The Provost of Academic Affairs released a campus update last week detailing the ongoing Strategic Resource Allocation (SRA) process among other ongoing university efforts.
Kerri Schuiling addressed the NMU community via Campus Connect with a newsletter that included information on recent recruitment efforts in China, a faculty resignation, current retention efforts and the possibility of NMU becoming an “autism-friendly” campus in the near future.
“I had the opportunity to accompany Steve VandenAvond [vice president of extended learning and community engagement] and Yan Ciupak [assistant professor of sociology and anthropology] on a recruitment trip to China,” Schuiling said on Campus Connect. “This was my first trip to Asia and because we are focusing on recruitment of students and faculty scholars from China, in addition to recently welcoming five Chinese scholars to our campus, it was suggested I go and learn about the country, its people and culture.”
The message continued later with, “I also noted that we are focusing on schools that enroll students who are from families similar to our students…”
Kim Barron has resigned as the director of accreditation and assessment, effective as of Oct. 6, 2017, Schuiling said in the update.
“We plan to move ahead with a search in the near future. Currently Dale Kapla (who is the ALO—academic liaison) is overseeing related aspects of Kim’s job. I will keep you updated as we move forward.”
Schuiling encouraged the NMU community to learn more about the SRA process by visiting the website at www.nmu.edu/sra.
“We held an SRA forum in late September,” she said. “The turnout was good, was taped and is now available on media site live. The feedback evaluations indicated that people in attendance were satisfied with the content of the forum and the transparency of the project.”
She also highlighted Starfish, a newly implemented retention tool software.
“We have established a committee that is focusing on retention led by Dean of Students Chris Greer,” Schuiling said, adding, “While our retention is above the national average, it is our sentiment that we can do even better. Starfish is a great aid to this goal.”
Lastly, the Provost discussed future plans to make NMU more supportive of students with
autism-related disorders in order to make the university more prepared for students
rather than students having to prepare mentally for the university.
“In that light, our associate provost, Dale Kapla, has pulled together a group of key individuals to work on NMU becoming designated as an autism-friendly campus,” Schuiling said.
She continued, “The initial group had its first brainstorming session two weeks ago with plans to meet again this month. The idea for this came about as we learned about more and more children diagnosed as on the autism spectrum.
What are we at NMU doing to be ready for students who are on the autism spectrum and how can we best support them to be successful? Look for more updates from Dale in the future. It is a very exciting project.”
