NDNU Interim Report 2019 Notre Dame de Namur University

Interim Report to WSCUC

Name of Institution: Notre Dame de Namur University

Person Submitting the Report: Gregory B. White, Vice President for Academic Affairs and ALO

Report Submission Date: October 15, 2019

Table of Contents

1. Statement on Report Preparation 2 2. List of Topics Addressed in This Report 2 3. Institutional Context 3 I. Description of NDNU 3 II. History, Mission, and Institutional Values 3 4. Response to Issues Identified by the Commission 5 I. Enrollment and Financial Plans 5 a. How NDNU tracks, monitors, and measures its enrollment plan 5 b. Enrollment outcomes and impact on the enrollment plan 6 c. Other outcomes affecting finances 8 d. Impacts on the financial plan 8 II. Faculty and Staff Hiring Plan 15 a. Updated Faculty and Staff Hiring Plan 16 b. Faculty and Staff Diversity 18 III. Assessment Plan 20 a. Summary of Status of Assessment Plan 20 b. Simplifying Program Review 21 c. Online Programs 22 5. Identification of Other Changes and Issues Currently Facing the Institution 22 I. Leadership Transitions 22 II. Board Committee Restructuring 23 III. Academic Resiliency Plan 24 IV. Faculty Development Grievance Resolution 26 V. Campus Improvements 27 VI. AB1466 and PAGA 28 VII. Title V HSI “STARS” Grant 29 6. Concluding Statement 30

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1. Statement on Report Preparation Briefly describe in narrative form the process of report preparation, providing the names and titles of those involved. Because of the focused nature of an Interim Report, the widespread and comprehensive involvement of all institutional constituencies is not normally required. Faculty, administrative staff, and others should be involved as appropriate to the topics being addressed in the preparation of the report. Campus constituencies, such as faculty leadership and, where appropriate, the governing board, should review the report before it is submitted to WSCUC, and such reviews should be indicated in this statement.

The primary author of this Interim Report was Dr. Greg White, Vice President for Academic Affairs and ALO. Input and assistance was provided by members of the President’s cabinet, the deans, and the directors of Marketing and Admissions. An early outline was reviewed by the Student Learning and Success Committee of the Board of Trustees. A near-final draft was reviewed by the president’s cabinet, deans, and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, with the final draft reviewed by the president and the CFO.

Normally, NDNU would also involve faculty in the review of an Interim Report. However, given that this Interim Report was being coordinated with a communication from the Board that is not yet public, faculty review was not feasible. See the Concluding Statement for a reference to the Board communication. Most of the information in the report (e.g., enrollment and financial information) was shared separately with faculty via the Joint Labor Management Committee.

2. List of Topics Addressed in this Report Please list the topics identified in the action letter(s) and that are addressed in this report.

The primary topics addressed in this Interim Report are the three recommendations cited in the Interim Report Action Summary initially received from WSCUC on February 22, 2019 and revised on August 8, 2019. In response to NDNU’s Interim Report of November 1, 2018, the Interim Report Committee requested NDNU to “report on the status of their Enrollment and financial plans, faculty and staff hiring plan, and assessment plan” in this follow-up Interim Report. These topics are addressed in section 4 on “Response to Issues Identified by the Commission”: I. Enrollment and Financial Plans II. Faculty and Staff Hiring Plan III. Assessment Plan

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To provide context needed to understand our responses to the issues above, we address in Section 5 the following topics which represent significant changes: I. Leadership Transitions II. Board Committee Restructuring III. Academic Resiliency Plan IV. Faculty Development Grievance Resolution V. Campus Improvements VI. AB1466 and PAGA VII. Title V HSI “STARS” Grant

3. Institutional Context Very briefly describe the institution's background; mission; history, including the founding date and year first accredited; geographic locations; and other pertinent information so that the Interim Report Committee panel has the context to understand the issues discussed in the report.

I. Description of NDNU

NDNU is a fully accredited, private, non-profit, coeducational, Catholic university located in Belmont, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula in Silicon Valley. The university is both a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI). NDNU is the only four-year accredited university in San Mateo County. The university offers undergraduate and graduate, liberal arts and professional programs. Enrollment in fall 2019 is 1363 students with approximately sixty percent of students enrolled in undergraduate degree programs and forty percent enrolled in graduate degree and credential programs. Our students represent 31 states and 41 foreign countries. In addition to traditional on-campus programs, the university offers programs in different modalities and at multiple sites. (See 3-I-1 NDNU Fact Sheet Fall 2019.)

II. History, Mission, and Institutional Values

A brief history of the university places our current vision, challenges, and successes in context. NDNU is the third oldest institution of higher education in the State of California. It was founded as the Academy of Notre Dame by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (SNDs) in San Jose in 1851. The institution changed its name to College of Notre Dame in 1868 when it was chartered

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by the State of California. NDNU’s social justice mission was already evident in 1868 as College of Notre Dame became the first California institution chartered to grant the baccalaureate degree to women. The mission of the Sisters has always been to provide educational access to those on the margins of society – a legacy that continues today. The College was relocated to the current site in Belmont in 1923 when the SNDs purchased the Ralston Estate. The College began offering a full four-year baccalaureate program in the 1950s and received its first WASC accreditation in 1953. The university became fully coeducational in 1969, added graduate programs in 1972, added accelerated evening degree completion programs for working adults in 1988, and received approval from WASC to offer its first PhD program in 2013.

NDNU has also pursued online and off-campus programs. The first online programs were offered starting in fall 2011 and spring 2012. More recently, the online MBA program was launched in fall 2015, the MA TESOL program in fall 2017, and the BS Criminal Justice program in fall 2019. NDNU began offering its undergraduate degree completion programs off- campus at Mission College (Santa Clara, CA) in spring 2009 and at Cañada College (Redwood City, CA) in fall 2009. The university began offering both an undergraduate degree completion program and the MBA program in Tracy, CA in fall 2015 and began education credential programs in Tracy in 2017.

To acknowledge its comprehensive character, the institution changed its name to Notre Dame de Namur University in 2001. NDNU has been an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution since the inception of that designation in 2007 and became a Hispanic Serving Institution in 2009. The university was awarded two federal HSI grants in October 2011 that ran through September 2016. NDNU was funded for new HSI Title V Part A grant that began in October 2018 focused on success of transfer students.

Essential to our institutional context are the university’s Mission, Vision, and Core Values, as well as the Hallmarks of a Notre Dame de Namur Learning Community (“Hallmarks”). (See 3- II-1 NDNU Mission, Vision, and Core Values and 3-II-2 Hallmarks of a Notre Dame de Namur Learning Community.) Both the mission and vision statements draw attention to our quality academic programs and to our focus on preparing students to make positive change in our world

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in ethically meaningful ways. This integration of academic excellence, access, and service has been central to the university since its founding.

4. Response to Issues Identified by the Commission This main section of the report should address the issues identified by the Commission in its action letter(s) as topics for the Interim Report. Each topic identified in the Commission’s action letter should be addressed. The team report (on which the action letter is based) may provide additional context and background for the institution’s understanding of issues.

Provide a full description of each issue, the actions taken by the institution that address this issue, and an analysis of the effectiveness of these actions to date. Have the actions taken been successful in resolving the problem? What is the evidence supporting progress? What further problems or issues remain? How will these concerns be addressed, by whom, and under what timetable? How will the institution know when the issue has been fully addressed? Please include a timeline that outlines planned additional steps with milestones and expected outcomes. Responses should be no longer than five pages per issue

I. Enrollment and Financial Plans

Commission Issue: Report on increased and diversified revenues.

Related expectation for this Report from the Interim Report Action Summary: • Report on the status of NDNU’s Enrollment and financial plans.

Related recommendation from the Interim Report Action Summary: • NDNU should continue to monitor the progress of enrollment plan of 100 students in the fall and by the next WSCUC interaction a report on enrollment as well as increased and diversified revenues is recommended.

NDNU Response a. How NDNU tracks, monitors, and measures its enrollment plan NDNU’s Director of Institutional Research has created dashboards and reports, using Power BI, that are produced and distributed weekly to update Admissions and Senior Staff on progress toward goals for admissions, enrollment, and retention. (See 4-I-a-1 Admissions Dashboard 8- 30-19, 4-I-a-2 Enrollment Dashboard 8-30-19, and 4-I-a-3 Retention Dashboard 8-30-19.) Trends for fall 2019 admissions, enrollment, and retention were positive through about May. However, starting in summer, returning student numbers did not continue to increase following their normal pattern. New student enrollment appeared to be strong through July, but then fell off, with huge melt in the freshman class.

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Goals for enrollment and retention were set in the Strategic Plan 2015-2020, as updated in September 2018. These are stated there as “Criteria” related to each strategic initiative, with the notion that to be on the path to sustainability, NDNU needs to meet these criteria for enrollment and retention. (See 4-I-a-4 Strategic Plan 2015-2020.) These criteria and outcomes for fall 2019 are given in the next section.

b. Enrollment outcomes and impact on the enrollment plan As reported in last year’s Interim Report, NDNU’s overall enrollments had steadily declined from the record-high enrollment of 2030 in fall 2013 to enrollment of 1492 in fall 2018. Despite our efforts to increase new enrollments and improve retention, enrollment has fallen again to 1363 in fall 2019. (See 4-I-b-1 Five Year Enrollment Comparison – includes five years of data for fall enrollments and spring enrollments.) This represents about a 33% decline from NDNU’s peak enrollment in 2013. Unsurprisingly, this decline has put pressure on all institutional functions and the effects of this decline influence responses to several of the issues raised by the Commission.

NDNU applied considerable resources and efforts to turn the tide on enrollment. We increased our marketing spend and our enrollment and marketing teams employed new strategies and broadened existing strategies. These new and expanded efforts included expanded volume of email marketing to prospective students; repeated calls to students in the admissions pipeline; geo-fencing; focusing resources on promoting new online programs and on reaching traditional undergraduates (freshman and transfer); moving more resources from print marketing to other marketing initiatives; and a more focused approach to achieving national and local media exposure. These efforts were largely successful from the standpoint of driving additional visitors to NDNU’s admissions website, increasing numbers of leads generated from social media and other call-to-action campaigns, and additional media exposure. (See 4-I-b-2 Marketing Report 2018-19.)

Compared with the previous year, similar numbers of inquiries were generated. Relative to fall 2018, fairly similar conversion rates held through the admissions funnel up to the deposit stage. However, in several populations, the conversion rate from deposit to enrollment was significantly lower, leading to a lower new student count than in fall 2018. (See 4-I-b-3 F19

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Final Admissions Report.) In the final analysis, the new admission and marketing strategies did not work.

With the departure of Provost Bucheli (see Section 5), Rey Penate is taking full responsibility for the Admissions operation and he now reports directly to the president. Karen Schornstein, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, similarly reports directly to the president. Together they are crafting new strategies responsive to lessons learned this year.

Retention of students expected to continue into fall 2019 was also disappointing. This was despite significant work to enhance services to students through improvements in our Student Success Center (e.g., new support workshops for writing and math) and in Advising (full implementation of staff advising in the undergraduate programs, training with InsideTrack). The new Title V HSI Grant (funded 10/1/2018) has a focus on transfer retention, but is only beginning to implement activities this fall, so would not have had any significant effect on this retention cycle. Some of the same approaches that were used for admissions were also used for retention (e.g., multiple calls to continuing students who had not yet registered) and these approaches were similarly unsuccessful.

As a result, NDNU failed to meet each of the Criteria for enrollment and retention in the Strategic Plan. The Criteria and results for fall 2019 are listed below.

Criteria for Strategic Initiative I:

First to second year cohort Fall 2018 to Fall 2019: 69% Actual: 64%

Transfer retention Fall 2019: 81% Actual: 77%

Criteria for Strategic Initiative II:

Overall enrollment Fall 2019: 1650 Actual: 1363

Criteria for Strategic Initiative III:

Tracy enrollment Fall 2019: 75 Actual: 49

The most precipitous drop in enrollment was among new freshmen. In fall 2018, NDNU enrolled 179 freshmen and our three-year average was 169 freshmen. The goal for new freshmen was 200. However, only 120 full-time freshmen enrolled in fall 2019.

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c. Other outcomes affecting finances NDNU is tuition driven, but its finances also depend on its fundraising for unrestricted purposes and its auxiliaries such as Conferences and Housing.

Criteria for Strategic Initiative II of the Strategic Plan and related outcomes for fiscal year 2019 were as follows:

Fundraising for unrestricted FY2019: $1,100,000 Actual (unaudited): $327,769

Conference revenue FY2019: $500,000 Actual (unaudited): $13,567

Regarding housing, the combination of a smaller freshman class and larger numbers of housing waivers than usual has resulted in about 50 fewer students in the residence halls than anticipated for fall 2019. This will reduce both housing revenues and revenues associated with our contract with our food service provider, Bon Appetit.

d. Impacts on the financial plan The financial position of NDNU has not strengthened since the WASC Interim Report of 2018. Financial sustainability is challenged, mainly as a consequence of declining enrollment, decreases in gifts and donations, and failure to develop conferences and events net revenue.

Enrollment Decline and Discounting Fall headcount enrollment has decreased each year for the past five years, which has created stress on the Net Operating Revenue. Meanwhile, the discount rate (defined as unfunded tuition financing plus funded tuition financing, divided by undergraduate gross revenue) is expected to increase to at least 55% by 2021, which, while consistent with comparable universities, places an increased burden on unrestricted institutional resources. Graph 1 (below) shows recent enrollment history and tuition discounting for full-time undergraduates.

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Graph 1: Enrollment Changes and Discounting

Net Revenue The primary driver of NDNU unrestricted net revenue is Net Tuition Revenue, which is directly a function of the combination of enrollment and the discount rate. As illustrated in Graph 2 (below), the consequence of the drop in enrollment and the increased discount rate is diminished Net Tuition Revenue.

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Graph 2: Gross Tuition and Net Tuition Revenue

Expenditure Reductions To offset these enrollment net revenue reductions, NDNU has reduced expenditures when possible and eliminated academic programs which did not display growth potential, brand alignment, and/or net revenue expectations for growth. It should be noted that ongoing expense reductions, to match declining net revenue, is not a sustainable strategy. However, over the last three years, such reductions did permit the University to satisfy the debtholder bond covenant ratios and to maintain small increases in employee compensation. Unfortunately, with the disappointing fall 2019 enrollment (headcount of 1363 vs. 1600 budget assumption), expense controls are the current focus to protect the bottom-line in the short-term. Therefore, NDNU is currently evaluating expense reductions of approximately $1.9 million for fiscal year 2020. These reductions, combined with new initiatives to acquire unrestricted funds of approximately $1 million, could serve to protect the balance sheet of the university and position it for successful strategic realignment.

Graph 3 shows total operating expenditures over the past seven years.

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Graph 3: Total Operating Expenditures

Ralston Hall Capital Campaign Cancellation and Its Impacts In 2012, the University had closed historic Ralston Hall because of structural issues. In late 2014, a local philanthropist and former trustee issued a challenge to the University for fundraising for Ralston Hall. The Board weighed expected outcomes and determined that the historic importance and visibility of the building in the local community and the enhanced ability to raise auxiliary revenue through rentals, combined with the possibility of enhanced space for student educational purposes, would catalyze the NDNU’s donor base to action. The University was successful in meeting the original challenge of raising $6 million dollars in calendar year 2015 and obtained permits from the City of Belmont in 2019, which would allow for commencement of construction. However, the Board of Trustees cancelled the Ralston Hall capital campaign in August 2019 because the capital raised was less than the capital required, diminished expectations for future fundraising to close the shortfall, and the local philanthropist who promised to underwrite the campaign rescinded his pledge.

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The campaign cancellation has reduced the balance sheet and impacted the income statement. Specifically, as of fiscal year-end 2020, $3.1 million of construction-in-process will have been reversed. In fiscal year 2019, an allowance of $1.6 million for pledges receivable was recorded. Additionally, donors gave $7.4 million in cash to the Ralston Campaign which will need to be returned, if requested by the donors. NDNU is working with donors to encourage them to re- direct those funds to the university as unrestricted funds, while giving them the option to redirect to another restricted purpose or request the funds to be returned to them. In fiscal year 2019, Ralston Hall donors redirected approximately $879,000 to the university. This effort continues in fiscal year 2020.

To remedy the net tuition shortfall, the commensurate budget reductions, and the costs from the Ralston campaign cancellation, the Board of Trustees has asked the Advancement office to increase the focus on unrestricted giving to NDNU. The Advancement Office will focus on a) maximizing planned giving donations, b) increasing Board of Trustees relationship giving, c) promoting the redirection of Ralston Hall Campaign donations, d) increasing alumni giving opportunities, and e) furthering Silicon Valley relations.

To date, the fiscal year 2020 unrestricted giving is expected to be approximately $500,000 above budget. Together with the expense reductions of approximately $1.9 million mentioned above, this reduces the negative gap with regard to the bond covenants to approximately $1.5 million for fiscal year 2020. The Board of Trustees is considering strategic next steps regarding this shortfall.

Impacts on the Three-year Budget Plan The three-year budget is established in collaboration with the enrollment/admissions department, CFO, director of budgeting, the president, provost, and the vice president for advancement, with input from all cabinet members, deans, and the Board of Trustees. This process is iterative and forecasts are updated as required.

In response to the decrease in enrollment and other shortfalls, the university is in the process of revising its three-year budget plan. The previous budget plan presumed 1600 headcount for fiscal year 2020; with fall 2019 headcount at 1363, significant changes to the three-year budget plan are in required.

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Though a new three-year budget plan is not yet finalized, a draft has been developed (fiscal year 2019 through fiscal year 2021) with the assumptions that NDNU will reverse the enrollment shortfall trend line and stabilize at 1400 for fiscal year 2021 and that NDNU will reduce costs as soon as possible, and in a manner consistent with this enrollment level. This budget plan will be reconsidered when the Admissions leadership can reforecast enrollment expectations, a new Interim President is appointed, and the Board of Trustees approves a new Advancement Plan.

Debt Covenants As of fiscal year-end 2019, NDNU has $10.9 million in debt outstanding, which is subject to performance (debt) covenants. There are two debt covenants that must be exceeded: the Debt Service Coverage Ratio and the Liquidity Covenant.

The Debt Service Covenant Ratio requires NDNU to generate unrestricted available funds for debt service at least equal to 110% of overall annual debt service (i.e., interest and principal payments). To date, NDNU has managed to successfully maintain this threshold; however, for fiscal years 2019 and 2020, NDNU is unlikely to be able to satisfy this covenant.

The Liquidity Covenant evaluates the available cash, which is not permanently restricted, against a minimum threshold of $5 million. In other words, available cash cannot be less than or equal to $5 million. NDNU has satisfied this covenant through prudent fiscal practices and expects to fully satisfy this covenant in fiscal year 2019.

Given the likely breach of the Debt Service Covenant Ratio, it is expected that Bank negotiations will be required to ensure that the ‘remedy period’ is satisfactory to the debtholders.

In order to maintain financial stability, NDNU strives to exceed performance covenants and restore to positive net operating revenues. Therefore, administration calculated the enrollment levels required to reach break-even by fiscal year 2020; this was the reasoning behind the recommended 1600 enrollment goal for fall 2019. Given the significant enrollment shortfall in fall 2019, paired with the shortfalls in fundraising and conference revenue, the path ahead is difficult to forecast until an interim president is hired and confirms the strategic plan.

Net Operating Revenue Graph 4 shows NDNU’s Net Operating Revenue, which includes funding of depreciation. Clearly, net operating revenue must rebound for institutional sustainability.

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Graph 4: Net Operating Revenue (including Non-Cash Expenditures)

Consolidated Net Assets In fiscal year 2019, changes in net assets, on a consolidated basis, have also turned negative. In fiscal year 2018 changes in net assets were positive $2.4 million, whereas changes in net assets were negative $6.2 million in fiscal year 2019 (unaudited). This is a consequence of negative unrestricted revenue of $2.5 million and the allowance for uncollectable Ralston Hall campaign pledges. Additionally, cash flows from operations plummeted from positive $0.7 million in fiscal year 2018 to negative $3.4 million in fiscal year 2019 (unaudited).

To offset the reduction in cash flows, and to replenish cash reserves, the Board of Trustees approved the sale of the Trudeau land parcel for $3.5 million. The sale will favorably impact fiscal year 2020 with a one-time net gain on sale of $2.9 million and an increase in net cash of $3.4 million. It is important to note that, despite the negative operating issues, the balance sheet remains relatively liquid.

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Graph 5: Change in Consolidated Net Assets

Summary Overall, NDNU has fiscal challenges that require strategic re-evaluation. In response to these challenges, the university is re-evaluating all areas of the organization. NDNU is committed to a fiscally sustainable future and is exploring many strategic options to realize that goal. See the Concluding Statement at the end of this Report for a discussion of next steps.

II. Faculty and Staff Hiring Plan

Commission Issue: Hiring plan for faculty and staff, including strategies to continue to increase diversity, and plans for faculty and staff development.

Related expectation for this Report from the Interim Report Action Summary: • Report on the status of NDNU’s faculty and staff hiring plan.

Related recommendation from the Interim Report Action Summary:

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• NDNU should demonstrate progress [on] the faculty and staff hiring with benchmarks based upon enrollment along with faculty and staff development plans. NDNU Response a. Updated faculty and staff hiring plan Sufficient and appropriate staffing is integral to NDNU’s effectiveness as an institution. In the context of lower enrollments and financial challenges, NDNU is focusing on setting and maintaining certain ratios and floors that provide benchmarks for right-sizing faculty and staff while we strive to maintain and improve diversity.

On the faculty side, it is essential that NDNU maintain a sufficient number of full-time faculty members to ensure appropriate faculty roles and responsibilities can be carried out. Following retirements, layoffs, and a faculty resignation, NDNU is down to 35 full-time teaching faculty in fall 2019. Under the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with SEIU, four faculty advisory committees (FAC) are spelled out to perform faculty governance functions, and there is additionally a Joint Labor Management Committee (JLMC). The committees and numbers of full-time faculty required are as follows:

• Academic Standards – 2 (plus 1 part-time) • Curriculum – 3 (plus 1 part-time) • Faculty Development – 2 (plus 1 part-time) • Rank and Tenure – 5 • JLMC – 3 (plus 3 part-time) Additionally, NDNU will maintain an Assessment Council which includes three full-time faculty. These committees together require 18 full-time faculty to maintain these important faculty governance roles. (See 4-II-a-1 Article 10 of NDNU CBA and 4-II-a-2 Assessment Council Membership and Charge.)

NDNU must also maintain sufficient full-time faculty to provide appropriate rigor, expertise, and oversight to its academic programs. NDNU currently has 16 undergraduate majors, 10 master’s degree programs, 4 credential programs (two of which are fully embedded in master’s programs), and 1 doctoral program. NDNU maintains at least one full-time faculty per degree program and in many cases, more. The only exception is for our new BS Criminal Justice

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program for which a full-time hire is pending sufficient enrollment. (See 4-II-a-3 NDNU Program Offerings by Academic Area and 4-II-a-4 Full-time Faculty by Department.)

In preparation for the 2019-20 academic year, NDNU’s deans adopted a new strategy for managing the ratio of full-time traditional undergraduates to the number of course sections offered for that population. By managing this ratio globally (rather than only via minimum class size), we are boosting average class size with a goal of 20 students per section. Through this new approach to undergraduate course offerings, we project that NDNU will offer 66 fewer sections in the 2019-20 academic year than in the previous year. This should result in over $300,000 in savings for fiscal year 2020. Unfortunately, this approach is not easily applied to our undergraduate degree-completion programs or graduate programs due to their more constrained requirements, but the course offerings and enrollments in those programs are also being carefully monitored. The Board of Trustees has long monitored the FTE student to FTE faculty ratio, which is related to class size, as an item in the annual Key Performance Indicators. (Also in the Fact Sheet in the Enrollment section – see 3-I-1 NDNU Fact Sheet Fall 2019.) For NDNU, this ratio has been 11 or 12 to 1 for many years, while many comparable institutions are at about 14 to 1. These changes will bring NDNU closer to that ratio.

The ratio of full-time to part-time faculty is also of concern for maintaining a cadre of faculty fully committed to NDNU’s success and academic quality. For this ratio, NDNU tracks the percentage of credit hours taught by full-time faculty. For the 2018-19 academic year, this percentage dipped to 38%. The reduction in course sections mentioned above will act to increase this ratio, while faculty layoffs and retirements will have the opposite effect – these may offset each other for the 2019-20 academic year. The Academic Resiliency Plan sets a floor of 30% of credit hours taught by full-time faculty to ensure that even in the face of financial constraints, a core group of full-time faculty is maintained. (See 4-II-a-5 Academic Resiliency Plan, p11.)

For staff, NDNU has explored creating similar ratios, but has not found comparisons that clearly made sense. Comparisons to our past staffing ratios (e.g., student-to-staff) are confounded by many factors including changes to regulatory requirements; changes in technology; changes in student needs and preparation; periods of enrollment growth or decline (staffing changes tend to lag); and periods with substantial grant support. Comparisons to other institutions are confounded by factors including program mix; institutional size; endowment size; athletic programs; and the variations in other institutions due to the factors noted in the previous

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sentence. NDNU regularly looks at comparisons with other California private colleges and universities, but we have not found insight on staffing ratios. (See 4-II-a-6 14-Institution IPEDS Comparison for 2017-18.)

Our strategy on staff hiring has been to prioritize student learning, student safety, and student access. Grant funding, such as the current Title V HSI STARS grant, supplements our core budget to provide staff to serve our students. As positions come open, as new positions are proposed, or as positions need to be cut, they are reviewed by senior staff and prioritized based on their direct or indirect impact on student success. b. Faculty and Staff Diversity Given its compositional diversity, NDNU is recognized as both a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI). For several years, NDNU has scored in the top 5% of colleges and universities nationally for student diversity. Additionally, 68% of freshmen are first the first in their families to attend college. While it is not yet possible to hire and retain faculty and staff as diverse as our students, NDNU has done well relative to many institutions of higher education.

NDNU was recognized in the Wall Street Journal / Times Higher Education College Rankings 2020 as being in the top 10% nationally in faculty diversity. This score is based on a calculation of the likelihood that two faculty members are from different racial/ethnic groups using IPEDS data. Faculty diversity is one of the factors in the Environment category of the WSJ/THE rankings – NDNU was ranked 38th out of 800 schools in this category.

No new full-time faculty hires were made in the 2018-19 academic year. One full-time faculty member retired as part of a voluntary retirement incentive and one full-time faculty member resigned at the end of spring 2019. Additionally, two full-time faculty members were laid off at the end of spring 2019 (effective August 2019) as a result of program closures in Art and Musical Performance during the previous academic year (2017-18).

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Table 1: Summary of Faculty and Staff Diversity

Non- Caucasian Totals Caucasian backgrounds Full-time faculty in Fall 2018 12 28 40 Full-time staff in Fall 2018 75 87 162 New full-time staff hires 2017-18 15 16 31 Part-time staff and part-time 48 135 188 faculty Fall 2018

Notably, NDNU has made several new staff hires in the past year for the Title V grant project, Success in Transfer and Retention for Students (STARS). NDNU successfully recruited three full- time staff members (Project Director, Project Manager, and Transfer Counselor) with an emphasis on candidates’ ability to make a strong cultural connection with our target undergraduate student population, including bicultural, bilingual in English and Spanish, first generation college graduate, experience as a transfer student, or similar experiences.

Approaches to promoting diversity in hiring As part of our attention to diversity in the hiring process for both faculty and staff, NDNU has several well-established processes that follow best practices in attracting a diverse applicant pool: • Expressing institutional values respecting diversity and describing our campus community’s diversity in the job description • Asking for statements specifically related to experience creating equitable learning environments for diverse student population or working effectively with diverse faculty/staff/student community in the cover letter • Defining the search broadly to attract candidates from varied backgrounds • Including a member from our Diversity Council on each search committee • Having interview question sets and protocols that are applied equally to each candidate, including questions from those created by our Diversity Council • Publicizing job advertisements widely, including LinkedIn, Indeed, Chronicle of Higher Education, Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC), and HigherEd Jobs.

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Additionally, we have posted part-time faculty pool openings on our employment page for the first time starting in spring 2019, to have a systematic way to identify potential part-time faculty candidates. These openings have also been posted on online job search sites such as Indeed, generating response from both local candidates as well as those from outside of California interested in teaching online. This has helped NDNU expand its reach in terms of attracting part- time faculty members from diverse backgrounds. Previously, many part-time faculty were recruited by word of mouth, which does not typically generate a diverse hiring pool.

III. Assessment Plan

Commission Issue: Evidence of the use of direct assessment measures and assessment data to inform planning, budget, and resource allocation.

Related expectation for this Report from the Interim Report Action Summary: • Report on the status of NDNU’s assessment plan.

Related recommendation from the Interim Report Action Summary: • Continue to ensure the faculty involvement and leadership that is needed to advance assessment practices. Continue to make progress on simplifying program review methods which include the collection of measures student satisfaction. NDNU Response a. Summary of Status of Assessment Plan NDNU’s plan for assessment includes direct assessment of student learning outcomes at the program level (PLOs), direct assessment of undergraduate student learning outcomes at the institutional level (ILOs), academic program reviews, and review by the Board of Trustees of both results of program reviews and of data presented as an Academic Program Sustainability Dashboard.

In our 2018 Interim Report, we noted that steady work on assessment continues in our programs with external accreditation. This is still the case. The programs noted include education, art therapy psychology, clinical psychology, and business.

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We also noted that our staff who were providing leadership in assessment of student learning outcomes had left, but not before providing some significant guidance for the future. This academic year we are reinstating the Assessment Council as a faculty-driven body to coordinate PLO assessment and oversee ILO assessment. (See 4-II-a-2 Assessment Council Membership and Charge.)

Sustainability of academic programs is currently a central issue to NDNU. As noted in the 2018 Interim Report, program sustainability has been a regular focus of the December meeting of the Board since 2015. The December 2019 meeting will be similarly focused and data on program sustainability will be central to their work at this meeting. b. Simplifying Program Review With the start of the next round of program reviews in January 2020, we expect to make several changes that will lessen the workload of the faculty involved and will focus the review so that those with the appropriate expertise are providing and/or evaluating information.

First, and possibly most significantly, we plan to redefine the expectation for assessment of student learning outcomes at the program level. Up until now, most assessment plans have followed a format of stating the program learning outcomes (PLOs) and then saying that they will assess PLO 1 in Year 1, PLO 2 in Year 2, etc. While this is nominally a thorough way to proceed, it has rarely resulted in real engagement in the process or resulted in significant insights. The VPAA is proposing to change this so that the faculty in a given program may design a research project to learn something that they want to know about student learning in their program. Most likely, this will be directly related to the PLOs, but it may not be – and it may help the faculty to restate their PLOs to be more meaningful – so that they do represent those things that they want to know about student learning. With engagement in the research, we believe that we are much more likely to see changes to programs based on the data.

Second, NDNU’s program review process has asked the faculty in the program to write about areas in which most do not have expertise, including program demand, enrollment trends and forecasting, and budgets. In the next version of the APR protocol, the VPAA proposes to limit the requirements of the program faculty to writing about areas in which they have expertise (e.g., curriculum, student outcomes, effectiveness of program changes) and commenting on data and assessments contributed by offices with expertise (e.g., Enrollment/Admissions).

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Finally, the VPAA proposes to change who reviews academic program reviews. Up until 2017, the Curriculum Committee oversaw and managed the academic program review process. In the 2017 revision of the APR Booklet the Deans became the drivers of program review, but the Curriculum Committee still reviewed and commented on the entire self-study document. Going forward, the proposed plan is that the Assessment Council will review the student learning outcomes section of the self-study and will comment on 1) whether recommendations made in the review are based on the outcomes data; and 2) if assessment methodology appears to be generating useful results. The Curriculum Committee will make recommendations on any curricular changes coming out of the program review. The dean will assess the overall review and make recommendations to the VPAA and president.

These changes to the APR process are in discussion. When finalized, the changes will be incorporated into the written protocol.

c. Online programs

NDNU’s Assistant Provost for Online Programs has developed a proposed set of standards and processes for online courses and programs based on best practices such as those promoted by the Online Learning Consortium (OLC). NDNU’s Academic Standards Committee has begun to review these proposed standards for adoption as NDNU policy. (See 4-III-c-1 OLC Score Card and 4-III-c-2 NDNU Online Course Development Draft.)

5. Identification of Other Changes and Issues Currently Facing the Institution Instructions: This brief section should identify any other significant changes that have occurred or issues that have arisen at the institution (e.g., changes in key personnel, addition of major new programs, modifications in the governance structure, unanticipated challenges, or significant financial results) that are not otherwise described in the preceding section. This information will help the Interim Report Committee panel gain a clearer sense of the current status of the institution and understand the context in which the actions of the institution discussed in the previous section have taken place.

I. Leadership Transitions

President transition In June 2019, President Greig announced that she would step down from the presidency, but would stay at NDNU to provide sufficient time for an orderly transition to a new president. On September 30, 2019, the Chair of the Board of Trustees announced that the Board intends to appoint an interim president by January 31, 2020. On October 4, 2019, the Chair followed up by

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announcing a method by which the Board would accept nominations for interim president from the NDNU faculty, staff, administrators, or trustees. Dr. Greig continues to serve as president until an interim president is appointed.

Provost departure and transition On September 13, 2019, it was announced that Provost and Senior Vice President Hernan Bucheli had submitted his resignation, effective September 20. Reporting assignments were redistributed as follows:

• Financial Aid reports fully to CFO Henry Roth. (Previously a shared responsibility between the Provost and CFO.) • All academic departments and activities report to VPAA Greg White. • Marketing and Communications, Athletics, and Admissions report to President Judith Greig directly.

Following Provost Bucheli’s resignation, President Greig appointed VPAA Greg White as Chief Academic Officer.

Dean of Students/Chief Student Success Officer In May 2019, Dean of Students Marsh Allen Smith resigned. President Greig took this as an opportunity to further integrate the University’s student support services under one leader and appointed Dr. Diana Hernandez as Chief Student Success Officer. This position oversees both the Student Success Center and Advising, which Dr. Hernandez led since October 2017, and the areas previously overseen by the Dean of Students. Those areas include Housing, Health and Wellness, Campus Programs, and Student Conduct.

II. Board Committee Restructuring

At its December 2018 meeting, the Board of Trustees decided to adopt a new committee structure with the intent to both put greater focus on student success and to facilitate deeper conversations among Board members. To this end, the Board combined the Academic Affairs Committee, the Student Affairs Committee, and the Mission Committee into a new Student Learning and Success Committee. At the same time, the Board combined the Finance and Investment Committee, the Development Committee, and the Infrastructure Committee into an Institutional Sustainability Committee. The Audit Committee and Trusteeship and Governance

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Committee continue as separate committees. These committees first met in this form at the March 2019 Board meeting. So far, Board members have expressed satisfaction with the new structure. They report that they have the opportunity for deeper, more integrated conversation regarding the issues facing the university.

III. Academic Resiliency Plan

Preparation and Intent of the Plan In fall 2018, Provost Bucheli convened a group to begin working on an academic plan, which was to become known as the Academic Resiliency Plan. The group consisted of the provost, vice president for academic affairs, deans, assistant provost for online programs, CFO, and an outside consultant. This plan was conceived in three phases. The first phase was tactical moves to increase enrollment for fall 2019 above the 1600 headcount mark. The second phase enumerates key strategies for the 2019-2020 and 2020-21 academic years with the goal of reaching an enrollment of 2000 by fall 2021. A third phase was envisioned for strategies beyond those that would solve the immediate enrollment issues.

The planning group met throughout fall 2018 and well into spring 2019. At its December 2018 meeting, the Board of Trustees reviewed a draft of the Academic Resiliency Plan that included Phase 1 and initial ideas for Phase 2. On January 15, 2019, an initial version of this plan was presented to the Faculty for their comments. Phase 2 of the Academic Resiliency Plan was essentially complete in March 2019 and the Board of Trustees provided input at their meeting that month. The near-final plan was presented to Faculty again on May 2, 2019 for their comments. The Board endorsed the final version of the plan at their June 19, 2019 meeting. (See 4-II-a-5 Academic Resiliency Plan.)

It should be noted that drafts of the Academic Resiliency Plan included strategy and next steps for the university’s programs in Tracy. As of June 2019, the Board was not ready to decide on direction for the Tracy site and this section was eliminated from the final version.

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Key Elements of the Academic Resiliency Plan The plan enunciates four guiding principles: Meeting students where they are; Career Pathways; Vocation; and Academic Excellence. Aligned with these principles, the academically focused initiatives of the plan are:

• Hire a Business Dean • Streamline institutional assessment • Hire a faculty member to support both the MPA and Criminal Justice programs • Make changes to undergraduate programs and general education to align with the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) and to infuse the concept of vocation • Participate in the CIC Online Course Sharing Consortium • Continue to improve the Student Success Center • Create strategic partnerships • Consider new programs • Rely more heavily on part-time and non-tenure-track faculty • Invest in academic technology infrastructure • Increase average class size for traditional undergraduates • Create a Provost’s Advisory Council (external) • Create a Center for Teaching and Learning

There are additionally four initiatives for Enrollment Services. See the Academic Resiliency Plan for more details on these initiatives.

The Academic Resiliency Plan includes a time table for implementation with responsible persons noted. It also includes appendices on enrollment projections, both institutional and by program; faculty and academic affairs staffing; and analysis regarding which athletic conference is best for NDNU.

Comments on Implementation of the Plan Some of the initiatives from the Plan are already in process. NDNU is participating in the CIC Online Course Sharing Consortium as a home institution (NDNU students taking courses at other institutions) and is now set to also be a teaching institution. Under the leadership of the Interim Dean of Arts and Sciences, we have better controlled the number of course sections for traditional undergraduates, raising class sizes and creating significant savings. Most

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undergraduate programs have made the necessary changes to align with ADT and we have made changes to general education so that NDNU can fully accept IGETC and CSU Breadth requirements as fulfilling NDNU’s GE requirements, thereby aligning with ADT. Of necessity, we are already significantly more reliant on part-time faculty.

Other initiatives are getting started, including streamlining assessment processes (see Section 4.III above) and continued improvement of the Student Success Center.

Most other initiatives await decisions on institutional direction and ability to invest resources. These include the Business Dean, the MPA/Criminal Justice Faculty, work on strategic partnerships, approval of new programs, creation of a Provost’s Advisory Council, and development of a Center for Teaching and Learning. Regarding the Dean for the School of Business and Management, a full search has been conducted, including campus interviews with the final candidates.

Results of Phase 1 of the Plan and Implications for Phase 2 Clearly, Phase 1 did not yield the results promised. Only 1363 students are enrolled rather than 1600 to 1650. This cripples NDNU’s ability to apply resources to implement parts of Phase 2 that require investment.

IV. Faculty Development Grievance Resolution In the previous Interim Report, we described disagreement between administration and the faculty union in the operation of the Faculty Development Committee and difficulty in achieving alignment between the goals of the Committee and the priorities of administration. We have made progress in two main areas of disagreement between the administration and the faculty union described in that report: 1) Who gets to set the priorities for faculty development? and 2) What activities are to be considered faculty development activities and so can be funded from the $80,000 budget? As noted, these questions generated a faculty union grievance.

The grievance was settled in April 2019. The grievance resolution sets out a framework for collaboration on faculty development priorities and budget processes. This framework provides specific dates and expectations for establishing broad program goals agreed upon by the committee and the administration, followed by the committee’s proposed specific activities and expenditures that support those goals. A timeframe for administration’s response to the

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committee’s proposals is also provided. (See 5-IV-1 Faculty Development Grievance Resolution.) The first Broad Program Goals document under this grievance resolution was created in April 2019. (See 5-IV-2 Toward Program Goals and Budget Framework.) This will guide the faculty development activities for AY 19-20 as aligned with the Strategic Plan and the Academic Plan. (See 4-I-a-4 Strategic Plan 2015-2020 and 4-II-a-5 Academic Resiliency Plan.)

Some specific expenditure issues were also addressed in the grievance resolution, including the inclusion of course release time for faculty development work as part of the $80,000 budget, increasing the faculty travel grant annual limit to $1,500 per person, and a timeline for regular expenditure reports to the committee.

V. Campus Improvements

There have been a number of notable improvements to the campus over the past year that have improved both the visual appeal of the campus and its functionality. Many of these improvements were driven by financial needs, opportunities, and risk considerations, while others were strongly supported by Admissions team who recognized the need for campus beautification as part of our recruitment and retention efforts.

Madison Arts Center and Sale of Trudeau Property: After the closure of Ralston Hall, the Finance team was relocated to the Sobrato Center for Nonprofits in Redwood Shores (3.5 miles from campus). About two years later, this dislocation was remedied when Trudeau Hall (adjacent to the campus) became available following the closure of the Early Learning Center. Both the Mail Center and the Finance team were relocated back to Trudeau. In 2019, the NDNU Board of Trustees decided to sell the Trudeau property, resulting in another relocation for the Finance team - against a tight timeline - to the Madison Art Center on campus. Two studios in Madison were converted for this use, while two remain available for Art classes.

Taube Hall renovation: This building which sits at the entrance to the campus is the forward face of the University. It was badly in need of repair. Following the renovation, the building can now house multiple purposes including meetings, Zoom interactions, and events. This project was finalized on-budget and within the timeframe required.

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Toso Namur: One of the three Toso buildings, Toso Namur, was renovated due to risk issues, making the building safe for use as office space. Repair included the front walkway, removal of failing balconies, replacement of the roof, and replacement of carpeting. Toso Namur now houses administrative offices including the President’s Office and Human Resources.

Classroom Technology: During summer 2019, the each of the technology podiums were upgraded in seven large classrooms in one of our main classroom buildings (Cuvilly Hall). There is now an SP Controls PixiePro control panel on each podium from which faculty are able to select the different sources (podium computer, guest laptop, DVD player), adjust the sound volume, operate the Blu-ray player, and turn on/off the projector. All the functionality is in this panel – gone are the separate audio amp, video switcher and handheld remotes. The image projected is now High Definition and the cable connection is HDMI.

General Upgrades: The visual appeal of the campus has been greatly improved over the past year, especially during summer 2019. A significant upgrade to campus paving improved the look of the campus, while improving safety and addressing erosion issues. Campus landscaping was improved and several buildings were painted, including the Library and residence halls.

VI. AB1466 and PAGA

Assembly Bill 1466 (AB1466) was written in response to class action lawsuits filed pursuant to California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) against several California independent colleges and universities. These PAGA lawsuits have been filed on behalf of part-time faculty claiming violations of minimum wage standards, reasoning that these faculty are not being paid enough to be considered exempt employees, but that they are not being paid for all of their working time as nonexempt employees must be. The text of AB1466 was negotiated by the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU – lobbying group for private non-profit institutions, including NDNU, in Sacramento) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU – the union that represents NDNU’s faculty). The goal of the bill is to protect California institutions from these PAGA lawsuits going forward by establishing minimum salaries for part-time faculty to be considered to be exempt. AB1466 was passed unanimously by both the Assembly and the Senate. On October 12, 2019, Governor Newsome

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vetoed the bill, indicating that it could have unintended consequences. AICCU had indicated its intent to return in January with a new version of the bill which they will try to enact so that it would be effective immediately.

The goal of AB1466 is laudable, but, if a bill like it is enacted, the results could be devastating for NDNU and many other small colleges and universities. The minimum exempt salary for part-time faculty that was negotiated by AICCU and SEIU is substantially higher than what NDNU currently pays many of its part-time faculty. If NDNU has to pay this minimum exempt salary to all part-time faculty, our estimates are that it could cost up to an additional $1 million per year. Given that the minimum salary is tied to the California minimum wage and the minimum wage will increase substantially each of the next few years, the additional cost will continue to rise.

VII. Title V HSI “STARS” Grant

NDNU was awarded a $2.3 million Title V Hispanic-Serving Institutions grant in 2018 for a five-year period; funding will end on Sept. 30, 2023. The funded project, Success in Transfer and Retention for Students (STARS), was developed to provide the university with a unique opportunity to build its capacity in three related areas: transfer, retention, and professional development. The objectives for this project are to: 1) Increase the number of students transferring to NDNU by 20%; 2) Increase first-to-third year retention by 5% for first-time, full- time and transfer Hispanic and Pell-eligible cohorts relative to 2014 cohorts; 3) Increase NDNU’s three-year graduation rate for transfer students by 4% and six-year rate for first-time full-time students by 5%; and 4) 25% of faculty will have attended training that addresses cultural sensitivity and student needs. (See 5-VII-1 Abstract of Title V Part A Grant.)

In the first year of the STARS project, the following staff members were hired: a project director to oversee the project, a project manager to run the peer mentoring program, a transfer counselor to support outreach to local community colleges, and an instructional designer to support course design for new online general education courses. The grant project efforts are already having positive impact on campus, as there was an increase in transfer students from fall 2018 to fall 2019. A pilot peer mentoring program is being launched in fall 2019 focused on transfer

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students, with the goal to expand to first-time, full-time students next academic year. Additionally, workshops are being planned for AY 19-20 in conjunction with numerous campus offices, including Campus Programs, Office of Spirituality, and Counseling Services to promote students’ social-emotional well-being and academic success.

Additionally, the STARS grant has a faculty development component. Three faculty members began a Certificate in Teaching and Learning at HSIs through ESCALA Educational Services, with a 3-day summer institute in August 2019. We are currently recruiting faculty members to work with an instructional designer to begin developing high-quality online general education courses, with the first course being offered in fall 2019 Term 2.

6. Concluding Statement Instructions: Reflect on how the institutional responses to the issues raised by the Commission have had an impact upon the institution, including future steps to be taken.

NDNU is at a crossroads. Its current business model is no longer sustainable and significant change is required. That change could take the form of a large cash infusion, a major restructuring, a merger, or even closure. The Board of Trustees is grappling with decisions about what comes next, involving members of the campus community, as appropriate, and also regularly communicating with the leadership team of Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur United States East-West Province who serve as the Members of the Corporation.

How the educational mission of the SNDs is expressed through a transformed NDNU will play out over the coming months. The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees will issue a preliminary report on the state of the university in the next week and we will forward that to WSCUC as document 6-1 Preliminary Report on the State of NDNU.

NDNU looks forward to continued communication with WSCUC and to your support as NDNU determines its future path.

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