Report to State Board of Higher Education February 2016
President’s Column
Tisa Mason, Ed.D., CAE
Strategic Enrollment
Planning at VCSU
Recently Valley City State
University, along with all of the
North Dakota University Systems
schools and all state agencies,
was asked to reduce our budget
by 4.05 percent. That task is in
process, and I’m confident that we’ll be able to make
the necessary reductions while maintaining our high
standards and serving our students to the best of our
abilities.
VCSU has been a lean institution throughout its history;
we’ve achieved success over 125 years with limited, not
excessive, resources, continually looking at ways to do
what we do more effectively and efficiently, and always
operating with the strong support of our alumni, friends,
and the community of Valley City.
We’re now engaged in a Strategic Enrollment Planning
(SEP) process to better align ourselves with the higher
education environment in which we operate and to
identify high-impact strategies to achieve our enrollment
goals. In the simpler words I like to use, we’re looking to
find our “sweet spot” and figure out how to get and stay
there.
We’ve begun the SEP process at VCSU by bringing
together more than 50 faculty, staff, and administrators
to plan for a stronger VCSU.
Margaret Dahlberg, vice president for academic affairs,
is leading the effort, assisted by 12 other members
of a steering committee, including the chairs of 5
subcommittees looking at academic programs, student
success/services, finances/financial aid, infrastructure,
and marketing/recruitment, along with representatives
providing data and communication support. (The
complete roster of VCSU’s SEP participants can be
found online at www.vcsu.edu/president; click on
“Strategic Enrollment Planning.”)
These committees are developing overviews of
VCSU’s current situation in their respective areas,
using data to support their analyses. In addition, key
performance indicators (KPI) are being identified to
provide benchmarks against which SEP progress will be
measured.
The situation analyses will lead to the development of
prioritized strategies, followed by action plans defining
tactics to achieve the desired results, and then, of
course, implementation.
The SEP process is continuous—once the plan is
defined, tactics are then implemented, monitored, and
evaluated in relation to the KPI. Depending on results,
the plans are modified as needed.
A subcomponent of SEP taking place at VCSU is
the development of an Enrollment and Revenue
Management System (ERMS).
Chaired by Charlene Stenson, director of enrollment
services, a six-person committee is looking at our
financial aid awards. (The roster of VCSU’s ERMS
participants can also be found online at www.vcsu.edu/
president.)
By examining historical data regarding student
enrollment and financial aid packages, including grants
and scholarships, we aim to do a better job of matching
financial aid packages to students’ price sensitivity,
ensuring that each student receives the ideal amount of
aid to enroll, persist, and graduate.
Both of these processes, SEP and ERMS, began in
December 2015; the implementation phase of SEP will
commence in September 2016.
That’s a huge investment of time and energy in planning
for the future of Valley City State, but we’re trusting that
our efforts will return dividends in helping secure both
long-term enrollment and fiscal health for the university.
That’s why it’s another great day to be a Viking!
The Power of Encouragement and Celebration
In mid-January we invited our students who were named
to our President’s and Dean’s Honor Rolls for their
academic work last semester to a cake-and-ice-cream
reception in their honor.
In addition to the reception, we recognize these high
achievers by sending a congratulatory letter and
certificate to their home, sharing the honor rolls with
all faculty and staff, posting the lists on the VCSU
website, and sending a news release to each student’s
hometown paper. We want the world to know about our
students’ accomplishments!
This wonderful event got me thinking about the power
of encouragement and celebration.
One of my favorite stories is about a man named Don
Bennett, the first amputee to reach the summit of
Mount Rainier. That’s 14,410 feet on one leg and two
crutches! While most of the story has to do with his
own courage and vision, an important part involves his
daughter’s help in keeping him going when it got tough.
During his climb, Bennett reached one particularly
difficult stretch—an ice field that took him four hours to
cross. His daughter stayed by his side the entire time
as he hopped across the ice field. With each new hop
she shouted, “You can do it, Dad! You’re the best Dad
in the world!” This spontaneous verbal encouragement
kept Bennett going, strengthening his commitment and
his dream to make it to the top. To this day Don Bennett
says that there was no way he could have quit with his
daughter voicing those words of encouragement.
I think about this story a lot and the difference
encouragement and celebration can make in our lives.
I remember that at a basketball game a year ago a
mother of one of our players wanted to know when her
daughter’s certificate for the President’s Honor Roll—
earned by receiving all A’s for the semester—would be
arriving. She was beaming with pride, and I’m sure she
was ready to display the certificate on the front of the
family refrigerator. (Never underestimate the significant
role the family refrigerator plays in encouragement and
celebration!) The student, standing by her mom, was
also clearly basking in her accomplishment.
“Good job.” “Well done.” “I’m proud of you.”
When these powerful words are combined with a
supportive academic community, loving families and
friends, and hometown communities sharing pride in
“one of their own,” that is life-changing. And being a
part of those moments in life is yet another reason it’s a
great day to be a Viking!
Faculty Senate CoLUMN
Anthony Dutton
At VCSU we cultivate
meaningful relationships.
That agricultural metaphor is
appealing, and in challenging
times it speaks to the hard
work and honesty in how we
approach our mission.
The faculty at VCSU is
committed, motivated and supportive, and those
qualities guide our service to students, and to the state
of North Dakota, and underpin our interactions as
colleagues.
In difficult times, the reflexive action is often,
paraphrasing Voltaire’s Candide, to cultivate our own
gardens. That might mean hunkering down, tending only
to immediate commitments, and refusing to look out
to the horizon. But this is North Dakota, and horizons
fundamentally define our landscapes—we cultivate out
to them, and beyond.
Our students, whatever their background, are part of
the field we cultivate, as are our neighbors in Barnes
County and across the state. We reach out to them,
strive to engage them, and work to serve their needs.
The activity that inspired this digression was writing
nominations for the Faculty Excellence Awards at VCSU.
It struck me how many deserving colleagues I see every
day as they work with students and contribute to the
intellectual and artistic environment of the region.
We cultivate North Dakota in many different ways.
While the primary duty we all share is teaching, not
a week goes by without concerts, plays, art shows or
community presentations in which faculty reach out of
the classroom to engage the people around us.
Art classes and music lessons through the Community
School of the Arts serve area residents; theatre
productions embrace off-campus cast members; and
events from Science Olympiad to regional speech
competitions bring high school students to our campus.
None of these would be possible without faculty support
and the desire to cultivate relationships. Those are
some of the factors that motivated me to nominate
candidates for the three faculty awards.
These are hard-working, committed state employees,
whose passion for their work and dedication to those
they serve leads them to go above and beyond. Their
commitment is worthy of recognition, and I do not
envy the task of the committee narrowing the list of
nominees. We have very little chaff to winnow from the
grain.
There are plenty of fruitful comparisons between farm
and educational work: the seasonal nature, insecurity
in the face of outside forces, and a strong sense of
stewardship. When there is work that must be done, we
buckle down and do it.
Our commitments go beyond the nine-to-five, and while
both farmers and faculty measure a year’s success on
yield at harvest/graduation, our ultimate success is
measured in the long term, out there on the horizon.
Have we done good work? Did we leave this place better
than we found it? Can we be proud of the legacy that we
cultivate in North Dakota?
Staff Senate CoLUMN
Kaleen Peterson
VCSU Staff Senate has started
the process of analyzing
the results from the latest
Employee Satisfaction Survey.
More than 70 staff members
took the opportunity to
participate this past December
in this survey meant to “take
the pulse” of the campus climate.
The survey was initially developed by Staff Senate and
Greg Carlson, VCSU’s director of institutional research,
in February 2015. The December survey marks the
second time staff have answered the same questions,
so as to provide a way to measure positive (or negative)
change by direct comparison.
Using a percentage scale, staff rated how strongly they
agreed with statements such as “I feel supported by my
supervisor,” “I feel empowered in my current position,”
“I am happy at my job.” Participants also rated
their sense of loyalty to the institution, their office/
department, their supervisor, and their co-workers.
We asked staff to rank the importance (to them) of
supervisor support, flexibility, salary, and opportunity
for advancement. We also asked if VCSU provides
adequate access to professional development
opportunities, if there is adequate information trickledown on campus, and if questions such as these need
to be asked regularly.
What is unique about this particular Employee
Satisfaction Survey, besides being a homegrown effort
to get at the issues facing our staff specifically, is
that there was space for comments after every single
question, which many participants took advantage of
and left thoughtful, helpful comments. In addition, there
were no required fields nor any identifying information
apart from choosing faculty or staff (faculty completed a
similar survey), so staff could feel comfortable sharing
their true thoughts.
Staff Senate has received all of the statistical data and
comments, and last week we held broadband group
meetings to present a summary of the survey results
to campus constituents. We have met once to start
coming up with actionable ideas to present to Cabinet
for possible implementation. We plan to tackle this
again at our March Staff Senate meeting as well.
What was encouraging was the more positive tone to
the comments collectively when comparing the first
satisfaction survey done in March 2015 to the one
done just now in December 2015. Comments such
as the staff member who was job-searching back in
March but now feels happier in their position and are no
longer seeking employment elsewhere makes this Staff
Senate’s efforts to creating a warm, friendly, personable
atmosphere for employees at VCSU more than worth it.
Student Senate CoLUMN
Madelyn Zane
Throughout my academic
career, especially in college, I
have always found that knowing
my grades and GPA is very
important to me.
Grades are not just a number
or letter that explains how you
did; I have always thought them
to be something a little more.
I have always thought that grades tell you how you
are doing in that class and how to improve. For me,
grades also reflect my comprehension of a topic and
my growing knowledge in my field of study.
My grades also tell me what areas I need to
focus on to improve. And there is always room for
improvement.
Another student senator has been thinking about
grades as well and came to me with the idea of
getting grades put into our Blackboard Gradebook
in a timely manner. After thinking about it a while,
it occurred to us that VCSU students could really be
impacted if we, as senators, created a resolution to
achieve that goal.
The resolution outlines our many concerns and
provides opportunity for collaboration between
Student Senate and the faculty. Some of the
recommendations that Student Senate is putting
forward include: having the grades and comments be
submitted within two weeks of submission, including
a question about Blackboard Gradebook usage in
course evaluations, and stating that VCSU Student
Senate wants to collaborate with faculty to make this
an achievable goal.
Being successful in the classroom is important for all
students, not just for me who happens to check my
grades weekly and sometimes daily! This resolution
is for every student who worries if they need extra
credit or has a scholarship relying on their grades.
I truly believe in helping out all students, and this
resolution is the first step in Making a Difference!
Spring enrollment sets records
VCSU has achieved record spring enrollment
according to its official Spring Semester 2016 census
figures released Tuesday, Feb. 9.
VCSU enrollment numbers for Spring 2016 show alltime highs for total student headcount (1,345) and
full-time equivalent (FTE) students (977).
These numbers represent the high point of an
enrollment growth trend achieved at Valley City
State in recent years. Since 2009, VCSU’s spring
headcount numbers have grown more than
40 percent (from 959 to 1,345), while FTE over the
same period has increased 27 percent (from 767
to 977).
“Our spring enrollment figures are validating,” said
VCSU President Tisa Mason. “The numbers indicate
that more students and families are recognizing the
value of a Valley City State education and making
VCSU their college choice. The numbers also tell
us that we’re doing a better job of helping students
succeed at VCSU. We had our largest graduating
class ever in 2015; that we’re seeing record numbers
now on campus indicates that more students who
start here are staying here, and that’s good.”
“I give credit to our faculty, staff and students,”
added President Mason. “Their work in creating
and maintaining a quality teaching and learning
environment is what keeps us strong.”
VCSU ranked 12th in nation in
affordable online education
VCSU has garnered the 12th spot in OnlineU.org’s
list of the “2016 Most Affordable Online Colleges and
Degrees.” OnlineU researched accredited schools
across the nation offering online degree programs
and ranked them according to annual tuition rates.
The complete list is available at www.onlineu.org/
most-affordable-colleges.
“We’re glad to see VCSU’s online programs
recognized for their affordability,” said VCSU
President Tisa Mason. “Part of our mission as a
public institution is delivering courses to students
where and when they want them, and keeping them
affordable helps us succeed in that regard.”
VCSU offers online Bachelor’s Degree programs in
business education, business process integration
management, career and technical education,
English education, history education, professional
communication, and technology education.
VCSU’s fully accredited Master of Education Degree
(M.Ed.) program is offered completely online to meet
the needs of practicing teachers. Concentrations
in the M.Ed. program at VCSU include elementary
education, English education, library and information
technologies, teaching and technology, teaching
English language learners, and technology
education. More information about the program is
available at www.vcsu.edu/graduate.