ComPASS Update

We are pleased to report that this week we held the first in a regular series of Communication Protocol for Accountability and Strategic Support (ComPASS) meetings focused on using data to make informed decisions around outcomes rather than inputs that impact the critical performance indicator goals detailed in our FIUBeyondPossible2020 strategic plan.

We want to thank deans, chairs, vice presidents and other university leaders who participated, as well as hundreds of members of the community who followed along via live webcast. We appreciate the work of the Provost’s Office staff who organized this meeting and particularly want to thank Associate Vice President Pablo Ortiz for providing guidance in the development of this model.

The first meeting was devoted to topics that directly impact undergraduate student success focusing on the percentage of students returning in their second year, percentage of students graduating without excess hours, and percentage of graduates employed or continuing their education one year after graduation.

The impetus for this meeting was to bridge increasing accountability demands with opportunities for improvement at the individual unit level and discuss how we can better manage our resources and focus our energy on strategies that will provide the greatest return on our investments and help ensure we meet our strategic plan goals by 2020.

The discussions yielded some key insights that we are addressing immediately:

• Sharing graduate studies and employment data collected from our graduates at commencement with the deans.
• Furthering integration of Career Services with each of the departments/colleges and beginning the career advising process earlier for our FIU students.
• Developing a common template for advisor evaluations and a plan to reduce advisor attrition.
• Enhancing the first year experience including improved integration with students’ declared major.
• Expanding successful models such as master classes and learning assistants to additional critical courses, particularly mathematics.
• Improving the student advising dashboard to include financial information and critical indicators information.
• Expanding use of Portfolium and LinkedIn to all FIU students to better prepare students for the job market and facilitate communication with students and alumni.
• Promoting accelerated master’s (4+1) programs, rather than additional majors/minors/certificates in order to reduce excess hours and improve student employability.

As you can see, our first ComPASS was a full and informative discussion. If you missed the meeting, or would like to watch it again, the webcast is now available online.

To access the videos, you must log-on using your FIU credentials.

• College of Architecture + The Arts
• College of Business
• Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management
• Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs
• College of Arts, Sciences & Education
• College of Engineering & Computing
• Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences
• Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work

We invite you to mark your calendar and plan to join us for the next two ComPASS meetings scheduled as follows:

• July 12, 2016 – Research and Revenue
  This second meeting will be devoted to topics that directly impact our research pre-eminence and new revenue sources, including doctoral degree production, number of postdocs, number of patents, number of startups and licensing income research expenditures, gifts received, auxiliary revenue.
• November 18, 2016 – Strategic Enrollment
  The third meeting will be devoted to topics that directly impact the strategic increase in student enrollment including total undergraduate and graduate enrollment by campus and academic site, percentage of bachelor’s and graduate degrees awarded in areas of strategic emphasis, and the mix of face-to-face, online and hybrid classes.

Before our July ComPASS, please look for additional updates on the status of the key items from this week’s meeting.

If you have any questions or suggestions for our upcoming ComPASS meetings, please reach out to Pablo Ortiz at portiz@fiu.edu.

We want to thank all those who participated. It is through our increased collaboration that we are able to keep making a difference for our community and reach our strategic plan goals by turning the impossible into the inevitable.