At an open forum Tuesday, provost candidate Kendall Baker of Bowling Green University in Ohio said he wants the “very best relationship with students as possible.”

“Students really are the life of the university. The provost should be in contact with students and know what’s on their minds,” Baker said.

At Bowling Green, where Baker is dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, he holds “lunch with the dean” in order to hear students’ views, ideas and concerns. “I invite six to eight students to lunch and talk with them about what they experience with educational programs in the colleges,” he said.

He said a program similar to the lunches might be developed for faculty as well. “It (lunch with the dean) is marvelous. The students like the idea and it’s fun. It’s a good program to maintain some contact with students,” he said.

Another issue addressed at the forum, held in Gable Hall, was NIU’s general education program. “What bothers me basically is that there is a smorgasbord approach to it (general education),” Baker said.

At Bowling Green, Baker said the university is trying to implement general education across the curriculum by using a process-oriented concept in which faculty are encouraged to engage students in writing, speaking, and discussion activities. To assist faculty, workshops on writing in the classroom have been developed, and other general education skill workshops will be offered as well.

In order to strengthen NIU’s general education program, Baker said he would use a “process model” and not a “content model.” A content model would change specific course requirements, while a process model would implement general education across curriculums. “I would not scrap the program and start all over again,” he said.