The\nlast cabinet meeting of the academic year was held Thursday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
President\nRita Cheng<\/strong>\nstarted the meeting by expressing her gratitude to all who helped make Northern\nArizona University\u2019s inaugural Giving Day campaign, which concluded Wednesday\nat midnight, such a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\nalso gave an update for several dean positions on campus. Four candidates for\nthe position of dean of the College of Engineering, Informatics, and Applied\nSciences are visiting the Flagstaff Mountain Campus this week and next week.\nCheng encouraged everyone to participate in the open forum portions of the\ninterview to assist in the selection process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\nalso have been talking with potential interim deans for The W. A. Franke\nCollege of Business, and hope to hold interviews via Zoom with candidates next\nweek,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cheng\nthanked Interim Provost Brian\nLevin-Stankevich<\/strong> for his work over the last year, who will be leaving NAU\nMay 11. Diane Stearns<\/strong> will assume\nher new position as provost on May 12. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nrecently appointed diversity fellow, Gabe\nMonta\u00f1o<\/strong>, introduced himself to the cabinet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\nam really excited for this position and honored to be here to serve in this\nrole,\u201d he said. \u201cI would like to thank the university for this opportunity, and\nam looking forward to meeting all the commissions and celebrating the\nDiversity and Equity Awards tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Krista Allen<\/strong>, director of\nUniversity Events, shared numbers for the upcoming spring commencements with\nthe cabinet\u2014more than 5,900 graduates have applied to graduate (100 more than\nlast year), and each ceremony will have approximately 1,000 graduates in\nattendance. More\ninformation on the graduation ceremonies can be found online.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\nencourage everyone to participate in commencement,\u201d Allen said. \u201cWhether you\nvolunteer to hand out programs, marshal or help distribute license plates, it\u2019s\nso wonderful to celebrate our students\u2019 successes first-hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n An\nemail about commencement traffic changes will be sent out next week; updates also\ncan be found on the NAUGo app. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Joanne Keene<\/strong>, executive\nvice president and chief of staff, reminded cabinet members that applications\nfor the University\nLeadership Program<\/a> are due by 5 p.m. May 3. Faculty and staff at every level are\nencouraged to apply or nominate a coworker for the program, which is designed\nto help prepare the next generation of higher education leaders. About 25\napplicants will be chosen to participate in the 2019-20 cohort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur\nteam put together a great program,\u201d Cheng added. \u201cThe University Leadership\nProgram focuses on understanding the complexities of the university and teaches\nindividuals how to interact with different leadership styles across campus. I\nhighly recommend it for all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan Okoli<\/strong>, vice\npresident for Capital Planning and Campus Operations, and Steve Vedral<\/strong>, director of planning, design and construction, gave\nan update on the status of major campus projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nScience Annex renovation is nearing completion. With the exception of updates\nto the stairwell, construction will be completed by the end of May. Okoli\nencouraged cabinet members to check out the new space\u2014tours of the building can\nbe scheduled by contacting Stephanie\nBauer<\/a>,\nassociate director of Planning, Design and Construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nrenovations to Prochnow Auditorium are scheduled to wrap up next month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Okoli\nalso informed the cabinet of plans to help improve the traffic congestion at\nthe intersection of McConnell Drive and Pine Knoll Drive. He and his team are\nworking with the city and NAIPTA to figure out how best to improve traffic flow\nand prevent NAU and city buses from bottle-necking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At\nthe Spring Campus\nForum<\/a>,\nCheng announced a three percent salary increase would be issued to eligible\npersonnel. Josh Mackey<\/strong>, chief human resources\nofficer, and Roger Bounds<\/strong>, vice provost\nfor academic personnel, provided additional details on the increase and how\nfaculty and staff would be affected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen\nI arrived at NAU, it was made known to me immediately that this increase was\ntop priority,\u201d Mackey said. \u201cAfter going over the numbers, we presented the\npossible percentage increases to President Cheng. Though the three percent\nincrease was the maximum the budget would allow, she wanted to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional\ninformation regarding the faculty salary increase<\/a> and the staff salary\nincrease<\/a>\ncan be found online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vice\nPresident for Development and Alumni Engagement Rickey McCurry<\/strong> provided the cabinet with a comprehensive recap\nof Giving Day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\nwent into this campaign with a goal of raising $100,000 from 500 gifts,\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cAs of midnight, our preliminary numbers show we have raised more than\n$258,865 from 1,090 gifts\u2014224 of which were from first-time donors. We are\nthrilled!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donations\nwere collected from throughout the world, including Uruguay, Switzerland and other\nparts of Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\nlook forward to celebrating today before starting on next year\u2019s campaign\ntomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nher report, Chief Institutional Data Officer Laura Jones<\/strong> went over new and continuing awards, student\nenrollment data and the budget report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThough\nwe are up in almost all of our enrollment numbers, we still have a ways to go\nuntil we\u2019re back on track,\u201d said Jane\nKuhn<\/strong>, vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs. \u201cBecause\nwe didn\u2019t hit our freshman enrollment targets last year, our numbers this year\nare still soft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nwas noted that the University of Utah and several universities in Washington\nare now part of the Western Undergraduate Exchange program, meaning NAU has\nmuch more competition when it comes to recruiting these students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnother\nchallenge we\u2019re facing is that students are applying to and visiting three to\nfive different universities,\u201d Kuhn said. \u201cWe need to make sure that NAU stands\nout.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vice\nPresident of Finance, Institutional Planning and Analysis Bjorn Flugstad<\/strong> addressed the budget, stating\nthat we are managing expenses and will continue to monitor expenditures at the\nend of the fiscal year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mackey\ninformed the cabinet that he and his team are still evaluating data collected\nas part of the Organizational Growth and Effectiveness Initiative. The group is\nworking to create deliverables to present, and hopes to have recommendations by\nthe end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cheng concluded the meeting by thanking Dylan Graham<\/strong>, who graduates next Friday, for all she has done as the president of ASNAU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She also recognized and thanked those attending their last cabinet meeting, including Dean Dan Goebel<\/strong>, Interim Provost Brian Levin-Stankevich, Academic Chairs Council Executive Director Roy St. Laurent<\/strong>, Faculty Senate Interim President Joe Wegwert<\/strong> and Francisco V\u00e9lez-Torres<\/strong>, dean of the College of Business and Administration for the CETYS University System, who was at NAU this year participating in the ACE Fellows Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"