ISU Board of Trustees approves budget request, cyber security program

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The Illinois State University Board of Trustees discussed an appropriated budget request and approval to a cybersecurity program during Friday’s meeting in the Prairie Room of the Bone Student Center.

The eight-member board, with the addition of ISU President Larry Dietz, began with a discussion featuring a police conversation and members of the Student Government Association, President Kyle Walsh and President of Assembly Daniel Heylin.

The two discussed the association’s past, present and future initiatives.

“I truly believe that we have one of the strongest student government associations in the country,” Walsh said.

After the discussion, the Board of Trustees began its meeting. Dietz remarked on the success of this year’s Homecoming Week, student enrollment numbers, donations received and scholarships awarded.

He also touched base on budgetary matters. On April 22, ISU received over $20 million in stopgap funding and an additional $38 million on June 30.

“I know that we all look forward to getting the November election behind us, and dare I say, we really look forward to getting the November election behind us,” Dietz said. “We anticipate talks with the [Illinois] General Assembly regarding budgetary and other matters. I know that many of us don’t expect on Nov. 9 the heavens are going to open and cash is going to pour out on us, but nevertheless, we will start these talks again.”

“Many of our sister institutions in Illinois are acutely feeling the impact of the budget crisis, but I can report that Illinois State remains strong and stable,” he added.”

The board’s list of resolutions covered a wide range of matters. Members approved a fiscal year 2018 appropriated operating budget request of $79.5 million and a capital appropriation request of $292.6 million. The requests will be formally submitted to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

The capital appropriation request includes five major capital projects, which are the Milner Library rehabilitation project, the Mennonite College of Nursing building, rehabilitation and construction of the College of Education buildings, the construction of a larger facility for University High School and the Williams Hall renovation. The two capital renewal projects total about $3.1 million and include window and door replacements at Metcalf Elementary School, Fairchild Hall and Rachel Cooper Hall and replacing emergency generators.

The Board of Trustees also approved the creation of an undergraduate degree in cyber security. It will be administered through the School of Information Technology.

Dietz said the program would address a growing need in the field.

“This programmatic request is in response to the increasing national demand for information security specialists. In fact, several local companies have been asking for this type of program,” Dietz said. “A [bachelor of science] in cyber security will help students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for protecting information and information systems.”

The 80-credit hour degree is an extension of the existing information assurance and security sequence within the School of Information Technology. Enrollment in the major is expected to total 125 students once it is finalized and fully implemented.

Other approved resolutions include repainting dorm rooms in Watterson’s south tower, repairs to the North University Street parking garage, purchasing Apple computer products for resale and renaming the former Educational Administration Building as the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning. The building, located at North Street and Fell Avenue, will be the university’s center dedicated to civic engagement and service learning initiatives.

Board members also highlighted an all-trustee training session that took place Thursday in Chicago, sponsored by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

“It did provide us with some insightful information and gave us the chance to interact with our colleagues at other universities,” chairperson Rocky Donahue said.

Board member Jay Bergman was able to initiate a new trustee meeting schedule for the future during the trip.

“I was involved in overseeing some of the discussions and one thing I mentioned yesterday was the community college boards, which have the Community College Trustees Association, they meet with themselves periodically…and they share information about the different community colleges. The public universities’ trustees are in a vacuum,” Bergman said.

“The meeting that we had yesterday was the first one we had in seven or eight years. My role on the [Illinois] Board of Higher Education, I asked for a show of hands of how many people would like to have at least an annual all-trustees meeting and virtually everybody raised their hand. We will be having all public university trustee meetings moving forward,” he added.

ISU Board of Trustees approves budget request, cyber security program

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The Illinois State University Board of Trustees discussed an appropriated budget request and approval to a cybersecurity program during Friday’s meeting in the Prairie Room of the Bone Student Center.

The eight-member board, with the addition of ISU President Larry Dietz, began with a discussion featuring a police conversation and members of the Student Government Association, President Kyle Walsh and President of Assembly Daniel Heylin.

The two discussed the association’s past, present and future initiatives.

“I truly believe that we have one of the strongest student government associations in the country,” Walsh said.

After the discussion, the Board of Trustees began its meeting. Dietz remarked on the success of this year’s Homecoming Week, student enrollment numbers, donations received and scholarships awarded.

He also touched base on budgetary matters. On April 22, ISU received over $20 million in stopgap funding and an additional $38 million on June 30.

“I know that we all look forward to getting the November election behind us, and dare I say, we really look forward to getting the November election behind us,” Dietz said. “We anticipate talks with the [Illinois] General Assembly regarding budgetary and other matters. I know that many of us don’t expect on Nov. 9 the heavens are going to open and cash is going to pour out on us, but nevertheless, we will start these talks again.”

“Many of our sister institutions in Illinois are acutely feeling the impact of the budget crisis, but I can report that Illinois State remains strong and stable,” he added.”

The board’s list of resolutions covered a wide range of matters. Members approved a fiscal year 2018 appropriated operating budget request of $79.5 million and a capital appropriation request of $292.6 million. The requests will be formally submitted to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

The capital appropriation request includes five major capital projects, which are the Milner Library rehabilitation project, the Mennonite College of Nursing building, rehabilitation and construction of the College of Education buildings, the construction of a larger facility for University High School and the Williams Hall renovation. The two capital renewal projects total about $3.1 million and include window and door replacements at Metcalf Elementary School, Fairchild Hall and Rachel Cooper Hall and replacing emergency generators.

The Board of Trustees also approved the creation of an undergraduate degree in cyber security. It will be administered through the School of Information Technology.

Dietz said the program would address a growing need in the field.

“This programmatic request is in response to the increasing national demand for information security specialists. In fact, several local companies have been asking for this type of program,” Dietz said. “A [bachelor of science] in cyber security will help students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for protecting information and information systems.”

The 80-credit hour degree is an extension of the existing information assurance and security sequence within the School of Information Technology. Enrollment in the major is expected to total 125 students once it is finalized and fully implemented.

Other approved resolutions include repainting dorm rooms in Watterson’s south tower, repairs to the North University Street parking garage, purchasing Apple computer products for resale and renaming the former Educational Administration Building as the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning. The building, located at North Street and Fell Avenue, will be the university’s center dedicated to civic engagement and service learning initiatives.

Board members also highlighted an all-trustee training session that took place Thursday in Chicago, sponsored by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

“It did provide us with some insightful information and gave us the chance to interact with our colleagues at other universities,” chairperson Rocky Donahue said.

Board member Jay Bergman was able to initiate a new trustee meeting schedule for the future during the trip.

“I was involved in overseeing some of the discussions and one thing I mentioned yesterday was the community college boards, which have the Community College Trustees Association, they meet with themselves periodically…and they share information about the different community colleges. The public universities’ trustees are in a vacuum,” Bergman said.

“The meeting that we had yesterday was the first one we had in seven or eight years. My role on the [Illinois] Board of Higher Education, I asked for a show of hands of how many people would like to have at least an annual all-trustees meeting and virtually everybody raised their hand. We will be having all public university trustee meetings moving forward,” he added.

State support continues to drop, according to the College Board. bit.ly/2fj8eDm #comm_college

State support continues to drop, according to the College Board. https://t.co/6EzFvM7RTt #comm_college pic.twitter.com/pXaWVExnGC

— comm_college (@Comm_College) October 27, 2016

AssocofCommColleges @Comm_College

State support continues to drop, according to the College Board. bit.ly/2fj8eDm #comm_college

Town and gown: SIUE, Madison County form partnership to link campus and community

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Consider a student who may be weary of strict academic lectures and wants to see where all of this classroom learning is going to fit into the real world.

Then consider a business owner who wants to find new ideas and new energy but isn’t sure where to look.

A new cooperative program between Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and Madison County hopes to match the expertise of academia with the needs of business and the community to make all sides stronger and more successful.

And keeping newly minted college grads in the community can’t hurt.

“We have a brain trust here at SIUE,” said Alan Dunstan, who has been head of the Madison County board since 2002. “As students graduate from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, we like them to stay in the community where they got their degree and actually see a lot of opportunities here.”

The town-gown discussions began during last year’s tenure of interim SIUE Chancellor Steve Hansen. When Randy Pembrook became chancellor in August, he brought with him experience in working with the community from his days as chief academic officer at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan.

There, he said, it was important for the school to reach out to the city and the county, which provided a big share of its funding. He emphasized that experience when he was interviewing for the SIUE job, and when he arrived he was pleased to find a similar partnership attitude starting in Edwardsville.

“I got to jump on a moving train,” Pembrook said.

Where that train is headed, both men said, is toward greater collaboration and a shared sense of progress.

“You have the students at a university that are thinking about, reflecting on the challenges within a community,” Pembrook said. “Then you find the partners that want to be a part of that, whether that’s a business or a social services agency. And you figure out ways to have the students, on a day-to-day basis, doing the things that they’re learning about, whether it’s applying engineering techniques, whether it’s dealing with psychology issues.

“Those are the things I think make for exciting programs, and it’s a way to keep our students in the area.”

It’s also a way to fulfill the obligations of a school like SIUE, he added.

“I think public universities have an obligation, a responsibility to be partners in communities,” Pembrook said. “So it fits very well with our mission, which is shaping a changing world. I challenge young people: What is it you want to shape, and how are you going to do that?”

Hard times, new direction

The fiscal crisis in Illinois education and elsewhere also is a factor in making sure resources are used as widely and as efficiently as possible.

“We have challenges in Illinois,” Pembrook said. “So to kind of evolve where the partnership also involves communities and businesses is a great next step. For a long time, I think it’s been largely the university and the state, the government funding.”

Added Dunstan:

“Let’s face it. We are in the state of Illinois that has some very big financial problems today, and it does affect college. What we want to do is put a little recognition on SIUE. This college is here. Everyone knows it’s here. Let’s continue to sell it as a great institution.”

To do that, Pembrook said, the college has to sell what it does best: creating and spreading knowledge.

“Historically,” he said, “we relied on information that existed, and that’s what we taught from. When you think of how quickly the world is changing now, I think a lot of faculty members realize that what is going on right now – in technology, in industry, that has a direct bearing on what students should be learning. I think faculty are broadening the way they think of the educational experience.

“People learn more quickly when they actually have a chance to apply things. So I think pedagogy is changing from the idea of the professor having all the information to the professor creating situations to that people can practice their skills, so they can reflect on what they’re doing. I think that’s where the community model is so good.”

And that model works best, Pembrook said, when you put together the kind of group that SIUE and Madison County is working with.

“One of the most difficult parts of this,” he said, “is that you have to have the right people in the room talking about the right potential projects. Someone has to be thinking about how do we get this person from this business and this person from this particular department together to make those connections. And once you have those individuals in the room, I think it flows very naturally.”

The new partnership is still getting organized, both men said, with more people expressing interest all the time. How will its success ultimately be judged?

Pembrook said by looking at internships for students, partnerships with businesses or government agencies and how often faculty members are sought out for their expertise.

And Dunstan has a stretch goal that could put the county up there with other centers of innovation.

“Let’s just say that we have someone that starts a business in a garage, like Microsoft or a company like that,” he said, “and they’re able to use SIU faculty and students to help that program. And all of a sudden they mushroom into that next technology thing that nobody even knows what it’s going to be, and it stays here locally.

“With the job opportunities for SIUE students, it’s just a tremendous opportunity that we’re trying to do here. I’d just love to see the next Microsoft or the next Apple or something come right out of Madison County, Illinois, with the help of SIUE, and just see it grow. It would be tremendous.”

To help make that happen, Pembrook has one message for people looking for solutions:

“What are your issues? Let us know, and we’ll work on them together.”

Follow Dale on Twitter: @dalesinger

Illinois College Students Rally For Fully-Funded Public Higher Education

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CHICAGO (CBS)– About 100 college students from schools across the Chicago area marched on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago on Monday afternoon and then held a rally in front of the Art Institute calling for fully-funded public higher education in Illinois, WBBM’s Terry Keshner reports.

Specifically, the students from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Northwestern, UIC, University of Chicago, Roosevelt, Moraine Valley Community College and other schools say many public schools and colleges are under-funded.  They want more funding through programs like MAP Grants (Monetary Award Program (MAP) provides grants, which do not need to be repaid, to Illinois residents who attend approved Illinois colleges and demonstrate financial need.)

21-year-old Esau Chavez is an organizer with Chicago Street and Action and a student at IIT.

He told WBBM, “We’re specifically here at the Art Institute because we want to target museum trustee Ken Griffin who here is seen as a very charitable man, whereas he is funding the Republican agenda to dismantle public services and higher education.”

Egle Malinauskaite  (Agala Mal-innoh-sky-tuh) is a student at IIT with Chicago Student Action and an undocumented Lithuanian immigrant.

She says Chicago businessman Ken Griffin should convince Governor Rauner to do more to help students.

“He (Griffin) has given millions of dollars to his (Rauner’s) campaign to push an agenda that would cut public services like education that students like myself need.  And I’m angry about it!  A lot of students are affected by this.”

WBBM has reached out to Ken Griffin’s office in Chicago for comment.

New Report Finds Student Debt on the Rise Across Illinois, US

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Student debt for Illinois grads has increased by more than $5,400 since 2010, according to a new national report.

Student debt is on the rise across Illinois and much of the country, a new national report has found, but the number of students graduating with debt actually saw a slight decline here in the Prairie State.

The average Illinois senior graduating from a four-year public college or university in 2015 did so with $29,305 in debt – a jump of more than $5,400 since 2010 – according to the Institute for College Access and Success’ Student Debt and the Class of 2015 report released earlier this week.

That’s the 19th-highest average for any state, but the proportion of Illinois students graduating with any debt – 66 percent in 2015 – is tied for the eighth-highest rank in the U.S.

While that figure represents a drop of 4 percent since 2013, when seven in 10 Illinois grads faced student debts, it’s actually up 8 percent since 2008. The report does note state averages from year to year may not be “directly comparable” due to changes in the number of colleges choosing to publish debt information.

On the whole, Illinois is performing better than the national average for student debt ($30,100 – up 4 percent over 2014) and graduates with debt (68 percent).

Students graduating from MacMurray College ($40,497) in Jacksonville, Illinois, saw the highest debt on average statewide, according to the report, followed by Rockford University ($38,400) and Illinois Wesleyan University ($35,219).

Despite annual tuition costs of nearly $50,000, graduates of the University of Chicago and Northwestern University actually saw some of the smallest debt averages in the state, at $21,291 and $23,051, respectively.

In 2015, 66 percent of Illinois students graduated from a four-year public college or university with debt.

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One possible fix to rising debt totals, at least at a state level, is an effort from state Rep. Will Guzzardi who earlier this year launched “Tuition Free Illinois” – an initiative seeking to make public colleges and universities free for all in-state students.

“I know this isn’t going to be a short-term, immediate, easy fight for us,” he said. “But I really think that we have to start changing the conversation, not only about higher ed, but about the future of our state.”

Guzzardi, a Chicago Democrat in his first legislative term, said rising student debt across the state was one of the main drivers behind this plan.

He hopes to cover the $2 billion price tag estimate for the program through progressive tax reforms at the state level – Guzzardi believes a tax structure targeting wealthy corporations similar to Wisconsin’s would net an extra $11 billion in state revenue each year – and instituting a 3 percent “Millionaire Tax” on residents with an income greater than $1 million.

“We could pay down our current crisis, we could pay back our backlog of unpaid bills, we could invest in our pensions, we could build new infrastructure,” he said, “and we could also provide accessible higher education for everybody with an income tax structure like that.”

Guzzardi plans to introduce legislation to the state Legislature next spring. But there will likely be major roadblocks along the way.

With lengthy tax reforms and a possible amendment to the state constitution needed, Guzzardi understands he’s facing a “multiyear battle” with Gov. Bruce Rauner and other state leaders to secure revenue options.

Until then, he plans to work on intermediate milestones – increasing community college accessibility or reworking the way Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants are funded – to help cut down tuition costs and student debt.

“The next step is we’re going to take this show on the road,” he said. “We’re going to go to college communities across the state and build a network of people who are fired up and engaged and ready to work on it, and when the legislative session starts, we’re going to activate those folks and get them involved in making this vision a reality.”

Follow Matt Masterson on Twitter: @byMattMasterson

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New State Bill Seeking to Cut Remediation in Higher Education

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June 23: The University of Chicago’s startup accelerator and entrepreneurship center lands a multimillion-dollar gift to expand. Meet the alumni donor and the center’s director.

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Republican Reggie Phillips Running For 2nd Term In 110th Illinois House District

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St. Rep. Reggie Phillips (R-Charleston), in the office of his construction business, Unique Homes, in Charleston.

As he seeks a second term in the Illinois House, Republican lawmaker Reggie Phillips is hoping that the election of a few more Republicans will lead to a breakthrough on a balanced state budget next year.

The Charleston builder represents the 110th House District, which includes Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

Phillips is running for a second term in the 110th House District, which stretches from the Charleston-Mattoon area east to the Indiana border, including the towns of Marshall and Robinson. His opoonent is Charleston Democrat Dennis Malak.

Phillips faced criticism last spring when he voted against a Democratic bill for higher education funding. Phillips says he’s ready to support a state income tax increase to provide the funding — but only if it’s paired with reforms from Governor Bruce Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda. There’s been no agreement on that in Springfield this year. So Phillips told Illinois Public Media’s Jim Meadows he had to vote no — and and faced criticism that he considers unfair.

Republican Reggie Phillips Running For 2nd Term In 110th Illinois House District

http://ift.tt/2dsupBU

St. Rep. Reggie Phillips (R-Charleston), in the office of his construction business, Unique Homes, in Charleston.

As he seeks a second term in the Illinois House, Republican lawmaker Reggie Phillips is hoping that the election of a few more Republicans will lead to a breakthrough on a balanced state budget next year.

The Charleston builder represents the 110th House District, which includes Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

Phillips is running for a second term in the 110th House District, which stretches from the Charleston-Mattoon area east to the Indiana border, including the towns of Marshall and Robinson. His opoonent is Charleston Democrat Dennis Malak.

Phillips faced criticism last spring when he voted against a Democratic bill for higher education funding. Phillips says he’s ready to support a state income tax increase to provide the funding — but only if it’s paired with reforms from Governor Bruce Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda. There’s been no agreement on that in Springfield this year. So Phillips told Illinois Public Media’s Jim Meadows he had to vote no — and and faced criticism that he considers unfair.

MAP Grants leave students in financial uncertainty – The Knox Student

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Freshman Casey Brayndick loves Knox for a myriad of reasons, but when it came to choosing a college, the ultimate factor had to be financial aid. But now, Brayndick is one of 315 Knox students anxiously watching the budget debates of the state legislature as approximately $5,000 of her aid hangs in the balance.

This $5,000 should come from the Monetary Award Program (MAP), a grant provided by the state of Illinois to help eligible Illinois residents cover the cost of higher education. The state, however, can’t distribute these funds until the governor and general assembly agree on a budget.

According to Director of Community and Government Relations Karrie Heartlein, this leaves Knox students in a “financial limbo.”

For the 2015-16 year, the state government did not approve the budget until the last possible date, June 30. Heartlein said this delay was far too long.

“Last year, students didn’t know they were going to receive their MAP grants until the year was over and they had actually gone home,” she said.

Beginning April of 2016, just over two months before the budget deadline, Director Heartlein organized events to encourage students to communicate with representatives. Each MAP grant recipient and other students in that recipient’s district was encouraged to contact their representative through a letter. Heartlein also helped five students travel to the capitol in Springfield. There, she introduced representatives to the students who depended on MAP grants, and the students joined a demonstration in support of the MAP grants alongside students from all over the state.

Knox President Teresa Amott also traveled to Springfield to meet with senators and representatives, joined the Presidents of Carl Sandburg College and Monmouth to write an op-ed, and wrote a letter to each representative with a MAP grant recipient in their district. As much as Knox has proven it will fight for its students’ aid, Brayndick remains uneasy.

Last school year, Knox offered to supply students with the funds they would have received from the MAP grant if it fell through on the budget. Casey and her parents counted on Knox extending that offer to the current year, but that was never a guarantee.

When asked about the college continuing the offer, Knox Director of Financial Aid Ann Brill said, “We remain hopeful that our elected officials will work out their differences É It is far too early to determine how the college will respond should the state not honor its promise this year.”

Heartlein stated that most representatives support MAP funding, and that in all likelihood MAP will be on the budget once it is approved. But she stressed that legislators should consider students’ financial security, stating that, “Nothing is certain until the budget is approved…These students remain in a sort of financial limbo awaiting word on their MAP grants.”

Heartlein added that if the budget debates become another protracted struggle, she will again organize and support students as they advocate to their representatives. If needed, more news will come Spring Term.

“What’s really important … is that the general assembly and the governor not try to balance the state budget on the backs of students who are trying to better their lives through education. … We expect the state to honor its promise to students.”

Tags:  financial aid Illinois government map grants

SIU president talks state budget woes at State of the University address

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EDWARDSVILLE • The Illinois budget crisis has created a “Titanic struggle” for the state’s colleges and universities, Southern Illinois University President Randy Dunn said Tuesday.

Dunn still has hope, though, that the state’s financial ship will be righted, and he said SIU’s two campuses, Edwardsville and Carbondale, are in much better shape than some of Illinois’ other public four-year colleges, whose finances might not hold out to the end of the school year.

Dunn spoke to a crowd of about 250 faculty and staff for his “State of the University” address.

“If you look at these other institutions, we are not facing that kind of difficulty,” Dunn told the Post-Dispatch after his speech. “For those who are concerned we are going the same direction or will have the same sets of problems, that’s not the case.”

He didn’t cite specific schools, but Chicago State University, for example, enrolled less than 100 freshmen this semester. It’s undergraduate enrollment dropped by more than 30 percent, the president resigned last month and the school declared a financial emergency earlier this year before 40 percent of the staff were laid off.

But there is no similar “existential crisis” at the SIU campuses, Dunn told the crowd.

So far, much of the effect of the state’s budget crisis has meant a lot of small cost-saving efforts across SIU, Dunn said. While the school is prepared to make it through this school year following the stopgap state funding approved this spring, it’s hard to predict what will happen next fall.

Dunn is giving some directives to the campuses, including considering whether some academic programs are necessary.

The situation at SIUE isn’t bad enough to worry about those conversations, Chancellor Randy Pembrook told the Post-Dispatch. In preparation for the current fiscal year, Pembrook said leaders found ways to cut costs by 9 percent. Similar action might be necessary for next year, and they’re preparing for that, Pembrook said.

Dunn said he is calling for more of that “structural change.”

“SIU, historically, has been highly risk averse,” Dunn said. Administrators have to be open to innovative responses if the legislature and the governor again can’t end their long budget impasse during the spring session, he said.

Despite the acrimony, both SIU campuses are continuing to cover the gap in state funding for a need-based scholarship program known as MAP, the Monetary Award Program. Both campuses will give low-income students the amount that they are supposed to receive under the program next spring. At SIUE, that could be around $3 million.

Pembrook joined SIUE as the chancellor in August. Shortly afterward, he talked about his hope to find places where he can create partnerships with local businesses and the community.

He recently created a task force to look into new partnership opportunities. These, he said, could fill some budget gaps that are left in limbo from the state.