During 2023-2024, the college continued to host both the Faculty Innovation Exploration (FIE) and staff lunch-and-learn professional development series. In the spring of 2024, the FIE was rebranded to the College Innovation and Exploration (CIE) program to encourage broader participation by college staff and graduate assistants.
The college continued to conduct annual surveys of students, alumni and employees to assess learning and culture. As part of the newly updated College Assessment Plan, the curriculum committee will present the findings from the Student Senior Exit Survey and the Alumni Survey at the fall all-college retreat each year.
In April 2024, an Employee Climate Survey was conducted among 68 out of 154 active employees, achieving a 44% response rate. This third survey assessed perceptions across 17 organizational climate aspects, using a new five-point scale. Overall, the climate remains strong, with notable improvements in professional development and employee recognition. Last year’s concern, which was staff morale, has improved. However, declines were noted in leadership communication, supervisor respect, and well-being promotion. The survey highlighted disparities, with part-time faculty and long-term employees scoring below average, while student workers scored highest. These findings point to areas needing attention to enhance workplace inclusivity and support.
For the second year, the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs held workshops for faculty focused on the promotion and tenure process. The workshops aimed to create transparency in the promotion process and provide faculty with tips for successful promotion and/or tenure applications. The college also continued to implement faculty and staff onboarding plans initiated in 2022-2023 and successfully onboarded two new faculty members, Linda White and Ryan Tan, and two staff members, Alisa Smith and Vannessa Killen.
To support staff professional development, the CoJMC Staff Council established a professional development subcommittee with initial members Zac Franzen, Alisa Smith and Natalie Becerra. In addition to organizing staff social events, the committee developed a staff professional development policy that was approved by the college’s executive committee on May 8, 2024. It will be voted on at the first 2024-2025 all-college meeting.
Dean Shari Veil also worked with the University of Nebraska Foundation to establish the Professional Excellence fund and make efforts to raise funds to support both faculty and staff professional development.
The second annual faculty and staff awards were announced at the annual Family Reunion event on May 8. Nominations for the awards were accepted from faculty, staff, students and alumni. Recipients were selected by a group of four current students and four college alumni. The recipients of these awards were selected by a committee comprised of four current students and four alumni. The 2024 judges were Geoff Exstrom (‘22), director of communications & media relations, Omaha Supernovas, Zach Wendling (‘23), reporting intern, Nebraska Examiner and Joseph Zakaria (‘22), founder, The Valiant Post and CEO, Kualdom Creations.
| Award | Recipient |
| Excellence in Teaching Award | Jill Martin |
| Excellence in Research/Creative Activity Award | Frauke Hachtmann |
| Excellence in Industry or Community Engagement | Rick Alloway |
| Excellence in Student Support or Advocacy | Alisa Smith |
| Staff Excellence Award | Haley Hamel |
| Inclusive Excellence Award | Kelli Boling |
| Friend of the College | Tony Sattler |
| To Infinity and Beyond Award | Matt Waite |
| The Dean's Pretty Awesome Award | Jason Stamm |
The college continued to support and promote Kudos, a digital peer-to-peer recognition program. The program is open to all faculty, staff and students. Recipients receive a digital certificate and recognition in the college’s weekly newsletters. Between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, 408 Kudos were submitted, demonstrating support for the college’s values.
Review of the Strategies
| Strategy | Status | |
| 1 | Expand, enhance and create both undergraduate and graduate level RSOs and learning communities to support student community building and professional development | In Progress |
| 2 | Train and develop the leadership capacity of RSO student leaders and faculty advisors | In Progress |
| 3 | Establish mentorship programs for students, faculty and staff | In Progress |
| 4 | Establish a yearly survey of our students and alumni to assess curriculum alignment, high impact practices and value of degree | Finished |
| 5 | Establish a yearly climate survey of our faculty and staff to assess job satisfaction, DEI measures and engagement | Finished |
| 6 | Create a robust and comprehensive professional development program for all employees to include onboarding, career development and clear career ladders and paths to promotion | In Progress |
| 7 | Establish a career development center that provides programming, professional development and support for students and alumni | In Progress |
| 8 | Identify funding and hire to expand career services in the college | In Progress |
| 9 | Establish an internal grant program to support continuing education and professional development for all employees | In Progress |
| 10 | Establish a recognition and awards program for outstanding faculty and staff | Finished |
| 11 | Recognize and celebrate faculty and staff who demonstrate college values | Finished |
| 12 | Create and support regular informal work/play gatherings where a variety of individuals can come together to debate ideas and experiment with new methods of doing things | In Progress |
| 13 | Establish a college-wide code of conduct that includes grievance procedures for faculty, staff and students and incorporate citizenship into the annual review process | Finished |
| 14 | Increase the number of alumni who participate in career development opportunities in the college | Proposed Addition |
Proposed Amendments:
- Amend target 2 from “Increase participation in development opportunities by 50%” to “Increase the average score on the Employee Climate Survey question ‘I feel my professional development is supported and encouraged.’”
- Amend target 4, “Increase satisfaction in educational experience on senior surveys by 10%,” to “Maintain satisfaction in educational experience on senior exit surveys at 90% or greater.”
- Move target 5, “Increase the number of alumni who participate in career development opportunities in the college by 5% year-over-year,” to a strategy, making it strategy 14.
Review of the targets
| Task Name | 20-21 | 21-22 | 22-23 | 23-24 | 25-26 (goal) |
| Student and climate surveys established to set baseline and increase satisfaction scores year-over-year[i] | 85.2 | 88.3 | 82.8% | ||
Proposed Amendment | |||||
| Increase the average score on I feel my professional development is supported and encouraged on the employee climate survey[ii] | 91.9% | 91.3% | 83.8% | ||
| 80% of faculty will have pursued promotion/tenure within six years[iii] | 74% | 82% | 96.3 | 89.2% | 80% |
Proposed Amendment | |||||
| Maintain satisfaction in educational experience on senior surveys at or above 90%[iv] | 93% | 88% | 90.2% | 90.9% | 100% |
| Increase the number of alumni who participate in career development opportunities in the college by 5% year-over-year | Proposed Amendment | ||||
[i] Average proportion of respondents who strongly agree or agree across the climate survey’s climate measures. Percent is calculated from Qualtrics survey results.
[ii] Proportion of respondents who strongly agree or agree in the Qualtrics survey results.
[iii] Calculated using the last promotion date for all faculty listed in SAP for professors and professors of practice at the rank of assistant and associate. Lecturers and full professors are excluded as these positions are not promotable.
[iv] Promotion of student respondents who are extremely satisfied or satisfied with their educational experience in the Senior Exit Survey.
