EIU'S Strategic plan: PLAN 2028
Welcome to Strategic Planning at EIU! We want to make EIU’s next cycle of Strategic Planning as inclusive and meaningful as possible for all University stakeholders — students, faculty, staff, and community partners alike.
Plan 2028 TrackingOn June 23, 2023 the Board of Trustees endorsed EIU’s new strategic plan, Plan 2028, at its most recent meeting. As you will see, Plan 2028 aligns with the IBHE’s “A Thriving Illinois” framework and advances EIU’s mission, the region, and state by focusing on four interconnected themes:
Achieve: Achieve Success for All Learners
ACHIEVE priorities align and invest in policies, practices, and resources that ensure every learner at EIU thrives. The ACHIEVE activities comprise a broad collection of strategic investments and student success supports. For Eastern Illinois University, ACHIEVE focuses on retention, learning outcomes, creating and maintaining active learning environments, adequate financial assistance, degree completion, career preparedness, and student wellness. ACHIEVE priorities leverage EIU’s commitment to student success using a holistic array of academic and other organizational supports.
Engage: Engage the Community, Region, State, & World
ENGAGE priorities are intended to build bridges between and amongst its internal and external stakeholders to expand and enhance the everyday worlds of EIU’s students, faculty, staff, alumni, and communities at all scales. ENGAGE seeks to build collaborative opportunities for inclusive economic development, regional prosperity, and personal growth. ENGAGE deepens EIU’s connection and commitment to the region, State, and world.
Create: Create a 21st Century Campus & Culture
CREATE priorities evidence a sustained commitment to all employees and students by cultivating belonging and creating a culture of care for all. CREATE accelerates efforts to innovate, invigorate, and reaffirm EIU’s unique institutional identity. Echoing the IBHE’s strategic plan, Plan 2028 advances EIU’s shared values of diversity, equity, and inclusion for all students, employees, and community members. CREATE activities focus on investing in employee and learner wellness, knowledge creation, creativity, and belonging.
Resource: Encourage Innovation, Diversify Revenue, & Grow Enrollments
RESROURCE priorities focus on overall institutional sustainability, staffing, and enhanced business practices. The theme of RESOURCE will ensure that EIU’s budgeting process, operations, and enrollment management efforts focus on sustained financial stability and invests in the strategic priorities of Plan 2028. This priority also ensures compliance with federal and State regulations, as well as financial benchmarks established by Eastern's regional accreditation body, the Higher Learning Commission.
Implementation
EIU is driven by its mission and vision, placing deliberate emphasis on fostering student success, bolstering the economy of the State of Illinois, and serving regional, state, and national stakeholders. Plan 2028, aligned with the Illinois Board of Higher Education's strategic plan, "A Thriving Illinois," is an extension and complement to it. The IBHE plan specifically focuses on harnessing the potential of higher education to promote equity, sustainability, and inclusive economic growth.
Plan 2028 at EIU revolves around four interconnected themes: Achieve, Engage, Create, and Resource. This comprehensive approach encompasses 14 strategic initiatives identified by the campus community, supported by 35 target activities that will be evaluated annually using designated performance metrics or key performance indicators. Each theme of Plan 2028 will be overseen by dedicated "Champions" and responsible lead offices or divisions.
To ensure continuous progress, Theme Champions and members of the implementation teams for each theme will convene at least once a year. During these meetings, they will assess overall performance, review and revise goals, and present a summary of the strategic plan's progress in a public town hall. The valuable feedback obtained from these annual updates will provide Plan 2028 with the necessary flexibility to be revised and updated as required to remain effective and relevant.
The Taskforce
Michael D. Gillespie is the Director of the Faculty Development and Innovation Center and Professor of Sociology at Eastern Illinois University. At the FDIC, I strive to work alongside my peers and share how teaching and learning are not opposing forces, but are incredibly entwined. Teaching is a form of leadership - and at the end of the day, it is simply about helping another human being to learn. My research interests in the scholarship of teaching and learning focuses on experiential and active learning, alternative assessment strategies, student learning objective, and statistical literacy and quantitative reasoning. To the FDIC, I bring extensive experience in program evaluation and assessment, as well as program and policy analysis, and training in mentoring and leadership. I also have the honor to teach the required applied statistics course in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology. This course, for which students most often only enroll because it is a program requirement, is therefore met with much anxiety and skepticism by Sociology and Criminal Justice majors. However, integrating statistical literacy with a pirate, props, M&M chocolate candies, and real world applications, I seek to develop an appreciative, but critical eye toward social statistics that, in hopes, lives and breathes outside of the classroom. Working with a diverse group of students and faculty who have their own biography, struggles, and passions is inspiring. When these worlds collide, as Carl Sagan writes, ‘something incredible is waiting to be known’. "I am hopeful, not out of mere stubbornness, but out of an existential concrete imperative" ~Paulo Freire Ph.D. in Sociology (Western Michigan University, 2010) M.S.W. in Program Evaluation and Policy Analysis (University of Michigan, 2003) B.A. in Sociology (University of Michigan-Dearborn, 2001) Sociology 3630: Statistical Analysis of Social Data Sociology 4131: Sociology of Poverty and Social Welfare Currently, Dr. Gillespie is conducting a multi-year study of the food insecurity and associated academic, social, and health risks of EIU students. College students, in our present era, are often asked to bear much of the burden of attempting to complete their college degrees while also attempting to maintain a standard of living of subsistence and resilience; Dr. Gillespie's focus is to unwrap the level of risk of not having access to a healthy, adequate, stable source of food and potential impacts on the students' college experience. As a scholar activist, he is currently looking at such conditions in the East-Central Illinois region, using government data and geographical mapping techniques to educate stakeholders about the incidence of poverty, inequality, and food insecurity in Coles County and surrounding areas. In general, Dr. Gillespie’s research focuses on the historical and contemporary circumstances of poverty and food insecurity at the national, state, and local levels. His previous research compared trends in assistance programs for poor persons and families with other social, economic, and political conditions over time, and follows how policies and procedures generate and perpetuate social inequalities. Midwest Sociological Society American Association of University Professors
Dr. Michael D. Gillespie
Director, Faculty Development and Innovation Center & Professor of Sociology
Office: 1116 - Booth Library
Phone: 217-581-7056
Email: mgillespie@eiu.edu
Website: https://developingfaculty.com/
INTRODUCTION
I am inspired by bell hooks, Paulo Freire, and Parker Palmer, and teach sociology and statistics with a critical pedagogical orientation. I have a passion for education, statistics, sociology, and working with my peers in faculty development and empowerment.My EIU Story
Education & Training
Frequently Taught Courses
Sociology 4900: Current Issues in SociologyResearch & Creative Interests
Professional Affiliations
Society for the Study of Social Problems
If you have questions about EIU’s Strategic Planning process, or wish to learn more, please email Josh Reinhart, Public Information Coordinator, at jdreinhart@eiu.edu.