December 22, 2005

To: Faculty and Staff

From: Walter Harris, Jr., Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Much has happened over the last 100 days since Katrina changed our lives. On Monday, November 28, I met with a broad group of leaders in Academic and Student Affairs, including deans, associate deans, directors, and department chair to share information on a range of activities. I have been asked to share with the entire Loyola community a synopsis of the major topics discussed at that time. I am pleased to do so. In a few cases, I have updated the information as of today.

Introductory Remarks by Provost Harris

The university operated temporary remote administrative offices in Houston, TX and Alexandria, LA. These sites were chosen primarily as a result of cities to which administrators evacuated. The University of Houston provided space in its University Center for the provost's office staff and in its Law Center for our School of Law. The School of Law was able to offer both the entire battery of courses for its first year law students and a number of upper division courses for second and third year students, all taught by Loyola's Law faculty. In the provost's office space, we were able to carry out functions of the Financial Aid, Admissions, Student Finance, Accounts Receivable, and Accounts Payable offices. The student/parent hotline (telephone and e-mail) was also established and operated from our Houston site.

Information Technology Recovery Efforts

Bret Jacobs, Executive Director for Information Technology, reported that the university's information technology (IT) disaster recovery plan worked effectively. The IT disaster recovery plan was established in 2003. Since then, the plan has been tested annually during March. Once it became clear following Hurricane Katrina that the campus would be closed indefinitely, IT operations were brought up in September and initially functioned from our disaster recovery site in Chicago. Later, selected systems were relocated into space at the University of Houston provided in its IT division. All IT functions have now been re-established on campus, except for dial-up access to the website. BellSouth continues to have problems with the cabling which controls dial-up access.

LUNO Students at AJCU and Other Institutions for Fall 2005

Debbie Stieffel reported that Loyola students attended more than 411 other higher education institutions this fall. Many of those colleges and universities went to extraordinary lengths to assist our students. The University of Houston, for example, even started a late, compressed semester to accommodate the 1500 Gulf Coast visiting students enrolled there.

Efforts to Contact the Campus Community

Dr. Harris described the various university-wide efforts to establish contact with members of our campus community which started within a week following the hurricane. Congratulations are in order for the many persons who worked tirelessly on those efforts. These included, but were not limited to, a blog, Father Wildes' tour, the Academic Affairs tour (including the Provost, deans, faculty, and staff), Kathy Gros and her work with registrars from universities throughout the country, and the online student survey.

Planning for the "Here and Now"

Dr. Harris reported that the Council of Deans met several times in Houston to address the many crises before the university and to make plans for reopening the campus on St. Charles Avenue in the spring. The President's Cabinet and the Board of Trustees also met in Houston. At one point, the provost's staff identified and was working on more than 50 major tasks in preparation for the re-opening of the university.

Academic Calendar for the Remainder of 2005-2006

Dr. Harris reviewed plans for Spring I and II semesters. The two spring semesters were developed by the Council of Deans in anticipation of meeting the needs of our students. The two semesters are especially useful in allowing for the sequencing of classes for the estimated 20% of Loyola students who were not enrolled any place in the fall and in fulfilling the 26-week Academic Year required for federal financial aid. Students completing the two semesters should be substantially back on track with their program of study. Presently, student survey results indicate more than one-third of respondents definitely plan to attend Spring II starting in May.

Spring I Registration Results to Date (December 19)

Kathy Gros reported that 2,754 (86%) of our undergraduate students have registered for Spring I as of December 19. John Cornwell reported that the registration results are consistent with results from the online student survey and residence hall room requests.

Housing Issues

An estimated 60% of faculty and staff had their housing affected in one way or another, ranging from minor damage to total devastation. Father Wildes has been actively working with FEMA to place trailers on university-owned land near the airport in Kenner. (The Kenner City Council approved this project last week and construction will begin immediately.) Tom Smith reported that Student Affairs is developing plans to accommodate all students who have requested on-campus housing and is working on plans for off-campus students who have been displaced. Graduating seniors will be given priority for on-campus housing.

Financial Issues and Implications

Debbie Stieffel explained the complexities of resolving student financial aid issues. There are many. Each student enrolled in one of the 411 other colleges and universities has to have his/her financial situation determined individually between the student, the other institution, and Loyola University New Orleans. Dr. Harris noted that the expected decline in enrollment will significantly affect future university revenues.

International Students

Debbie Danna reported on challenges faced by our international students. She is advocating for legislation to change some of the immigration rules for affected international students.

Academic Initiatives

Dr. Harris reported that the common curriculum review, originally slated to begin this fall, will begin in January 2006.

Brenda Joyner and Marcel Dumestre introduced plans to expand the use of online courses. Surveys indicate that our students would like some online offerings. An initial train-the-trainer session will be held in early December for 20 faculty members from colleges and the library. These faculty members will then be responsible for training other faculty members in their respective colleges in developing online courses. Training for online courses will continue throughout the spring semester.

SACS Reaffirmation of Accreditation

John Cornwell reported that the university submitted its application for SACS reaffirmation of accreditation in mid-October. Since the application was substantially complete when Katrina hit, the provost and president, with the concurrence of SACS, decided to submit the application. Last week, SACS notified the university that Loyola is in compliance with 75 of the 80 principles, an excellent result under any circumstances. The principles requiring additional documentation are in the areas of learning outcomes for all academic departments and general education (common curriculum), academic resources for graduate programs, faculty qualifications, and submission of the annual financial audit. Dr. Cornwell indicated that the university would be able to provide the additional information SACS is requesting by the January 31, 2006 deadline.

Development of our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) entitled, "Thinking Critically, Acting Justly," continued during this fall. Brenda Joyner worked with the Council of Deans and QEP Team members to prepare an edited, coherent document from the six major reports submitted by subcommittees of the QEP Team last summer. The QEP Team will be meeting in December and January to finalize the plan. Faculty, staff, and students will have an opportunity to review that plan in January. The final plan will be submitted to SACS on January 31, 2006.

Tenure and Promotion

Dr. Harris announced that faculty who are up for mandatory tenure review this year (AY 2005-2006) can opt for a one-year deferral. A compressed tenure calendar has been developed for faculty members who wish to apply for tenure and/or promotion in the spring.

Commencement Plans for Spring 2006

Commencement ceremonies will be held on campus April 28 and 29, 2006. These ceremonies are scheduled two weeks earlier than the published dates on the original calendar for this academic year. Families and students will be encouraged to make hotel and travel reservations early.

Recruitment Activities for Fall 2006

Debbie Stieffel reported that university recruiters have been actively recruiting (e.g., high school visits, college fairs, meeting with high school counselors) since a week after the storm. Our recruiting and retention efforts are affected by the continuing barrage of negative images of New Orleans in the national media. The admissions office is now conducting a major communication campaign to both recruit a new class and retain our existing students. Due to continuing problems with the United States Postal Service delivery, all student applications are now being filed electronically via the university website and admissions systems. In addition, the admissions office has retained outside companies to assist with electronic communications to our prospective students and to conduct a telemarketing survey of possible applicants.

Dr. Harris emphasized that recruitment will be a university-wide issue. We all share a responsibility to assist in whatever way we can. He mentioned the 1996 enrollment shortfall and the ripple effects that played out over the ensuing four years. He noted that the projected decline in returning students is expected to be substantially greater than the couple of hundred student shortfall in 1996.

Renewal/Rebuilding Activities

Dr. Harris has formed a renewal/rebuilding task force to examine issues of renewal of campus life and our involvement in rebuilding the surrounding community. He invited others at the meeting interested in participating on the task force to contact him by e-mail.

Recognitions

Dr. Harris acknowledged individuals from his and other offices for the tremendous amount of work they have performed in the interest of the university since the storm.