Accomplishments as Chair

This is my "Things To Do" list, partly done and partly yet to do.

I'm pleased to acknowledge the energy, skill, and enthusiasm of G&ES faculty, who participated in more than 50 faculty meetings in three years, reassessing where we are, deciding where we want to be, and figuring out how to get there.

When I realized the scope of the task I took a training workshop on Access and then created this relational database that puts out reports of all kinds. It was instrumental in many of the initiatives over the past three years. The main tables of the database are:

1. Faculty data
2. Student data
3. Course data
4. Schedules

It so happens that the Program Review was due the year I became chairperson. That gave me the opportunity (and responsibility) to look deeply into our data, assess our current state and trajectory and inform the changes which we set about making. I called it a "Stragetic Plan" instead of a program review. It was about 30 pages in length.

When I studied the Master Course List I was shocked to find 175 courses on the books! We looked at these carefully as a faculty and deleted more than 80 which we felt we did not and would not need. We renumbered about a dozen, taking them out of the hidden "titles varies" and giving them their own number for the catalog. The content of many courses were reconsidered and sometimes reconstituted. And we added about 8 new courses to fill important gaps.

We established new program requirements for each of our degree programs: Geography, Enviromental Studies, and G&ES M.A. These were so deep that the University changed the codes on our undergraduate majors. The changes will better serve students in the 21st Century. The requirements had not been changed in at least 20 years.

Also, we scrapped all the old prerequisites -- which had not been enforced by the University system until 2007 (and frankly, were best ignored). In their place we set a new sequence of prerequisites which will better prepare our students for advanced work. It was a delicate task, because prerequisite holds can really slow a student's progress. But we established a good set, I think.

We hired two new faculty members -- one to head the Environmental Studies program and one to create and lead the GIS Certificate Programs.

The GIS Certificates for undergraduates and for graduates have been well received -- we expect them to be fully implemented Fall of 2009. I played the role of advisor only in this effort.

In terms of scheduling, the crowning achievement of the faculty is probably the repeating schedule of classes for each faculty member such that all programs are delivered in a timely way, at appropriate sequencing, in required times of day, still with reasonable faculty schedules, tapping faculty expertise and interests, in the correct term by the right person. Schedules still need "tweaking," but they pretty much write themselves.

Internship procedures are now formalized to require what was normally (but not always) provided: close supervision by employer-supervisor, fair assessment, continual feedback, and end reports which capsulize the experience for the benefit of the student him/herself, and for other students looking for their own internship.

Summer rotation schedule had been very complex. A standardized one -- pretty much set in stone by Academic Affairs -- is now in place.

I've written a 45-page undergraduate student handbook/pamphlet and a similar one for graduate students, and another for faculty members. These are indexed for quick reference, and are updated regularly. I print about 10 at a time so they are always current.

We've resumed burning of the Prairies on campus over the past three years, recently in cooperation with Biology which has a legitimate interest in the prairie patches as well. and I wrote a pamphlet to make all the permitting, announcements, equipment gathering, etc. easier in the future.

Wild Things Conference came to NEIU twice in a row. This major conference drew more than a thousand to campus for concurrent sessions on all manner of environmental issues.

The Department pulled together a picnic get-together at the end of summer, which we expect will be an annual event.

Our classroom is being renovated, with a ceiling projector, new screen, cleaned and organized cabinets, wider blackboard, and more organized maps. For as long as I can remember, that room was a mess!

All new computers in the two computer labs. A reorganized storage system such that a previous storage room will be available to students for group projects. Currently underway. We're working out the system to update the software in those rooms efficiently, with an on-demand network download image refresh.

Since we have revised the graduate program (though the paperwork has yet to be filed), the next initiative is publicity and promotion. To that end, I wrote an 8-page newsletter which I hope to make annual, put together a high-profile display case complete with a digital picture frame slideshow, brochures for each of the programs, and rewrote the flyers which University Advisement gives to students.