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Office of the Provost: 2003-2004 Annual Report

Dr. James L. Oblinger completed his first year as Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. On October 1, 2003, Dr. Katharine B. Perry became Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dr. Jose Picart became Vice Provost for Diversity and African American Affairs. After serving as Interim, Dr. Thomas Conway was appointed Vice Provost for Enrollment Services. Dr. James Anderson resigned as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Dr. Jo Allen was appointed Interim.

Distance Education and Learning Technologies

Distance education enrollments continued on a double-digit growth trajectory, with a 21% increase in fundable enrollments from 17,875 to 21,675 SCH, and an 18% increase in total enrollments from 21,634 to 25,499 SCH. Milestones associated with this growth include 10,000 SCH delivered by distance education in a single semester, and 5,000 students served by distance education over the course of the year.

Selected additional accomplishments for the year include: acquisition of a perpetual campus license for WebCT Vista, and acquisition and deployment of Centra Symposium; development of a plan to address military distance education needs in North Carolina in collaboration with the Office of the President; establishment of a DELTA Advisory Committee ; TRACS registration for distance education courses implemented; preparation and development support for the on-line Professional Writing courses; elimination of the DE tuition penalty for campus-based students; confirmation of faculty ownership of their on-line course materials and development of seven new distance education degree and certificate programs.

DELTA reorganized to consolidate technical production functions under the umbrella of the Learning Technologies Service; Darryl McGraw resigned as Director of Distance Education; Rebecca Swanson was promoted to Director of Distance Education Planning and Development; Scott Cason resigned as Director of Marketing . Sharon Pitt was named a 2004 Frye Leadership Institute Fellow, and was elected chair of the North Carolina Teaching and Learning with Technology Collaborative for 2004-05; Sharon Pitt co-chaired the development of the LITRE Quality Enhancement Plan for SACS; Kay Zimmerman was appointed to the NC Troops to Teachers state advisory committee, and to the College and Industry Partnership Board of Directors of the ASEE CIEC; Betty Byrum completed the Equal Opportunity Institute Certificate Program; and DELTA provided space and administrative support for Dr. Lavon Page in his new role as LITRE director.

Additional concerns for the future include inadequate space to accommodate continued growth, distance education tuition policies for campus-based students, faculty compensation policies, and intellectual property policies.

Diversity and African-American Affairs

Activities in support of Hispanic/Latino Affairs and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Affairs (LBGT) were expanded. Partnerships were established with Hispanic/Latino organizations, including El Pueblo, the North Carolina Society of Hispanic Professionals, and the Office of the President, NC Community College System, to enhance the campus climate for Hispanic/Latino students and to better prepare the campus for the anticipated increase in Hispanic/Latino students over the next two decades. On-campus relationships have been established with faculty in the College of Education and student groups. A LBGT subcommittee within the Diversity Advisory Council was created. This is the first campus-wide committee to examine, study, and recommend initiatives and programs to make campus more welcoming for the LBGT community.

Activities to attract external program sponsors included corporate and gift giving; hiring a diversity grant writer; and partnering with principle investigators to write diversity plans for grant proposals.
A student diversity climate survey was developed and implemented. In recognition of the 50th Anniversary of Brown versus Board of Education the African American Cultural Center developed and executed a year-long series of programs in educating and engaging the broader campus community and NC State partnered with Duke, NC Central University, and UNC-Chapel Hill to plan, develop and implement a celebration of Brown versus Board of Education across the research triangle community.

Dr. Frances Graham, Assistant Vice Provost for Gender Affairs, resigned.

Enrollment Management and Services
(Undergraduate Admissions, Scholarships and Financial Aid, Registration and Records)

Admissions Pros software and equipment required have been installed and staff training begun. The first cycle using single online scholarship application was completed. Changes addressing technical issues; student access windows; and clarification of students’ academic and program interests are in progress. Increased competition resulted in merit scholarship programs making more offers than previously to net the targeted awards.

Ad Astra, a scheduling software application, has been installed and implemented to facilitate classroom scheduling. A web distributed prerequisite check was developed as well as advising tools and new web-based tools for departmental scheduling officers that facilitate the input of course information.

Jenna McPhee joined the EMAS in the new position of Assistant Registrar for Athletic Eligibility. New office space was created during spring 2004 semester for the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management. All current EMAS units are operating with smaller staffs than many of our designated peers and most of the other large UNC System institutions. This will eventually translate into longer application processing times. The predictable result will be reduced competitiveness. Admissions, scholarships and financial aid also will be affected by this problem.

Critical needs will arise most quickly in Admissions as the combinations of several issues begin to affect our processes. A campus-wide discussion of a General Studies degree or general degrees in each college must move forward. Planning for the implementation of a new student administration system (presumably PeopleSoft) is needed. Staffing and operations cost considerations for the new Visitor Center must be considered. Attention to the space needs and aesthetic presentation of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions as the first impression for many prospective students and other visitors to the University remains a critical issue.

Equal Opportunity and Equity

Additional information about many of the items referenced below can be found on the website for the Office for Equal Opportunity (http://www.ncsu.edu/equal_op).

Priorities and goals were reestablished at this year’s OEO retreat, particularly in the areas of diversity, harassment prevention and resolution, exit interviews for faculty, providing reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities, faculty recruitment, and educating the university community about equal opportunity. OEO was able to provide support for equal opportunity and diversity programming co-sponsored with other university departments. It also assisted University Planning and Analysis in planning for and replicating the faculty salary equity study from 2001.

Particularly noteworthy collaborations included: The Office of Legal Affairs on PRR development and revisions and complaint resolutions; Information Technology Division in coordinating assistive and information technology efforts; Student Affairs in maintaining a campus affiliate chapter of the National Coalition Building Institute; DELTA, ITD, and the Libraries in developing the CCART compact plan initiative.

Ten NC State women participated in the BRIDGES program that is coordinated through this unit. OEO coordinated the Sloan Pre-Tenure Leave Fellowship Program at NC State for the fifth year of the university's commitment to this program.

NC State was represented on the Steering Committee of the University’s NCAA Self-Study Review Committee and had input to the NCAA Certification Peer Review Team, provided the chair of the Gender Equity Sub-Committee and authored the report on gender equity that is part of NC State University’s Self-Study Report.

OEO provided hiring departments with new tools to assist in the recruitment and hiring of employees. Collaborations with the Mayor's Committee on Persons with Disabilities, the Wake County Public Schools, the YWCA and the Division of Services for the Blind were efforts made this year to cultivate and maintain relationships with the University's external constituencies. Several sessions of the 5-hour "Building Bridges—Prejudice Reduction" workshops were held. OEO partnered with the YWCA to institutionalize the Study Circles on Race and Ethnic Relations Program at NC State. There were three rounds of Study Circles at NC State with over 30 participants.

While serving as Interim Vice Provost for Diversity & African American Affairs until October 2003 activities to enhance diversity included: serving on the University Diversity Advisory Committee; securing the speaker (Dr. Johnnetta Cole) and external funds ($20,000+) for the University-Community Brotherhood Dinner; identifying the speaker (Bernice King, Esq.) for the MLK, Jr. Birthday Commemoration program; serving on the planning committee for the Diversity; and developing the programming theme for the African American Cultural Center’s 2003-04 year (Brown v. Board of Education: A Catalyst for Change).

Disability Student Services worked with the Diagnostic Teaching Clinic (DTC) in the College of Education to facilitate a program review of the clinic. In conjunction with Creative Services, OEO developed and produced videos entitled "Preventing Harassment on Campus: It's Everyone's Responsibility" and “Hire the Best: Steps to Successful EPA Recruitment.”

Ms. Joanne Woodard serves as the campus liaison for two women’s organizations--Women Administrators in North Carolina Higher Education (WANCHE) and the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

Graduate School

Graduate enrollment reached an all-time high in Fall 2003 at 5665, as did enrollment of African American and female graduate students, at 455 and 1235, respectively. Financial support for increasing numbers of graduate students will be the primary challenge in meeting graduate enrollment projections for the next ten years, as well as for reaching the University’s goal of increasing graduate enrollment as a percentage of the total enrollment.

The Graduate School’s effort to increase financial support for graduate students and recruitment/retention programs has resulted in three new grants: $622,665 from the U.S. Department of Education for GAANN fellowships in biotechnology, another $622,655 for GAANN Fellowships in electronic materials, and $595,220 from NIGMS to continue the BRIDGE Program. Continuing grants from the NSF AGEP Program enabled the Graduate School to host its fifth Visit NC State Day, attended by 47 prospective graduate students from 26 colleges and universities, and to launch its fifth AGEP Summer Research Experience for 12 undergraduates from other universities and 13 undergraduates from NC State. As part of its NSF-funded OPT-ED program (a statewide coalition of NSF-funded programs to increase the number of minority Ph.D.s in science and engineering), the Graduate School held its second OPT-ED Alliance Day for approximately 500 participants. Rounding out recruiting and retention efforts were sponsorship of a graduate recruiting/retention proposal awards program, diversity funds awarded to 90 entering and continuing graduate students, revision of the recruiting CD, and attendance at 34 recruiting fairs for minority and first-generation college students.

Three new NC State Master's programs have been approved by the UNC Board of Governors. Two new Graduate Certificate programs were approved. Six program reviews were conducted and the Graduate School has begun to implement a revised graduate program review process.