June Board Report

Affirms reputation for academic excellence

In the face of decreased enrollment and budget cuts, President Niels-Erik Andreasen emphasized Andrews University's continual role as a leader in Adventist education at the board briefing held on Monday, June 1, 2015. The report followed a special two-part board meeting, which addressed financial issues in the morning and academic affairs the same afternoon.

The president began by reviewing the following new appointments and changes of roles:

New staff appointments:
Linette Escarfullery, Customer Relationship Management Administrator
James Gigante, Video & Course Editor, Adventist Learning Community
Jonathan Jaeger, Program/Web Developer, ITS Admin Systems
Eric Koester, Digital Systems Manager, Adventist Digital Library
Korissa Mattson, Health Enrollment Coordinator, SHP Dean
Brandon Lowry, Senior Windows Administrator, ITS Servers and Network
Seth Wiedemann, Desktop Network Administrator, ITS Servers and Network

New/changed faculty appointments:
Gregory Morrow, Assistant Professor of Public Health, Nutrition & Wellness
Elizabeth Muhlenbeck, Associate Professor of Management, Marketing & Information Systems
Carmen Plott, Associate Professor of Nursing
Melissa Poua, Instructor of Medical Laboratory Science
Tammy Shilling, Associate Professor of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology
Jason St. Clair, Head of Patron Services, James White Library

Emeriti:
Douglas Jones, professor emeritus

As is customary, Andreasen noted each item that had been addressed by the board, highlighting important details or complications. He described the President’s Report, a summary of the year’s events, and the Provost’s Report, a recounting of triumphs from schools across the University.

Following this was the President’s Council, which reviewed new programs at Andrews and discussed student finance. This was a comprehensive information session, Andreasen noted, “and accounts for more [time] than anything else.” Next was a report from the vice president for University Advancement, David Faehner, regarding institutional development. Faehner reported that last year $13 million was given to Andrews University in major gifts. Andreasen also took this time to note that a new Health and Wellness director has been named: Dominique Wakefield, assistant professor of health & exercise science at La Sierra University.

As was true of last year’s June report, the most pressing concern for the University is low enrollment, and the accompanying financial setbacks. “The long and short of it,” said Andreasen, “is that the applications and admissions numbers for new students and transfer students generally are as good as any year in the recent past. The problem is we still don’t know if these students who are admitted will actually matriculate.” While there’s been an increase in enrollment for graduates and the School of Distance Education, student fees aren’t as high for those programs. “These increases don’t translate readily to increased revenue,” Andreasen noted, “so that’s a challenge.”

Because of last year’s lower than expected enrollment, tuition income fell short, resulting in a year-end budget shortfall of approximately three million dollars. Andreasen emphasized that this was not the fault of University departmental spending, noting that spending actually came in $50,000 under budget.

“We are bracing ourselves for a drop,” Andreasen announced, noting that the administration is taking responsible steps to prevent a second year with a deficit. The board passed a budget for the 2015–16 school year that anticipates a decrease in enrollment of 5 percent instead of the customary 2 percent, translating to budget cuts of nearly $3 million.

“I think enrollment in the near future will be developed through new programs—in physical therapy, in business, in architecture,” said Andreasen. “I think that while we may not get all the undergraduate students back quickly, we may find we can replace them with graduate students and specialized undergraduates.”

Andreasen then noted the departure of University attorney Brent Geraty and the sale of two plots of University-owned land before ending on a note of encouragement, the affirmation of the University’s reputation for academic excellence. The GC Education Department had reached out to him: “They wanted to talk to Andrews about its future engagement with the world church.” Lisa Beardsley, education director, “told us to hang in there. You are needed,” he said. “We don’t really have another Andrews anywhere.” He concluded: “[Our] reputation, because of many, many years of training people here…to do something important in the world…is still how to do education in the church.”