From the Provost

July 2, 2007
Volume 1 Issue 2

---

A Message From the Provost

Dear Colleague,

Heartened by many positive responses to the first “From the Provost” newsletter, I am pleased to release the second, with the hope that this venue will prove to be an effective, durable way stay in touch with the campus on developments that affect us all. This issue presents an update on a key initiative in the campus Strategic Plan – the formation of the Illinois Informatics Initiative. An exemplary instance of what can develop when enterprising faculty from across the campus get together to think creatively, the Informatics Initiative will help make Illinois a world leader in interdisciplinary research and teaching in informatics.  Also included is a brief report on a recent retreat to assess the progress of strategic planning in the academic colleges and in campus administrative units. I would especially like to call your attention to the observations on the formation of the new Campus Center for Advising and Academic Services, which we believe will build on and expand what has been the excellent work of the LAS General Curriculum Center. As we increasingly recognize the importance of the advising we provide students, particularly those at early stages of their enrollment at Illinois, we must put in place practices that meet that need. We believe the new Campus Center is an important step in that direction.

Sincerely,
Linda Katehi

Campus Center for Advising and Academic Services

With the beginning of the fall term, the Campus Center for Advising and Academic Services will open its doors to students who wish to explore their academic options before declaring a major, as well as for some who are in transition between colleges or majors. Within the new Center, the Division of General Studies will assume responsibility for students who, in the past, were affiliated with the award-winning LAS General Curriculum Center (GCC). The new Center will be located on the fifth floor of the Illini Union Bookstore building and the Division will report directly to the Office of the Provost.

The Division’s clientele will represent the full cross-section of academic interests and preparation found among undergraduates on campus. To sustain this comprehensive reach serving diverse student audiences, the Division will enhance service levels associated with admissions, honors, and providing academic assistance. In addition, several advisors will, in the next few years, take on new program coordinator roles, such as overseeing probation programs, satellite advising, and enhancing services aimed at promoting academic success through graduation across all campus disciplines. All students affiliated with the Division must transfer to degree-granting curricula in our existing colleges in a timely manner. No student may graduate from the Division’s “undeclared” curriculum, and no faculty will hold Center or Division appointments.

As part of the campus’ strategic plan to strengthen “essential academic services, such as access to advising and mentoring,” the Center’s campus-wide mission is expected to assist all undergraduates in exploring and making informed decisions about academic programs, to ease the transfer process, and to increase the variety of curricula to which students have access. In doing so, the Center will contribute to the campus’ commitment to reduce average time to degree, increase the six-year graduation rate, and foster greater satisfaction with the Illinois undergraduate experience.

The effort to define and implement the Center’s mission has unfolded in several stages. In Fall 2006, a committee with representation from six academic colleges, Student Affairs, and the Urbana Senate evaluated and supported the Campus Center concept. In Spring 2007, several groups charged by the Provost explored how best to effect the transition of staff and activity from GCC to the Center. That transition is now underway, and the Center’s academic professional staff will begin advising some 3,700 new and continuing students in the new location this August. Other developments include formation of an advisory board that is representative of the Center’s many campus constituencies. A grand opening celebration is planned for early fall semester.

Updates on Strategic Planning

Campus Strategic Planning Retreat

On May 11, 2007, over 60 senior leaders representing over 30 colleges/units gathered to discuss the ongoing efforts to implement the campus’ strategic plan. This strategic planning retreat will be an annual event hosted by Chancellor Richard Herman and Provost Linda Katehi. Each of the colleges/units presented posters highlighting their top goals, initiatives and key accomplishments. Significant progress has been made towards implementing the strategic plan. To enable the institution to achieve its goals, the group identified opportunities, challenges and critical next steps across six key areas of focus related to academic excellence, students, development, facilities and services, our academic identify and international activities.  The Council of Deans and others will be using this input going forward to guide its implementation activities. More information about the strategic planning process can be found at www.strategicplan.uiuc.edu.

Illinois Informatics Initiative (I³)

Information Technology (IT) is fast changing our society – changing the way we play or interact with each other, acquire information, pursue scientific research or do our work; it has increased the productivity of our economy and has enabled new collaboration models that cross organizational boundaries and bridge time and space. The Illinois Informatics Initiative mission is to ensure that the University plays a leading role in this transformation and benefits from it.

In education, the Informatics Initiative will ensure that a basic understanding of Computation and Information Sciences (CIS), and the ability to use IT tools, become part of the intellectual competence of most Illinois students; it will encourage interdisciplinary programs where students acquire both a deep knowledge of CIS and a deep knowledge of an IT application domain – ranging from sciences (bioinformatics), medicine (medical informatics), to fine arts (games and multimedia).

In research, the Informatics Initiative will encourage interdisciplinary research in applications of IT to various disciplines and in the use of the insights of social sciences to build better IT systems and understand their societal impact.

The Informatics Initiative will ensure a close interaction between interdisciplinary research and education programs that involve CIS; it will be a virtual organization, bringing together students, faculty and staff from various units across campus. It will use its own technology to facilitate the workings of such a virtual organization, and will encourage the deployment of advanced collaboration and information management technologies on campus. It will promote new organization models for research and education on campus that are more flexible than our current models.

IT is quickly changing the so-called “knowledge industries;” the University, whose main mission is to generate and impart knowledge, will be profoundly affected by this change. While it is hard to predict the details of the change, it is safe to predict that Informatics, and initiatives such as this, will be key to our future success.

For more details, see www.informatics.uiuc.edu.

Feedback

To provide feedback or unsubscribe from the Provost's Newsletter please contact provost@illinois.edu.