Having already lost $13 million in state funding in 2011, Ball State officials hope a new university strategic plan that emphasizes faculty retainment will prevent Indiana State legislators from making more budgetary cuts.
The university's latest draft of the proposed strategic plan focuses on providing a high-quality work environment to encourage the retainment of talented faculty and staff.
The draft states the university hopes to invest in "an increasingly vibrant and integrated university community" by keeping professors and students at the center of teaching and learning while technology facilities, as well as cocurricular activities such as guest speakers and living-learning communities, are integrated into student learning goals.
Another new goal the university has it to "advance Indiana through student engagement and faculty expertise" by but students and faculty being involved with projects and programs that benefit businesses, the community and government partners across the state.
Two goals from the current strategic plan carry over into the draft for the new plan. The plan still calls for the university to provide distinctive, high quality educational experiences and to become a recognized leader for educational and disciplinary innovation.
The university's Strategic Plan Task Force began the process of gathering input and feedback regarding the strategic plan from faculty, staff and students in summer of 2011.
The Strategic Plan Task Force consists of 23 faculty members, one graduate student and one undergraduate student who are responsible for gathering feedback and opinion from the various groups or "stakeholders" that are represented throughout the university.
Eric Kelly, a faculty member on the task force and former chairman of University Senate, said the task force began the process of creating the new strategic plan by holding focus groups around campus to help gain different perspectives from those who would be affected by the changes, as well as to discuss the previous plan.
"What we heard really did influence the development of the strategic plan," Kelly said. "All that I heard was very, very positive. I think people were pleasantly surprised that we had actually listened."
The last strategic plan, which began in 2007, was primarily focused on the student experience and less on faculty satisfaction. Kelly said the task force heard more concerns voiced by faculty members than it did by students.
"I think that's primarily because the administration has been very student focused in a lot of ways," Kelly said. "And that's good. That's why we're here. But when you're being student focused, you've got to keep track of all those other groups who help serve the students."
Although the majority of feedback the task force received was positive, Kelly said many university faculty members are unhappy, citing administrative processes for the lack of routine feedback.
"If the university were getting this type of feedback every year, it could respond to it and do something about it," he said. "My hope is that with this new strategic plan, we won't take another five years to see how things are going."
In 2011, President Jo Ann Gora appealed to the budget cuts by saying the university had to raise tuition and fees in order to try to make up for the amount lost in state funding.
The state legislative session that will begin in January and run through April will result in a new state budget and spending priorities to the General Assembly.
Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for Marketing and Communications, said this fall the State Budget Committee (SBC) will begin budget hearings to determine cuts that may be made to the university.
"This is the time in which state agencies and public universities put together their request based upon budget instructions received from the state budget agency and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE)," Proudfoot said via email.
The university plans to submit its budget request to the ICHE in September and will make budget presentations to the SBC in November or December, he said.
The ICHE takes into account several factors when determining university funding, including graduation rates and completion of credit hours.
According to 2010 graduation rates released by the Chronicle for Higher Education, Ball State sat at 56.7 percent, the lowest of universities ranked.
Ball State ranks at the bottom of the MAC with full professors earning an average $84,000 a year, according to an annual study on economic status conducted by the American Association of University Professors.
Associate professors and assistant professors earn an average of $65,000 and $53,300, respectively.
The lack of competitive offerings is just one factor Kelly said had an impact on the overall dissatisfaction of university faculty.
"Is this a good place to work overall?" he said. "There are a lot of people who don't think it is, and that's kind of an institutional culture error. There's not a magic cure for that," Kelly said. "You can't just throw a bunch of money at it; you've got to pay attention to it all the time to see what's going to make a difference."
A faculty member's attitude has a major effect on the quality of education and results that the university distributes, and faculty members with a positive attitude are likely to do a better job, Kelly said.
"Most will take some professional pride and try to do a good job anyway, but if they really like the place they're going to do more," Kelly said. "They're going to do a better job, and we really need to achieve that."
Con Sullivan, the undergraduate representative member of the task force, was responsible for leading focus groups that began in fall 2011.
Students were encouraged to share what they thought were good aspects of the university as well as what they believed still needed improvements.
"Overwhelmingly, students said that the atmosphere of Ball State was great," Sullivan said. "Their whole collegiate experience at Ball State is just good, and that's what we wanted to capture and make sure it continues."
Living learning communities, immersive learning experiences and even the way the university looks were high up on what students found appealing about Ball State.
"We want to focus on what the university does well and we try to highlight those things in the strategic plan to make sure the university is moving forward in the right direction," Sullivan said.
"I think this one is going to be good for us," he said.
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