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Shortly after Michael
Aiken became chancellor, he initiated a planning process that would
focus and shape the direction of the Urbana campus throughout his tenure
- and for years to come.
"Michael Aiken
has done a tremendous job as chancellor," according to President
James J. Stukel. "He has been energetic and effective on a variety
of fronts, and in the process has raised the quality of the institution.
In particular, he should be recognized for his leadership in improving
undergraduate education, raising funds through Campaign Illinois, reaching
out to the local community, initiating public partnerships, and making
faculty salaries more competitive."
Schacht has talked to academic colleagues around the country about their schools’ strategic plans. "Our ‘Framework for the Future’ is better than almost any of them," he said. "The action plan that emerged from the ‘Framework’ and the way it has been implemented have been as important as the plan itself." To revitalize undergraduate education –and to ease the transition from high school to college – the campus created the Discovery Program, designed to provide freshmen with exposure to senior faculty in small classes; revived and revamped the long-dormant freshman convocation ceremony; added five new living/learning communities in the residence halls; increased by more than a third the number of students taking advantage of study abroad opportunities; began several initiatives to improveteaching, such as the Teaching Advancement Board, and worked to reduce class sizes. Many of the undergraduate initiatives implemented during Aiken’s tenure were developed in places like the Council on Undergraduate Education. "We had done a lot of thinking; he helped us to do further thinking and clarification and focusing," Schacht said. "I would say that his strength is in turning good ideas into realities and helping shape them in ways that would make them feasible." Aiken has also had a "very strong commitment to the concept of shared governance," according to Robert Rich, outgoing chair of the Senate Council and professor of law and political science. "He takes very seriously working together with the leadership of the senate on a whole variety of educational, research and public service issues. "As a faculty member, I appreciate the fact that Michael thinks of himself as a faculty member, as opposed to an administrator," Rich said. In Rich’s view, the principal area in which Aiken should be recognized for his leadership is in faculty excellence. Aiken became chancellor during a period of lean state budgets that allowed for only meager raises, precipitating a drop in the number of faculty members as Illinois became less competitive and lost some outstanding faculty to other institutions. In the better financial years that followed, Aiken worked to reverse those trends, Rich noted. With Provosts Larry Faulkner and Richard Herman, Aiken won increased state funding for improving faculty salaries and restoring lost faculty positions, used discretionary funds to further improve salaries, and led the drive for endowed chairs. As a result, salaries for full professors moved from seventh to third in the Big Ten, and endowed chairs and professorships increased from about 30 to more than 200, about half of those filled and half committed for future funding. Aiken has devoted considerable attention to increasing the campus’s outreach to the community. In January, the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce recognized his efforts by naming Aiken Champaign County’s "Most Valuable Citizen" for 2000. Aiken was key in the formation of Campustown 2000, a community and university partnership to improve the Campustown area, according to Andrea Ruedi, the Chamber’s executive director. "He really pushed for that … getting the community to recognize that for a lot of visitors to the campus, the first thing they see is Campustown, and that we really needed to make a better impression on folks." she said. Aiken also spearheaded the formation of Project 2000 Plus, a group that includes the campus, the Chamber, and all taxing bodies in the county, and meets quarterly in an effort to improve communication and cooperation, Ruedi said. It was the kind of group "that didn’t exist before the chancellor got involved in the community." Aiken also was the first UI chancellor to serve on the Chamber’s board, Ruedi noted, and the board even changed its by-laws last year to allow for his reelection to a second term. Other campus accomplishments during the Aiken years included:
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News Bureau, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 507 E. Green St., Suite 345, Champaign, Illinois 61820
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