Enhance Strength and Stability
Retention Rates
The retention rate of full-time, first time in college students in the fall 2020 cohort who returned in fall 2021 was 83.2 percent.
Graduation Rates
The six-year graduation rate of first time in college students in the fall 2015 cohort was 67.3 percent.
Fundraising
Fundraising totaled more than $31.2 million for the third-best year for philanthropy in Illinois State's history.
Financial Aid
In FY21, 91 percent of our freshmen paying in-state tuition were awarded grants or scholarships from federal, state, local governments, or the institution. The average grant and scholarship aid was $10,720.
Hope Chicago
Hope Chicago is an innovative, two-generation college scholarship program committed to investing $1 billion in postsecondary scholarships for Chicago Public School students and their parents. Hope Scholars who are accepted into Illinois State will receive full tuition, fees, room, and board. Hope Parent Scholars have the option to apply and attend the following year, with full tuition, fees, and a stipend for living expenses.
Graduate stipends
In fall 2021, stipends increased three percent for all graduate assistants, including graduate teaching assistants. Previous minimum monthly stipends for 20 hours of work increased to $1,200 at the Master’s level (previously $954) and to $1,300 at the Doctoral level (previously $1,050-$1,250). In Fall 2022, the monthly stipend for 20 hours of work increased to $1,300 at the Master’s level and $1,400 at the Doctoral level.
LinkedIn Learning
Human Resources provided faculty and staff access to LinkedIn Learning as a personal and professional development resource that includes a digital library of more than 16,000 courses, covering a wide range of topics such as equity and inclusion, technical aptitude and application, leadership, and mindfulness.
Persistence micro-grants
The Persistence Committee, in collaboration with the Provost’s Office, University College, and colleges increased funding for micro-grants targeted to aid in student retention. Both the College of Applied Science and Technology (CAST) and the College of Education (COE) participated; CAST assisted students whose graduation goals were blocked by financial constraints and the COE Lauby Teacher Education Center gave persistence scholarships to PK-12 and secondary education students.
CAST Connections
CAST Connections, the first college-level student success center, was launched to develop student success initiatives for the College of Applied Science and Technology that focus on equity, a sense of belonging, wellness, and personal development. CAST Connections is committed to customizing success through individualized student consulting as a part of their wrap-around services that provide one-on-one meetings with students.
ISU is one of only 190 schools to hold accreditation from the Association for Advancement of Colleges and Schools of Business (AACSB) for both the college and the accounting department.
In spring 2022, Moody’s Investors Service upgraded Illinois State University’s issuer and Auxiliary Facilities System (AFS) bond ratings to Baa1 from Baa2, and its Certificates of Participation (COPS) to Baa2 from Baa3, with a positive outlook.
The University Police Department was once again recognized by Lexipol for achieving Gold level status for consistently and effectively disseminating policies to officers, issuing timely policy updates as laws change, and ensuring officers are trained on the policies.
Student-athlete overall GPA
3.27 for the spring 2022 semester
student-athletes had a 4.0 GPA for the spring 2022 semester
Softball GPA ranked 2nd in nation for Division I schools, and Swimming and Diving ranked 8th in the nation for Division I schools.
Gift commitment to support College of Education and University High School
The College of Education and University High School received a transformational $5 million estate gift commitment, one of the largest planned gifts in university history. The gift will support an existing scholarship for University High School students and benefit the College of Education, elevating the role of the teacher in society through enhanced selection and training of teachers.
Budget Officer Training
The Budget and Comptroller’s Offices developed a Budget Officer Orientation for all current and future budget officers and delegates. The orientation provides a brief overview of a Budget Officer’s role, responsibilities, and expectations, along with the types of funds, applications used, and resources to assist employees in achieving the objectives of their units.
HEERF and GEER Funds
The divisions of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Athletics, University Advancement, and Finance and Planning worked together to apply available federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) and Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds to campus where needed and applicable. HEERF provided federal funding to support higher education institutions to serve students and ensure learning continued during the COVID-19 pandemic. The cumulative university total for all HEERF awards was $85.2 million. GEER funds, intended to overcome barriers created by the COVID-19 pandemic, supported targeted initiatives to enroll and retain underrepresented, first-generation, and high-need students at higher education institutions. The cumulative university total for GEER fund awards was $2.7 million.
Cybersecurity Awareness Training
The Information Security Office developed a Cybersecurity Awareness Training that each member of the University was required to complete. The training addressed the most prevalent cyber threats facing the University and provided guidance on how to build a culture of information security where each member of the University understands threats and how they can play a part in defending against them.
The percent of full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking students in fiscal year 2021 who paid the in-state tuition rate and were awarded grant or scholarship aid from federal, state, or local governments, or the institution.
Data Governance
A new data governance structure was implemented in August 2021 and includes a Data Governance Executive Council and Data Governance Committee with cross-divisional representation. The groups are charged with ensuring that institutional data are reliable, accurate, appropriately secured, consistently interpreted, and strategically used across the University.
Predicting occupancy patterns
Building automation systems were integrated with wireless networks and provide Wi-Fi connection count data to better monitor indoor air quality within campus buildings. Wi-Fi connection counts are also used to predict occupancy patterns for optimizing building energy consumption and provide crucial information in emergency response situations.
Increased data access and usability
Enterprise Data and Analytics expanded the data and information uploaded into the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) allowing units and divisions better access to data reporting, analysis, and analytics. Financial data from Event Management, Dining and Hospitality’s point-of-sale system was brought into the EDW and is now visible through a Power BI dashboard and is used to make more data-informed decisions. Other units, such as Planning, Research, and Policy Analysis have expanded the data reported through Power BI, allowing users better access to data for more fluent decision-making.
University Housing micro surveys
University Housing Services utilized micro surveys to gather relevant and timely information regarding student satisfaction, safety, and the effectiveness of the overall housing operation. These data were used to take immediate action on identified issues.
students provided e-textbooks
Milner Library invested in purchasing e-textbooks for 2,450 students enrolled in 142 course sections to use as part of a pilot initiative, resulting in estimated textbook savings for students of $233,000.
University Police utilizes communication tools and community programs to increase transparency and build trust.
A new University Police Transparency webpage with an interactive dashboard was developed and released during FY22. Users can access up-to-date data related to law enforcement interactions with the public, including traffic stops and arrests.
Police.IllinoisState.edu/transparency
Center for Integrated Professional Development
The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology transitioned into the Center for Integrated Professional Development in June 2022. The new center’s mission is to become the institutional hub for evidence-informed pedagogy, online education, career advancement, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and support for scholarship in collaboration with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.
Safety initiatives
• The development of a new Emergency Operations Plan has been completed and expands on emergency topics including campus evacuation/sheltering, tornadoes, cyber emergencies, family assistance, volunteer/donations management, structural collapses, active shooter/aggressors, pandemics, long-term utility outages, and international emergencies. Implementation will begin in FY23.
• The Emergency Operations Center received key technological systems upgrades.
• The Redbird CARE, Faculty/Staff CARE, and Incident Management teams coordinated efforts to run an exercise relating to violence prevention and active shooter scenario.
Sustainability Strategic Plan
The Sustainability Strategic Plan, the University’s first, includes goals for creating more sustainability-related courses and research opportunities; prioritizing conservation and innovation for water, energy, and construction efforts; providing sustainable transportation incentives; and nurturing more leadership roles for students through campus and community partnerships.
Top producer in COVID-19 SHIELD testing
• COVID-19 SHIELD testing was available for all asymptomatic and symptomatic students, faculty, and staff on campus. The ISU Testing Lab was one of the top Labs in the SHIELD Illinois System in terms of testing numbers and processing time, processing over one million samples.
• ISU holds the weekly SHIELD record of 55,067 samples processed
Admissions Viewbook
The Admissions Viewbook won the Grand Gold award in the international 2022 CASE Circle of Excellence competition for outstanding university publication design.
Watterson Dining Commons Servery
Renovations began in May 2022. The new design will improve traffic flow and safety egress paths, decrease congestion around popular venues, improve occupant safety by establishing clear egress and emergency exit pathways, improve product movement and employee efficiency.