Office of the Provost: 2005-2006 Annual Report
Dr. Larry A. Nielsen was appointed Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor effective July 11 after serving as Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor. Since July 1, the following appointments were made in the Provost's unit: Mary Easley, Executive-in-Residence, August 15; Nicole Lawrence, Administrative Officer, September 12; Amy Hays, Director, Visitors Center, November 1; Louis Hunt, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Services, February 1; Bailian Li, Interim Vice Provost for International Programs, March 1 (George Wilson returned to the Horticultural Science faculty December 31); Wendy Brown, Development Officer, March 1; Patti Clayton, Director, Service Learning Program, April 1; Vicki Pennington, Assistant Vice Provost, June 1; and Michael Rappa, Director, Initiative for Advanced Analytics, June 1.
Undergraduate Academic Programs
The Division of Undergraduate Academic Programs (DUAP) is charged with delivering a broad range of services to students in the campus community through information programs – the Virtual Advising Center (nearly 13,000 students served) and New Student Orientation more than 5500 students served; student adaptation programs – the First Year College (1126 students) and the Transition Program (160); academic support programs – the University Tutorial Center (11,162 Supplemental Instruction contacts, 8,305 hrs. of individual tutoring, over 4000 contacts in Physics & Math Center) and the Academic Support Program for Student Athletes (over 500 student athletes); and academic career enhancement programs – the University Honors Program, First Year Inquiry Courses, the Undergraduate Research Program (451 students), Undergraduate Fellowship Advising (over 204 students), and the Cooperative Education Program (approximately 1000 student rotations). Additionally the Division has responsibilities for facilitation of faculty based campus-wide functions that include the university courses and curriculum process, review of general education requirements, and undergraduate program review.
While providing these services DUAP maintains a focus on outcomes assessment. The Division’s Director of Assessment has worked with each DUAP unit to develop and utilize ongoing assessment plans. Program highlights include the completion of a ten-year assessment of the First Year College and an external review of the program by Dr. Betsy Barefoot of the National Resource Center for the First Year Experience.
Beyond the campus, this year DUAP hosted three important events. A new State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research Symposium, which invited participation from K-12, community colleges, as well as both public and private four year institutions; the 4 th Annual NCSU Undergraduate Assessment Symposium, which featured a special track on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning as well as a Community College track; and for the first time, a Conference on the Enhancement of Undergraduate Education, which brought together high school counselors, community college advisers and university advisers to discuss issues of access, transition, and success in higher education.
Enrollment Management and Services
Collaborations have increased the visibility and understanding of NC State among prospective students, their parents, and school officials, which leads to more applications and higher yields of talented students. The campus community was provided new services and improved quality and availability of data. We improved efficiency of financial aid disbursement, the development of new programs that ensure equal access to higher education, and redesigned existing programs to further the university’s enrollment objectives.
The most important development was the creation of the Pack Promise. A related initiative involved changes made to the Chancellor’s Leadership Scholarship. These two activities ensure that qualified applicants will be able to attend NC State regardless of their financial means. EMAS has also enhanced the functionality of its web-based information systems including: adding functionality to the registration system that allows students to log course requests; working with Student Affairs to make student photographs available to faculty through online class rolls; and, development toward a system to provide high school counselors the ability to check the admission status of their students online. EMAS is also working with the Division of Finance and Business to implement an entirely new student information system; the scope of this project rivals that of any other IT project in the institution’s history.
Investment in the quality of our publications and communications is positively impacting the number of applications being received and overall yields of students accepted to NC State. Efforts to increase community outreach have resulted in the creation of a high school teaching award and a partnership with Wake County Public Schools that encourages the academic aspirations of low-income students. Unprecedented levels of investment and collaboration have laid the groundwork for data-driven decision and marketing strategies. These strategies will ensure that NC State attracts the finest students and that they graduate in a timely manner with the least amount of debt possible.
Graduate School
The Graduate School continues its proactive approach to recruiting, especially from underrepresented groups. We provide funding for departmental recruiting proposals (~$250K since 2001), have developed a recruiting CD (~8,000 copies distributed), attend recruiting fairs, promote our graduate programs through talks at selected universities, sponsor “Visit NC State Day” each spring, and hold a research symposium each summer. Partly due to these activities, graduate enrollment (on-campus and DE) in Fall 2005 was at an all-time high of 6128, a 2.5% increase from Fall 2004. Doctoral enrollment increased by 7 %, international by more than 4%, African American by 2.7%, and Hispanic American by 9.3%. An estimated 1832 graduate degrees were awarded in 2005-06 (367 doctoral and 1465 master’s), up from 1662 degrees awarded in 2004-05 (340 doctoral and 1322 master’s).
Besides managing portable fellowships from NSF, EPA, NASA, etc., the Graduate School administered institutionally awarded GAANN Fellowships in Computational Science, Biotechnology, and Electronic Materials, as well as NSF IGERT traineeships in Genomic Sciences. The fellowship funds managed by the Graduate School totaled ~ $2.7 million for 196 students. Approximately $2.2 million was awarded to students from underrepresented groups.
The Graduate School continued and expanded professional development programs for graduate students and faculty: first annual graduate student research symposium (with the UGSA-72 presentations from 9 colleges and 41 graduate programs); Preparing the Professoriate; the fourth annual undergraduate summer research symposium (with assistance of Undergraduate Academic Programs-125 students from 31 universities, 16 states and Puerto Rico); NSF-funded statewide mentoring workshop (with UNC-CH and NC A&T – 78 participants from 11 NC institutions); “OPT-ED Alliance Day” to promote diversity in Ph.D. programs and among faculty (with UNC-CH and NC A&T-525 middle school through Ph.D. students from 26 institutions); and Summer and academic-year seminars on preparation for and success in graduate school.
NCSU Libraries
The NCSU Libraries Annual Report may be found at the following link:
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/administration/annreports/report0506.html
International Affairs
The Office of International Affairs’ website was re-designed as the Resource Center to faculty, student and staff. The GlobalEyes newsletter was initiated and will be published regularly. The International Operations Council (IOC) and the Committee of International Programs (CIP) were involved in these new initiatives, as a part of the comprehensive strategic plan for internationalization of NC State University. Development of international campuses was initiated with the University of Concepcion in Chile and Zhejiang University in China. More than a dozen new international agreements with overseas partners were signed. Collaboration with the UNC system-wide University Council on International Programs as well as the new International Activities Council of participating ACC schools continues.
Study abroad enrollments were up 9.3% (675 to 738 total; 610 to 667 NC State students only). Of the 667 NC State students, 74% chose summer or short-term programs, while 26% participated in semester length or academic year programs. The Global Training Initiative has begun to take shape; the launch is scheduled for Fall 2006. A major review of internal procedures, forms, and responsibilities was carried out. Overseas applications for both undergraduates and graduates have increased and collaboration with admissions units continues. A Student Fee for international mobility and globalization at NCSU was proposed. This campus-based international education fee is to support student mobility, including travel grants for UNC students studying abroad, international students studying on NCSU campuses, and other University sponsored international activities.
Our international offices conducted diversity and cross-cultural workshops on campus, hosted a passport application day, and facilitated community and school presentations that impacted more than 1,000 Wake County school children.
Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA)
Total credit hours delivered in NC State’s DE courses and degree programs increased from 29,685 in 2004-05 to 38,729 in 2005-06, a 30.5% increase. DELTA supported the development and launch of a new EdD program in Adult and Higher Education at the UNC-Charlotte Graduate Center. Two new Masters programs will launch in the fall of 2006: an MBA program delivered at RTP and an MS in Human Development and Family Studies, and a joint program with UNC-Greensboro.
The WebCT Vista project moved to full production, including a major system upgrade from Vista version 3 to version 4. In the spring semester, approximately half of all NC State students took one or more courses using WebCT as a learning management system. Daily usage averaged 4-5,000 logins during peak activity periods.
Additional activities of note: A pilot project with NC School of Science and Mathematics - 12 NCSSM students enrolled in DE courses for spring, 24 NCSSM students plan to enroll for fall 2006 DE courses; Hurricane Katrina-displaced students - 20 enrollments in DE courses for fall 05 semester; DE student virtual orientation completed and available online at http://distance.ncsu.edu/virtual_orientation/index.html; DE Assistant Director for Assessment and Diversity hired - in development are outreach activities with school districts, a middle school leadership program, and Department of Corrections education; Assessment activities - new online DE student survey, online DE faculty survey, arrangements on request for online UEI for DE courses; a direct digital feed to Time Warner Cable was established for delivering courses via cable TV; DELTA hosted a contingent of VIPs from NC military bases for Military Appreciation Day; in collaboration with ECU, DELTA supported the establishment of the Gateway Technology Center in Rocky Mount.
Diversity and African American Affairs
The Office for Diversity and African American Affairs (ODAAA ) later this acronym is ODAAA-pick one and use consistently) continued its efforts to help create a diverse and inclusive campus community. This year NC State welcomed Dr. Fred Hord as Director of the African American Cultural Center and Professor of Africana Studies at NC State. NCSU became the new home for the national Association for Black Culture Centers (ABCC). Dr. Marcia Gumpertz, Professor of Statistics at NC State, was appointed the new Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Diversity. Dr. Gumpertz will also lead the ODAAA diversity assessment and strategic planning efforts. Two new initiatives to increase interaction among diverse people on campus were launched this year. The first initiative involved the successful establishment of the Provost’s Student Diversity Council and the second initiative involved revitalization of the African American Faculty and Staff Association.
To promote increased faculty diversity, the ODAAA hosted its first annual Building Future Faculty Program. Ten future faculty candidates were invited to visit NC State, meet faculty and senior staff, tour the campus and the Raleigh Durham area and learn what it would be like to be a faculty member at NC State University.
The ODAAA, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Office for Equal Opportunity and Equity partnered to offer the campus a diversity education experience called “Opening Doors.” To increase funding for diversity programs, the ODAAA launched two new activities, “Friends of Diversity,” a membership program seeking to invite corporate and alumni donors to support diversity at NC State, and ”Patron Mail” an e-marketing and information service.
Equal Opportunity and Equity
The Raleigh-Wake Chapter of the Human Resource Management Association and the Triangle Industry Liaison Group presented OEO with the 2005 Diversity Award for “outstanding diversity initiatives.” OEO received a Community Grant from IBM to sponsor the Sight, Sound and Motion Workshop designed to increase awareness regarding the impact of disabilities on navigating the university campus. The NC State Student Diversity Council recognized two OEO staff members (Joanne Woodard and Beverly Jones Williams) for “outstanding efforts to promote diversity on campus.” Examples of diversity outreach activities are: Equal Opportunity Institute had 28 graduates completing the 30-hour certificate program, including external participants from RTP companies such as IBM; The BASIC race awareness seminar for 34 faculty and staff was held at the Aqueduct Conference Center in Chapel Hill; sponsored the campus affiliate chapter of the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) and trained six new facilitators to present the “Building Bridges” diversity workshop; Twenty-three Building Bridges workshops were presented to 560 participants; seven sessions of the 5-week “Study Circles on Race and Race Relations” program were presented to 65 participants; developed and offered “Dismantling Racism,” an advanced level of Study Circles. Beverly Jones Williams presented on NC State’s Study Circles program at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE). OEO is partnering with Diversity & African American Affairs and the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences to offer the 3-day Opening Doors diversity workshop to faculty and staff.
Twenty-five search committee orientations and an equal opportunity institute at the State University of New York at Albany were presented. Ninety-one h arassment prevention educational programs were given to over 8,000 participants and Disability Services Office (DSO) staff presented 29 workshops to over 9,000 people with most of the workshops focusing on providing accommodations to students with disabilities. OEO made available online versions of its harassment prevention training and search committee orientation training. The revision of the resolution procedures for harassment complaints was completed. OEO consolidated disability compliance activities in DSO, formerly known as Disability Services for Students.
The full version of the Office for Equal Opportunity Annual Report, 2005-06 is available on the OEO website at http://www.ncsu.edu/equal_op/pubs.html.
Credit Programs & Summer Sessions
Enrollment for the 2005 Summer Sessions totaled 12,804 students. This included 1966 Lifelong Education (LLE) students.
LLE enrollment in on-campus and distance education courses averaged 2878 students per semester (Fall and Spring). Individuals admitted to NC State degree programs from Lifelong Education status numbered 932. Distance Education enrollment averaged 3735 students per semester. Among these 3735 students, 1330 were Lifelong Education students. Proctoring services were provided for 6775 examinations, up 43.9% from last year.
Enrollment support was provided for sixty individuals from nine institutions impacted by the two hurricanes that devastated portions of the Gulf Coast region in fall, 2005.
Information Technology Division (ITD)
The Princeton Review named NC State among the “Top 25 Most Connected Campuses” for 2005. ITD services such as the campus secure wireless network, the cutting-edge Virtual Computing Lab, pod casting, handheld computing and other innovative learning technologies contributed to this ranking. Among other highlights, the High Performance Computing Partners Program received $220,000 from the US Army Research Office and again more than doubled in computing capacity. The SAS grant program was extended another year for an additional $250,000. Advancing IT accessibility, “Web Page Accessibility Regulation” became official. ITD created a new Information Security department, and launched a campus-wide project to improve identity and authentication management processes
Among ITD’s efforts to ensure the relevance and efficiency of services, Systems retired POP email services, created a new online campus directory system, and launched a 2-year project to develop the next-generation Unity computing environment. The Unity authentication system was extended to serve administrative applications. The NC State Help Desk moved to a new location and technical support was enhanced for campus IT staff and computer users. Free IT training was expanded for students and new employees; staff spent over 275 hours on ITD’s innovative New Student Orientation activities. The Class Tech program more than doubled. Collaborative purchases and software license negotiations saved the campus well over $150,000.
Bill Padgett retired after 22 years of service to NC State. Stan North Martin was promoted to Director of Computing Services, and Jeff Webster was named Director of Information Security. “Computing Essentials@NC State” won the Special Interest Group for University and College Computing Services competition in the computing services websites category, and Dickran Parunak received a Provost’s Award for Excellence. ITD staff participated in numerous regional and international professional conferences and consortia