standard 10 - Eastern Nazarene College

Standard Ten- Public Disclosure
DESCRIPTION
Eastern Nazarene College provides information to the public in a variety of formats
including both print and electronic delivery modes. The primary means of conveying information
is the College website. In addition, the official publications of the College include:
Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogue, Student Handbook, Graduate Catalog, Academic
Calendar and Chapel Schedule, Christian Scholar alumni newspaper, Veritas student newspaper,
Admissions Viewbook, Department and Divisional brochures, LEAD program brochures, radio
and print media advertisements, minutes from various College committees, ENC Bylaws, and
Board of Trustee Bylaws. There are a variety of means of communicating many activities and
initiatives of the institution through paper and electronic newsletters, email campaigns, official
Facebook page, and the weekly Campus-Chronicles e-newsletter. Fall of 2009 saw the creation
of an internal ENC Marketing Agency with the hiring of a Director of Marketing and Strategic
Communications. This agency facilitates the production of all web related content, e-newsletters,
and branding and advertising campaigns. Requests for information can be made through the
Marketing and Communications Office and Alumni Office. A copy of the most recent audited
financial statements is available from the Office of the Vice President for Financial Affairs, and
as an appendix to this self study.
Eastern Nazarene College‘s website www.enc.edu has undergone consistent design
change and upgrade over the past ten years. In 2008 the College hired a full-time webmaster and
began the transition toward a new content management system using an integrated platform from
Ektron. The current site allows for ENC to assign specific content managers from each major
functional area of the College to ensure that content remains current and accurate. A three step
approval process is in place prior to publishing to ensure accuracy and data integrity.
The homepage of the ENC website provides direct access to information on Admissions,
Academics, Adult Studies, Athletics, Library, and Services & Support. Content is also available
from the homepage for various identity groups such as Alumni, Donors, Churches, Community,
Students, and Visitors. A detailed and consistent content navigation menu appears at the bottom
on each page.
Recently listed by students as #1 in the top ten ENC improvements, the new student portal
through MyENC is available on the site (as a link at the top right hand portion of the home page,
www.enc.edu ). Through this portal a student can view their class schedule, class rosters, grades,
chapel attendance, College finances, and degree audit in addition to registering for classes and
keeping up on important campus announcements.
The About ENC section of the website provides a general overview of the College
including a message from the President and statement of the College Mission, Vision, and
Defining Values. Here the public can find access to video featuring fast facts and figures on the
College, a brief history of the institution, a list of all accreditations and affiliations, spiritual
emphasis, as well as information on campus maps, tours and security.
The Admissions area provides details on the admission process, official admission
requirements, financial-aid policy, including specific details pertaining to freshman, transfer, and
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international students. The admissions area provides a direct link to a financial aid content area
which provides access to information about the total cost of education, availability of financial
aid and scholarships as well as instructions for applying for financial aid.
The Academic area of the website provides the most complete collection of College
information including electronic copies of the current and past undergraduate catalogs. The
catalog provides the most comprehensive collection of information on academic programs,
processes, and policies. The process by which content is generated for the official College
catalog includes procedures for updating the online web content to ensure that all print and
electronic content is consistent and accurate. The catalog identifies general degree requirements
as well as specific majors, programs, and degrees. It fully informs the student of academic
policies and standards as well as calendar deadlines and financial aid and fee structures. Many of
the academic programs include course offerings that occur on an every other year basis. The
catalog and web content is updated annually to clearly indicate those programs, courses, services,
and personnel not available during a given academic year, as well as new features or
improvements within programs. Individual departmental programs have specific content areas
on the website. Each area lists all majors and minors, including all curricular requirements and
offerings. Here the public can find information regarding the specific evidence for program
excellence, learning outcomes, recent student graduate school acceptances and job success as
well as the achievements of graduates and faculty.
This Academic web-area also provides access to:
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all Academic forms (see http://www.enc.edu/academics/registrar/forms.php for:
Transcript Request Form , Change Classification Form , Request to Transfer a Course to
ENC , Add or Drop a Course/Change of Course Form , Change of Major Form , Petition
Form , Request for an Official Letter Form),
Academic Policies (see http://www.enc.edu/academics/academic_policies.htm for:
Academic Discipline, Academic Honors, Academic Integrity, Academic Petitions,
Academic Standing, Adding/Dropping a Class, Attendance Policy, Classification, Course
Incompletes or Extensions, Credit Load and Overloads, Enrollment Status, Fail/Pass,
Grades and Auditing a Course, Directed Studies, Final Exams, Grade Distribution,
Grading System, Grade Grievance Process, Graduation Policies, Independent Study,
Prerequisites and Waitlists, Repeating a Course, Student Schedules, Transfer Policies,
Withdrawing From a Class, Withdrawing From College and Leave of Absence),
lists of present and past Academic Honors winners (see
http://www.enc.edu/academics/honors/index.htm),
Class and Final Exam schedules for undergraduate and graduate classes
(http://www.enc.edu/academics/registrar/final_exams.html),
Degrees and Programs, FERPA guidelines, Honors Scholar Program, as well as all other
registration and transcript information.
The Adult Studies area of the website (see http://www1.enc.edu/adult-studies/) provides
additional content specific for students interested in or currently enrolled in the College‘s adultstudies programs. Locations and programs available at branch campuses and other instructional
locations are fully detailed as well as the specific requirements of all adult-studies academic
programs.
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The online directory is also available from the homepage and provides contact
information for all College Personnel. Personnel can be accessed by name or department.
The Services area of the website provides easy access to many important services of the
College including: College Store, Career Services, Center for Academic Services, Conference
Services, Counseling Services, Dining Options, Health Services, Human Resources, Information
Technology Services, Marketing and Communications, Parking, and Security. The Human
Resources area of the website (http://www1.enc.edu/hr/) provides details concerning College
employment including payroll and benefits. Current employees can access all relevant forms and
policies. Current job postings as well as the process for applying for employment are also listed.
APPRAISAL
Although the website includes a directory of current staff and faculty, a complete
directory listing the members of the Board of Trustees and all administrative officers, is currently
not provided. Also, yet to be added is a listing of faculty including years-of-service and
indicating educational background distinguishing between those who have full- and part-time
status, showing degrees held and the institutions granting them. The recent audited financial
statements or a fair summary thereof, are not available on the website, nor is there a clear
statement or process for the public to obtain such statements. With the conversion of the college
website to the new Content Management System (CMS), each of the items listed above will be
addressed systematically over the 2010-2011 academic year.
The College has invested in strengthening institutional research and data analysis over the
last 5 years. Additional staffing and budget allotment has allowed for improved processes and
consistent data reporting. The College now adheres to the Common Data Set (CDS) guidelines
and definitions for data reporting and publishes a CDS report of all relevant institutional data
including a description of the size and characteristics of the student body, rates of retention and
graduation, financial-aid distributions, and institutional demographics. In addition, the College is
now on an every other year cycle in participating in the National Survey of Student Engagement
(NSSE) which provides an external assessment of student engagement both inside and outside
the classroom in comparison to four-year colleges nationwide. The results of both of these
initiatives (CDS, NSSE) are not currently accessible to the public. Efforts are underway to
construct an Institutional Research Content Area of the website from which these materials can
be published and easily accessed. These features are included in the list of features to be added
before December of 2010 with the project being initiated during the summer of 2010.
The College files informational tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service (Form 990)
and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts – Non-Profit Organizations Public Charities Division
(Form PC). Form 990 provides the IRS with the information required by section 6033. The forms
are available for public inspection as required by section 6104. Form PC is required by the
Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. These forms include information such as identity and
tax status; sources of income; breakdown of expenses by program, management and fundraising
expenses; net assets; board membership; information on governance policies; salaries of officers
and key employees; new activity or excess benefit transactions; private foundation status; any
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lobbying activity; and information on large contributors and contribution amounts (although this
information is not available to the general public).
PROJECTION
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Through a full implementation of the CMS, we will strengthen and improve our current
system which will house all public documents, including policy, handbooks, and
committee and meeting minutes.
We will hire an outside website reviewer to rate our online presence based on
comparative institutions.
We will complete the conversion of web content to the Ektron content management
systems.
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