and faculty behavior and performance. 

Faculty professional development and career progression also are focused through the Dean's Office by our providing evaluation and feedback and financial support.   

The Dean's Office helps initiate and then maintain special learning environments and opportunities such as internships; research partnerships; and services to professional and community partners.  Special learning environments include the Astronomical Research Institute; the Autism Resource Center; the Center for Clean Energy Research and Education; the Charleston Waste Water Treatment Facility; the Geographic Information Science Center; the EIU Observatory; the EIU Weather Center; the Thut Greenhouse; the Renewable Energy Center; the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic; and the Whiteside Botanical Garden.

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

 The College of Sciences began as the College of Letters and Science, the first academic college established by President Quincy Doudna in 1961. Previously all academic administration had been managed centrally by the President and his cabinet. With the establishment of the College of Letters and Science, President Doudna recognized the need to develop strong academic programs rooted in the arts and sciences. The first academic dean was Dr. Lawrence Ringenberg, a professor and head of Mathematics. Dean Ringenberg was a scholar and an academician. With his leadership through 1980, the College was known for excellent teaching by professors committed to the rigorous demands of a strong general and liberal education.  From 1980 to 1994, Dr. Jon Laible served as Dean.  From 1995 to 2001, Dr. Lida Wall.  From 2000-2011, Dr. Mary Anne Hanner and from 2011-2012 Dr. Godson Obia served as Interim Dean.  In 2012, Dr. Harold Ornes became Dean of the College of Sciences.  Dean Ornes has built upon the traditions of research and scholarship at EIU by increasing allocations of resources to faculty, students, and programs that provide evidence of improved teaching, scholarship outcomes, and service to campus and community or that provide evidence of thoughtful and realistic plans for the improvement of teaching, research, and service.  

How has the unit changed or adapted over time?

In 1972, the College was renamed the College of Arts and Science and then again in 1973 to the College of Arts and Sciences. Seventeen departments comprised the College: Botany, Chemistry, Economics, English, Foreign Languages, Geology, Geography, History, Journalism, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Speech Communication, Speech Pathology and Audiology, and Zoology. Through a collaborative process completed in 1993, President David Jorns restructured the academic colleges. As a result, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was dissolved and from it, two new colleges were formed: College of Sciences and College of Arts and Humanities. The College of Sciences included eleven departments: Botany, Chemistry, Communication Disorders and Sciences (formerly Speech Pathology and Audiology), Economics, Geology and Geography, Mathematics, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology, and Zoology.

In 1998 the Botany and Zoology departments were combined into the Department of Biological Sciences. In 2005 the EIU Board of Trustees approved a new RN-BSN Nursing program, and the program was accredited in 2008 by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).

Our current array of academic disciplines include expertise in Anthropology, Anatomy, Astronomy, Audiology, Autism, Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Ecology, Economics, Fisheries, Genetics, Geology, Geography, GIS, Herpetology, Mathematics, Microbiology, Nursing, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Speech Pathology, Sociology, Sustainability, Water Pollution, Wildlife Ecology, and Zoology. 

Largely in response to the need to provide students with changing knowledge and skills, the COS has created or helped to create special learning environments that include the Astronomical Research Institute; the Autism Resource Center; the Center for Clean Energy Research and Education; the Charleston Waste Water Treatment Facility; the Geographic Information Science Center; the EIU Observatory; the EIU Weather Center; the Thut Greenhouse; the Renewable Energy Center; the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic; and the Whiteside Botanical Garden.

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

Unlike some sports and athletic conferences and competitions where you are placed in a box or category and can only compete with a set of similar-sized institutions, the COS students and faculty "compete" head to head with all universities, anywhere in the world.   And we are successful.  This is a significant contribution to building the reputation of EIU and the value of degrees that say Eastern Illinois University.

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 Dean's Office offers no curricula.  However, the COS serves almost every major by providing the natural, social, and behavior sciences, mathematics, and computer science courses.  Our courses enroll between 25,000 to 30,000 students per year (one student may take one to five COS courses per semester), or 83,000 to 97,000 SCH per year. 

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.

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.

The Dean's Office helps discipline-specific accreditation reviews and visits such as Nursing (CCNE) and Chemistry (ACS).   The Dean’s Office provides funding to our departments to pay for external reviews. This funding is made available in the year prior to the department’s 8-year IBHE review.   We are having conversations about Computer Science pursuing ABET accreditation.

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 Dean's Office has contributed time, effort, and money toward sustaining and in some cases expanding the Astronomical Research Institute; the Autism Resource Center; the Center for Clean Energy Research and Education; the Charleston Waste Water Treatment Facility; the Geographic Information Science Center; the EIU Observatory; the EIU Weather Center; the Thut Greenhouse; the Renewable Energy Center; the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic; and the Whiteside Botanical Garden.  The College of Sciences’ Associate Dean and Assistant to the Dean for Academic Services meet 10 or more times a year with transfer students to familiarize them with the College of Sciences and to provide guidance on their smooth progress through their degrees.

We are in discussion with the Charleston Public High School about dual-credit initiative in Biology.

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

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 Dean's Office helps support faculty and students who are competing for grants, publications, and presentations with any and all institutions of higher learning, world-wide.  A world-class education is easily documented or demonstrated by the successes of our faculty and students' work being accepted for presentation, publication, and grants along side the top universities in the world.

Among the best practices followed by the College of Sciences Dean’s Office are the changes made in our degree certification office in July 2010 after approval of the revisions to IGP 50 governing degree certification. That change allowed official communication via e-mail. The College of Sciences Dean’s Office developed policies and protocols or the transition that included a careful system for scanning, naming and archiving audits and the use of a dedicated “COS Dean” e-mail account. Up to 1500 degree audits are sent by e-mail annually, saving time, paper, postage and copying, and improving the speed of the correspondence. Several of these protocols have been copied by other colleges.

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.

The Dean's Office administers grant overhead revenue, and facilitates external revenue received by faculty members.  We received approximately $3,108.00 in Indirect cost funds from grants during FY 2013. 

The Dean's Office also administers and distributes Tuition Recovery Model (TRM) funds generated from on-line courses.  This year's amount was approximately $650,000.00. 

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?

The Dean's Office overall funding for Personnel and Operating for the entire College is approximately $15.5 million.  About $720k for the Dean's Office personnel and operating.   The Operating Budget for the entire college is approximately $590k and the Dean's Office about $102k.

The Donor Support directed to each of our 11 Departments totaled approximately $373k for 2012 and $239k for 2013.  Most of these funds are for Scholarships ($267k or 71% of 2012 donations and $103k or 43% for 2013).  The non-scholarship portion of the donated funds are used for things like student travel and research expenses, fieldwork and summer research awards. 

Donor support to the Dean's Office has been approximately $4,000 for 2012 and $4,000 for 2013.  Funds donated to the Dean's Office are targeted for specific faculty or student awards such as the Student Advisory Board Award; the Baharlou Service Award; the Faculty Welcome Fund; the Hanner Teaching award, etc. 

Additionally, under the COS umbrella are separate accounts receiving donations for the Autism Resource Center; the Weather Center; the New Science Bldg Fund; and the Whiteside Gardens.

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 Dean's Office occasionally meets with the Charleston Public Schools; Lake Land CC; and Lakeview College of Nursing to create and maintain collegial and functional relationships.

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.

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.

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

The Dean's Office operates on an administrative model that encourages each Department to take the lead in planning and executing their direction and goals and optimizing the resources to sustain their endeavors. The Dean's Office serves to create a collective wisdom, vet ideas and data, and share and allocate resources to help achieve each Department's goals. 

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

The College of Science’s Dean’s Office has funded training for our Assistant to the Dean for Student Services allowing her to become a resource across campus on the degree audit reporting system. COS personnel have also provided advisor training in coordination with the Academic Advising Center, and assisted in the development of a Student Academic Progress GPA and Completion Calculator used by financial aid and by advisors across campus and worked with the Registrar’s Office in the development and testing of the Grade Change Workflow.

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.

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

The Mission of the Office of the Dean of the COS is to help find, distribute, and manage resources to enable students and faculty to participate in coursework and in other learning activities and practicing using the Scientific Method to a full-measure.  We execute this mission by sharing in the governance, leadership, and management of personnel and physical resources of 11 academic departments and facilitating the attainment of their respective goals and objectives. 

The Dean's Office tries to maintain focus on our students' learning and their use of the principles of the scientific method demonstrated by their ability to:

• Read and think critically
• Create questions and carry out an investigation
• Analyze and interpret data/information
• Communicate data/information to external audiences

 Our desire is that students will use the scientific method to create and communicate knowledge and skills that prepare them for:

• Jobs now and those not yet created
• Careers now and those not yet existing
• Technologies now and those not yet invented

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

http://www.eiu.edu/strategicsummary/

Academic Rigor:  To the extent that the department DACs allow, the Dean's Office evaluates faculty for evidence of: well-organized and delivered courses; clear student learning goals and outcomes; student feedback; adjustments made based on the feedback of students and/or colleagues; faculty scholarship that informs and enhances the EIU learning environment; service that informs and/or enhances the learning environment.

Academic Access:  The Dean's Office administers numerous financial resources for student scholarships; research and travel; and service so that students have a wide array of learning opportunities and experiences.

Academic Success:  The Dean's Office employs an Assistant to the Dean for Student Academic Services who serves several roles in encouraging academic success, including programming a well functioning degree audit for use by students and advisors. She works with an Academic Advisor employed by the College and together they manage the graduation application process, provide guidance to department chairs, faculty and staff advisors and to students, manage substitutions and waivers in the college and communicate frequently with students to ensure smooth progress toward degrees by COS students. 

Diverse Community of Learners:  The Dean's Office has assisted faculty foreign travel to recruit students and create faculty partnerships.  We also have assisted student and faculty international travel to professional meetings and conferences.  These activities enhance the global visibility and renown of EIU and the COS.

Technology enhancement:  The Dean's Office has assisted departments in the purchase of new and used equipment to enhance classroom and research outcomes.

Stabilize Enrollments:  The Dean's Office has assisted departments in recruitment efforts such as travel by faculty and students; purchasing marketing and advertisement materials and supplies; supporting bulk email student invitations. 

Increasing Gifts and Endowments:  The Dean's Office has helped pay for travel to meet with prospective donors and supplied gifts and EIU memorabilia.

Eliminate programs and positions that are not sustainable nor central to our mission:  The Dean's Office has generated numerous data sets designed to show our institutional and program "health" by showing all aspects of historic, current, and projected future budget, staffing, enrollment, Student Credit Hour (SCH).

Communicate who we are:  The Dean's Office has generated numerous websites and hard copy documents on the COS constituency and performance.

Increase communication with alumni, donors, and external audiences:  The Dean's Office has communicated via email and surface mail with alums and donors and local and state agencies regarding the high quality outcomes of our students and faculty.  Also, we regularly meet with an external advisory board to show our strengths and opportunities for growth and improvement. 

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.

1.  The Dean's Office can help create an environment that will increase the amount of Undergraduate Research that we are currently doing at the national and international peer-reviewed levels by reallocating funds to help pay for both research and travel related to productive research.  While there are somewhere between 4,000 and 7,000 institutions of higher education in the U.S., among the medium-sized, comprehensive, masters-institutions EIU can certainly be in the top 10, and I believe providing each EIU College with the resources to create or enhance and sustain UG Research success will draw new audiences to our campus.  One of the most expensive resources needed will be blocks of faculty time to work, often one-on-one with students on significant (more than dilettante efforts) productive research.  However, at a time when we are trying to "right-size" our staffing primarily based on enrollments, appropriate section sizes, and SCH, it is a good time to make some stipulations or conditions or expectations on new or replacement hires.  While the current levels of staffing may be workable and compatible with a goal of high-quality UG and Grad student research, I think we will need to consider redesigning some degree course requirements and program curricula such that a primary emphasis on coursework, often deep and wide array of coursework, is balanced with the educational benefit that flows from student research.  That is to say, we probably can't afford to have enough faculty to sustain a formula that has low teaching loads for those who choose to do research, high number of courses required, and increasing expectations for research outcomes.  One of the COS departments, for example, has approximately 75% of its faculty publishing in peer-reviewed journals and often with students as co-authors, and often funded by external grants.  However, if we use the staffing number, faculty loads, and student and SCH numbers of this department as a model for all the COS departments, it would be very expensive...although very productive.  I estimate that such a research-productive department would need to have approximately 10% more faculty positions above that predicted by the staffing model that is driven by SCH and student-to-faculty ratios typical of Masters, comprehensive, teaching-focused campuses (e.g. a department of 30 faculty would probably need an additional 3 faculty positions to accommodate 75% of the research-active faculty to have low teaching loads of 18 or less and the teaching faculty to have typical loads of 24. 

In addition to faculty with low teaching loads, we would need systematic equipment purchase, maintenance, and replacement.  An estimate is $150,000 per year.  In short, providing our students with the deep and rich learning that flows from significant research experience may be more than we can afford until our enrollments stabilize.  

2.  The Dean's Office could add a recruiter position (similar model for Foundation work) that would serve the COS by regularly visiting local and regional public and private secondary schools and community/technical colleges.  This additional staff person should have at least a Master's degree in one of the COS disciplines (anticipate a salary of $40,000 to $50,000) and a travel budget (estimate $10,000) and a budget to create or acquire materials and supplies to distribute to potential students and their parents (estimate $10,000).  If the model worked I would hire an additional person just for the Chicago region.  

3.  Several of our 11 academic departments could study markets and demographics and generate plans to expand if given adequate resources (typically reduced teaching loads and additional space and equipment):  for example the Dean's Office could ask Biology to consider adding a new degree option or even a terminal degree program; we could discuss with CDS the possibility of expanding their current Masters degree cohort, or add another Masters degree, or even a terminal degree program; Other departments might like to consider initiatives to generate additional enrollment and student career opportunities.  Psychology, for example may be able to explore new career niches for their majors or in combination with other majors such as Chemistry or Biology.  Programs using GIS as a vehicle for finding new information about natural resources; and human populations' health, safety, and welfare, are very likely to have continued growth for the foreseeable future.  At EIU we have a good GIS Center and with adequate staffing or perhaps hiring a consultant, might be able to explore new student markets and entrepreneurial opportunities. 

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