NIU President John G. Peters announced today the membership on the Vision 2020 Steering Committee.Peters will chair the 38-member committee, comprised of faculty, staff, students, administrators, alumni and donors. Executive Vice President and Provost Raymond Alden and Executive Vice President and Chief of Operations Eddie Williams will serve as vice-chairs of the committee.
“The Steering Committee is composed of an impressive group of people representing all facets of the university,” Peters said. “I look forward to working with them and thank them for their willingness to serve.”
The Steering Committee will review and discuss the current set of university planning documents; review current NIU data and rankings in comparison with its peer groups; receive periodic updates from the seven working groups; and utilize the reports of the working groups to create and adopt a final plan that can be presented to the Board of Trustees.
Additionally, the committee will develop strategies to reach the goals set by the Vision 2020 Initiative and identify funding sources to meet the objectives. The committee will hold its first meeting Friday, Dec. 10, to validate the configuration of the working groups and their charge.
Peters said that he spent much of the fall semester meeting with various constituencies on campus to get feedback on his ideas regarding the working groups and the issues in which they will tackle.
John G. Peters
The working groups will address:
- student recruitment, retention and success;
- academic programming;
- faculty work, rewards and excellence;
- the student experience;
- facilities and environment;
- sustainability; and
- regional impact, outreach, engagement and graduate education.
Peters hopes to have the working group members finalized by the end of the year so they can begin their work early next semester.
He also reiterated the importance of Vision 2020 for the future of NIU. “We must compare ourselves to our group of competitors and aspiring peers on several important measures,” Peters said. “We must know how we rank. Doing so will allow us to build on our strengths and identify any weaknesses.”
