Minutes of
University Forum
Monday, November 26, 2007
Martin Chapel

1. President Loren Swartzendruber called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone back from the Thanksgiving holiday.
   
2. Charlene Davis (Advancement Office) led on the organ as the assembly joined in singing “Our Father God, Thy Name We Praise.”
   
3. Loren led in prayer, especially for Don Clymer (Language & Literature) who was injured the day before in a bicycle accident.
   
4. Loren gave a brief presidential update. A written version of these remarks is appended to the minutes. Here are some remarks that Loren added as he delivered these remarks.
   • Regarding the Provost Search Committee: the committee has interviewed people on campus in groups to get feedback on desired professional experiences and personal qualities for the new provost.
   • Regarding the Undergraduate Enrollment Strategies Group: not only are they considering the image of EMU, but how we can communicate that image more effectively to potential students. Contacts have been made with a leader in the “ Emerging Church” movement who recently visited Hesston College. We need to recognize that 18 year olds’ theological convictions are in a developmental process.
   • Regarding the proposed Center for Abrahamic Faiths: part of the early work assignment of any staff person would be to explore what others have developed in the way of institutions to carry out this kind of mission and how EMU could partner with them rather than duplicate what they are doing.
   • Regarding SRI: Their new $18 million research facility is being built on US Rt. 11 just north of Mt. Clinton Pike. They will hire 100 Ph.D.s and post-doctoral researchers to study and develop solutions to various world health problems. Currently, SRI is running a small-scale operation based temporarily at JMU. The development of new research opportunities has the potential to attract science students to EMU.
     
5. Loren explained the process for discussing the university’s Vision, Mission, and Values statement, and the Strategic Goals, which need to be reviewed as part of our work toward SACS and ATS re-accreditation in 2009-10. He said that this morning, the faculty and staff are invited to share their initial thoughts in table discussion. The faculty and staff are only one of several groups invited to give their feedback on these documents. The main question is “Do we have a consensus that we continue working with these statements?” The bigger challenge, then, is to translate these into daily realities.

Table discussions took place for 15 minutes, and then table leaders were invited to share the highlights or trends in the discussions. The following reports were made in the short time available by the following table leaders:

• Greta Ann Herin (biology): The last phrase of the values statement should read “care for Creation” or “care for each other and creation.”
• Steve Johnson (visual and communication arts): Liberal arts should be mentioned somewhere in the statement.
• Cathy Smeltzer Erb (education): Somewhere in the statement the idea of “Anabaptist influenced leaders” should be mentioned.
• Owen Byer (mathematics): Replace the word “instills” with either “nurtures” or “promotes.”
• Beth Aracena (associate dean for curriculum): Minor editing to improve the language is needed.
• Ted Grimsrud (Bible & religion): Link Anabaptist with “scholarly inquiry,” and the adjective “life-changing” should apply to the whole series and not just “cross-cultural encounters.”
• Deidre Smeltzer (mathematics): There is nothing to indicate in the shared values section that these relate to an academic institution.

Faculty and staff will receive an online survey for additional feedback.

6. Loren turned the floor over to Provost Beryl Brubaker to introduce the process for determining EMU’s quality enhancement plan (QEP), which is a part of the requirements for our next SACS accreditation. In the fall of 2009 EMU will submit their comprehensive audit report, including QEP, to SACS. This document will be read by the SACS evaluating team. In spring 2010 the SACS team will visit to check our work, especially to assess our capacity to fulfill our QEP. [See the handout “Options for EMU’s Quality Enhancement Plan” dated November 26, 2007] The provost stressed that we need to choose a topic that will energize us and that we can work on enthusiastically. This is only the first in a series of discussions about the QEP. There will be an additional discussion time scheduled for the spring semester and an online survey. A key question to consider is this: How will the QEP help us to achieve our strategic goals?” The QEP will be approved in May 2008 and presented to the Trustees at the June board meeting.

7. The remainder of the meeting was spent in table discussions of the various QEP options and then adjourned at 11:30 p.m.

Minutes recorded by
R. Michael Medley
(Language & Literature)

Eastern Mennonite University - Forum
November 26, 2007
Presidential Update

You received the agenda for this morning’s meeting. During the first few minutes I’ll provide a brief presidential update on a number of items; then we’ll move to conversation about Mission/Vision/Values and Strategic Goals

The Provost Search Committee continues to meet most every Monday noon. We are receiving applications and will also pursue individuals whom we think may have the professional and personal qualities we are seeking. Our goal is to interview candidates early in 2008.

Residential Living and Learning Task Force, chaired by Ken L. Nafziger -- update to board in March meeting. We anticipate utilizing their report to develop a plan for renovating and/or constructing new residential space for undergraduate students on campus.

Undergraduate Enrollment Strategies Group – Marie Morris and Stephanie Shafer will meet with this group on Wednesday morning to consider EMU’s image/identity as it relates to the “ Emergent Church” movement and how we might invest more recruiting efforts in Catholic and Quaker schools.

Commons Phase II – I have good news and bad news to report. The good news is that we have obtained a multi-million dollar pledge toward the completion of Phase II of the Commons project for Theater and Visual and Communication Arts. If (the optimist in me should say “when”) it is realized, this gift would be the largest single gift in EMU history. The “bad” news is that in order to receive this pledge, we need to match the gift in pledges by December 2008. We have a strategy in place, with the superb help of the faculty members in those departments. As always, our success will depend on whether additional donors are sufficiently moved by our strategy!

Science Center project – a great deal of work has been done toward the eventual building of new science labs/offices, and the renovation of the current Suter Science facility. The faculty members in that facility have met with the architects numerous times, and members of the Creation Care Council have been involved in sharing ideas for making that facility a “Green” center. Concurrent with the program planning design phase, Kirk Shisler and I are meeting with donors to encourage their support of the project.

Strite Auditorium – last week the President’s Cabinet approved moving ahead with a $400,000 plan to renovate Strite Auditorium on the south end of the Campus Center. We anticipate completing that project this coming summer. The renovated space will be much more useful, with offices for the Human Resources department (current stage area), a conference room with a small kitchenette on the main floor, and additional classrooms on the second floor.

The seminary faculty, under the leadership of Dean Ervin Stutzman, is giving a great deal of time and attention to the matter of curriculum revision. A major challenge for theological education these days is the question of providing educational opportunities for students who cannot or will not come to a campus setting for a more traditional delivery system of coursework.

New STAR program (under CJP) to meet needs of returning veterans and military families, not only from the current conflicts around the world, but back to those still dealing with PTSD from earlier wars. (News story today—120 veterans committing suicide every week in this country.)

Congratulations to the Practice Institute (CJP) which was awarded a grant of $400,000 to partner with a university in Somalia to exchange faculty members to teach courses in conflict management. The grant was given by Higher Education for Development under USAID and will support these efforts for three years.

Abrahamic Center – commitment of $100,000 toward hiring a staff person for two years to explore further development of a program. We have made clear with donors that any funds contributed to this project cannot be shifted from other university programs.

SRI Groundbreaking Ceremony will take place Tuesday, December 4 at the site of their new Harrisonburg facility. There have been a number of meetings with Dr. Kodukula and EMU science faculty exploring possibilities for research opportunities for our student as well as faculty.

EMU Vision/Mission/Values and Strategic Goals

The document you received on November 19 contains the Vision, Mission, and Values statement, and the Strategic Goals, which need to be reviewed as part of our work toward SACS and ATS re-accreditation in 2009-10. We will provide a few minutes of time this morning for table conversations and feedback to the entire group. Later on you will receive an email asking you to respond to an online survey about these topics.

Feedback from the campus community will be incorporated into responses from external constituent groups. In our November Board of Trustees meeting we spent about an hour reviewing our Strategic Plan and the Mission/Vision/Values statements. The most recent issue of Crossroads magazine invites alumni and friends to submit their thoughts. We anticipate meetings with student groups in the next several weeks.

We are not assuming a complete revamping of these statements nor even a major editing. If, after receiving feedback from on- and off-campus groups, we agree to consider changes, we will provide future opportunities for additional conversations.

The remainder of our time today will be given to another part of the accreditation process, namely the ultimate selection of a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Beryl Brubaker will lead us in that part of the morning’s agenda.

Loren E. Swartzendruber