University of Illinois-Chicago Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares said Global Campus 2.0 was functioning as a placeholder, and that they had renamed the effort “the e-Learning Initiative” (e-LI).

University of Illinois-Chicago Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares began a discussion of the Global Campus Initiative, an e-learning effort that will expand educational access to other student populations.

“We believe that what we are proposing this afternoon is extremely congruent with the mission of our university,” she said, emphasizing the University’s land-grant status.

Allen-Meares said Global Campus 2.0 was functioning as a placeholder, and that they had renamed the effort “the e-Learning Initiative” (e-LI).

She said that e-LI would be guided by principles of access to excellence, academic and financial integrity, innovation, intercampus collaboration and accountability. However, it would grow “deliberatively,” she said.

“We do not want to grow too quickly and then drain scant financial and intellectual resources,” she said.

Allen-Meares said that e-LI would work with community college towards undergraduate degree completion. This would include general education requirements that may help students transfer from community colleges to one of the University campuses.

Chancellor Richard Herman said that each institution would be issuing certificates in different percentages, and that the focus should be on the aggregate, allowing each campus to “build on what (they’ve) all been doing for a long time.”

“We are looking at blended learning, blending models,” he said. “We moved away from online because that’s not the only thing we’re going to be doing.”

Herman presented a diagram of how he envisioned e-LI’s administrative structure, with a Provostial Committee composed of the three provosts, three faculty members, and a coordinator of central support services, at the center.

Around the Provostial Committee were the Chancellors, the Illinois Online Network, the Illinois Virtual Campus, and the Web site and Overall Marketing. All of these would work in conjunction with the Provostial Committee, and would emphasize synergy between the three campuses.

University of Illinois-Springfield Chancellor Richard Ringeisen said that the budget requested for e-LI was $3.8 million over 3 to 5 years, helping to compensate for an anticipated 4,000 new students.

Ringeisen said the primary goal was a “grass roots faculty movement” to provide the support and innovation e-LI needs.

“This is an idea whose time has arrived,” Herman said.

Reactions from the Board were largely positive. Trustee Kenneth Schmidt said the Chancellors were to be “absolutely commended for their efforts.”

“I’d like to hear from the students, but not today,” said Trustee Robert F. Vickrey.

Vickrey asked the student trustees to prepare statements regarding e-LI, as they were the representatives of those whom the program would be impacting the most.