DeKALB — President Doug Baker released a Program Prioritization update Wednesday outlining the progress made by administrative programs.

Program Prioritization used task forces to create reports that reviewed 223 academic programs and 236 administrative programs to influence the allocation of university funds. Baker released his final changes for administrative programs in a Nov. 28 progress report.

“What we are doing is combining the strategic assessments, recommendations, action planning and revenue projections together to initiate actions that will strengthen and enhance our core and move toward greater sustainability,” Baker said in the November progress report.

Following Baker’s November update, administrative programs were asked to provide follow-up reports to address the progress being made toward Baker’s charges. The progress of these reports, for which Baker set varying due dates, was denoted in the update alongside Baker’s November charge.

A total of 17 programs that submitted reports featured a status update in which Baker explained the most recent progress made by program leaders.

As a result of Program Prioritization, many programs have merged, including the Child Development Laboratory and Campus Child Care will be merged into one unit beginning next fall. This collaboration will expand learning opportunities for students studying child development and allow the facility to accommodate more children, according to the update.

Additionally, Registration and Records will be increasing transcript fees by $3, and Counseling and Consultation Services will be partnering with ProtoCall, a service which will provide custom on-call mental health resources beginning next fall.

An academic progress report will be released at a later date, Spokesperson Lisa Miner said. Baker will be releasing an additional update for administrative programs in May.

“The update report on the administrative programs shows that there’s continuing progress being made to align NIU’s resources with its mission,” Miner said.

Alexandria Isom is a staff writer. She can be reached at [email protected].