NIU plans to increase enrollment to 30,000 students by 2020. Vision 2020 boasts many positive additions to the campus; but the board feels this initiative fails to identify several important areas necessary to attracting the proposed number. On Monday, the Northern Star editorial board addressed one area in which it believes NIU’s Vision 2020 falls short: student incentives. Today, the board addresses faculty and curriculum.

In order for NIU to attract not only more but “higher quality” students, it should improve, through the avenues of faculty and curriculum, the quality of the education it offers.

There’s no doubt that NIU employs some stellar faculty; we’ve seen it. But there’s also no doubt that it employs some less-than-stellar faculty; we’ve seen that, too.

In his Sept. 1 State of the University address, NIU President John Peters said Vision 2020 would focus on the three R’s of recruiting, retaining and rewarding top faculty. Peters said he is committed to offering competitive salaries for faculty, but there’s more to faculty retention than giving them pay checks and supporting their research.

Now, this recruitment, retention and rewarding of professors needs to be across all majors and departments of NIU – not just those where it will be most noticed, like the nationally renowned business and accounting programs.

A great teacher will shine through as just that – someone exceptional at teaching – regardless of material or the contributions of students. But a poor curriculum and “low quality” students can drag down even the best professors.

NIU’s plan to raise the quality of students it attracts could help classes that seem to pander to the “lowest-common denominator.” But NIU’s curriculum also needs reworking.

The members of the editorial board admit we can’t assess every part of NIU’s curriculum; we’re most familiar with the journalism department. But if we see problems in the communication department, who’s to say these problems don’t exist in any of the other 41 departments?

Whether it’s a departmental leadership breakdown or a lack of initiative on the professors’ part, NIU’s curriculum needs to move into the 21st century.

The platforms touted as new media – Facebook, Twitter, blogging – are not new media; they’re current media. Most students know how to use these websites, sure, but they need to be integrated into curriculums. NIU students can’t just learn that communication is changing; they need to learn how to take advantage of that changing communication to be at the cutting edge and to gain a competitive edge in the job market after graduation.

Students should know how to make personal, professional websites. They should be able to tell potential employers about the web projects on which they worked in school.

This isn’t some amorphous, rarefied intellectual shift; it’s happening, and at least some departments of NIU are falling behind. Sure, business majors may be a step ahead here, and English literature majors may say, “Why do we need this?” But this capability is essential, especially in the difficult job market graduates face each spring.

A stronger, more up-to-date curriculum will not only improve the instruction of current professors, but maybe also attract new professors interested in the innovation NIU promotes across all areas of instruction.

Another leader in NIU’s classrooms contributes to its difficulty in attracting more and “higher quality” students – TAs.

Prospective students like to know they’ll be interacting with accomplished faculty from the start of their education. Large, general education classes taught by TA’s are a curricular turn-off.

It makes sense that TA’s – graduate students teaching classes – save NIU money. And it gives those graduate students a good experience. But what kind of experience does it give the undergrads in those classes?

The Illinois State Board of Education requires a lot of aspiring K-12 teachers: completion of a bachelor’s degree, completion of a state-approved certification program, completion of coursework related to exceptional children and the passage of all state-required certification tests, including endorsement tests for individual subjects.

Certification to teach 18-year-olds in high school is heavily regulated; the only requirement to teach 18-year-olds in college is, apparently, to be a graduate student. And a concurrent three-hour course on communication in education.

Like full professors, some TAs are good at what they do and some are not. But these leaders in NIU’s classrooms should not be overlooked as NIU attempts to strengthen its faculty as a part of Vision 2020.