If all goes well at the Board of Regents’ two-day retreat in Chicago, the NIU governing body should be able to assess its performance.

Regent Carol Burns, who introduced the workshop idea at the January meetings in Normal, said, “it n a standard method for the Board to assess its performance.”

The two-day workshop is being conducted by Richard T. Ingram, vice president of the Washington-based national Association of Governing Boards (AGB).

Burns said the AGB has a suggested format the workshop will follow.

Ingram, who authored the AGB process, said the Regents will examine themselves from “a process standpoint—how they function as a governing body.”

He added that because the workshop is designed to let the members express themselves, no official Regency business will be discussed.

Ingram said Regents members completed a self-study questionnaire before the conference. The study will be discussed at the workshop.

Topics to be discussed are “typical, boiler-plate questions that any governing board should answer,” Ingram said.

The workshop focus includes examination of purpose, goals and how they get along with each other and with Chancellor Roderick Groves, he said.

Groves estimates the cost of the workshop at just under $3,000. Included in this estimate is the $2,000 fee for the AGB, a $60 per-hotel room (12-13 rooms) charge at the Ambassador West Hotel and refreshments and dinner costs.

Regents Chairman D. Brewster Parker said, “this retreat happens every few years. It’s a chance for the Board members to communicate.”

The Board of Regents govern NIU, Illinois State University in Normal and Sangamon State University in Springfield.