The QEP Theme & Concept Committee was the first of three successive committees that will assist NKU in developing its Quality Enhancement Plan as part of the SACS reaffirmation process. The others which will follow are the QEP Development Team and the QEP Implementation & Monitoring Committee.
The QEP Theme & Concept Committee was active during the first half of 2007. Its primary responsibilities was to generate enthusiasm for the QEP process, solicit suggestions of possible QEP topics from the entire university community, facilitate campus-wide discussions of these suggestions, and then assist in narrowing the university's focus to a single QEP topic.
Dr. Sam Zachary, professor of theatre and associate dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, chaired the QEP Theme & Concept Committee. He can be contacted by phone at extension 5883 or by email at zachary@nku.edu.
Other members of the QEP Theme & Concept Committee:
Debbie Behler (Vice Provost’s Office)
Jonathan Cullick (Literature & Language)
Mary Cupito (Communication)
Frank Dietrich (Mathematics)
Mark Hardy (Theatre & Dance)
Heather Hatchett (Psychology)
Jessica Keel (Psychology)
Julie Mader-Meersman (Art)
Pat Moynahan (Vice Provost) |
Cynthia Pinchback-Hines (Student Affairs)
Denise Robinson (Nursing & Health Professions)
Tira Rogers (Office of University Communications)
Doris Shaw (Management & Marketing)
Cady Short-Thompson (Communication)
Jeff Smith (Psychology)
Danielle Stegeman (Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office)
Kathy Stewart (Office of Special Events)
Beth Sweeney (Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office) |
First Friday launched NKU's QEP process.
The kick off event that first called campus-wide attention to the university's need to develop a QEP was dubbed "First Friday" and was a late afternoon reception at the end of the first week of classes during spring semester 2007. All NKU faculty and staff were invited. It was held in the university ballroom and offered attendees an opportunity to kick back, relax, and enjoy beverages and snacks while learning about the QEP concept and about possible QEP topics for NKU. A few previously proposed QEP topics were posted on the walls to serve as inspiration and spark discussion, flip charts were available for posting new topics, and over-sized Post-It Notes were provided for adding comments, questions, or suggested changes. By the end of "First Friday" several dozen suggestions had been gathered about possible QEP topics.
In the next seven weeks leading up to spring break, the committee conducted QEP topic selection workshops for nearly 700 participants including faculty, staff, and students (both graduate and undergraduate). The committee also solicited additional QEP suggestions with e-mail reminders, snail mail brochures, and an interactive QEP Blackboard site. By the end of this period 262 proposed QEP topics had been collected from faulty, staff, and students.
During spring break and the two weeks that followed, the committee held two all-day retreats, several smaller work sessions, and interacted extensively via Blackboard to analyze, categorize, and combine the suggested topics. The topics were also considered in light of NKU's published mission statement and strategic agenda, as well as their "do-ability" in light of their magnitude and the likely to be available resources. This analysis and discussion ultimately boiled them down to a short list of the eight most promising themes for ultimately shaping the university's QEP. Each of these was further refines and then finally written up in a short narrative.
The committee then held two days of open poster sessions in which the short list themes were presented and discussed. This was followed by a two-week period in which faculty, staff, and students were encouraged to express their opinions of these themes by participating in an online survey.
After the campus spoke, the committee prepared topic recommendations.
In its final deliberations, the QEP Teme & Concept Committee took all of this input into consideration and then recommended the following five topics to President Votruba. They are listed in order from "the most" to "the least strongly" recommended:
- Create a Culture of Active Learning
(99% support, which means it received only 1 negative vote out of a possible 75)
- Expand International Competence
(97% support, which means it received only 2 negative votes out of a possible 75)
- Enrich the Student Experience and Create a Sense of Place
(93% support, which means it received only 5 negative votes out of a possible 75)
- Expand Comfort Zones
(91% support, which means it received only 7 negative votes out of a possible 75)
- Build a Community of Communicators
(84% support, which means it received 12 negative votes out of a possible 75)
President Votruba is expected to announce the final topic early in the fall semester 2007.
As soon as possible after that, a QEP Development Team, consisting of faculty, staff, and students, will be formed to begin creating the detailed Quality Enhancement Plan which must be ready for the SACS On-Site Review Team which will come for its campus visit in spring 2009.
For additional information about the QEP selection process and the topics that were suggested, visit the QEP site on NKU's Blackboard server. All faculty and staff were registered for this site and should be able to access it simply by logging on to Blackboard. It should appear as "QEP" in the My Courses section of the opening screen once you are logged in.
