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President Baker invites campus to Aug. 20 town hall meeting

August 5, 2014
Douglas D. Baker

Douglas D. Baker

To All NIU Employees:

I cordially invite you to join me at a town hall meeting at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium in the Holmes Student Center.

This is my first all-hands meeting as president, and its purpose is to discuss one of the most important events of the year: Welcome Days. This is the time when our students and their parents start to form their impressions of NIU — and these impressions will go a long way toward determining what kind of relationship we have with them throughout their tenure at the university. Welcome Days is our opportunity to demonstrate in no uncertain terms that we are committed to the concept of delivering an educational experience tailored to the individual needs of each student and ultimately resulting in career success and a fulfilling life.

In keeping with the importance of this event, the university has authorized release time for employee attendance at this event, including hourly Operating Staff, subject to operational requirements. Supervisors have been asked to facilitate participation for those planning to attend. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Cheryl Ross at (815) 753-1695. We will adjourn by 12:30 p.m.

At the meeting, we will review our entire agenda of activities, which are aimed at engaging not only our students but also their parents while they’re on campus. We also will discuss some of the things we are doing to make the campus more attractive, compelling and easier to navigate. All of these efforts feed into a larger campus strategy for making our large, well-resourced university feel a bit smaller and more intimate.

Our approach to Welcome Days and our town hall meeting directly responds to the requests we’ve received for more consistent and pervasive communications about our key initiatives to drive improvements in enrollment and retention. For those who can’t make it to Sandburg, the event will be shown on NIU campus digital channel 20.1 and streamed online. It will also be available after the event on NIU’s website. I look forward to seeing you Aug. 20.

Go Huskies!

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