NIU’s Board of Trustees approved a “3-percent plus” incremental plan Thursday to provide salary increase for eligible faculty and staff.

The plan calls for an immediate 1.5 percent raise on July 1; salaries then will be increased an additional 1.5 percent slated for Jan. 1.

Dependent on the condition of the budget, salaries could be increased more than 1.5 percent in January, said Melanie Magara, assistant vice president of Public Affairs.

“These are definite; however, the reason for separating the two is because of the uncertainty of the budget,” Magara said.

Faculty Senate President Sue Willis said that the increase is welcome after a year of no salary increases.

“Three percent is very good, though it is kind of typical,” she said. “However, it’s especially important for some of the staff on the lower end of the pay scale.”

The BOT also passed budget guidelines for fiscal year 2005, which included a recommendation to the Illinois Board of Higher Education for a 5 percent faculty and staff salary increase.

The 5 percent would be broken down into a “3+2 plan” – 3 percent would be merit based, and 2 percent would be to catch up for the lack of incremental increase during fiscal 2003, the BOT agenda stated.

The increase, however, is dependent on the situation of NIU’s budget for fiscal ’05.

Also approved was an extension of the fiscal 2004 budget update. As it lies, the ’04 budget has received interim approval until the September BOT meeting.

Aside from the discussion of salary increases, Thursday’s meeting also saw the election of new BOT officers.

The election marked an end for Manny Sanchez’s two-year reign as chairman of the board.

Sanchez was the first Latino chairman of a public university governing board in Illinois, and the second in U.S. history.

As of July 1, Trustee Gary Skoien will assume the role of chairman. Skoien recently served as vice chair of the board.

Sanchez said he is confident Skoien will be able to handle the position. However, he said the biggest challenge Skoien will face will be dealing with current and upcoming budgetary constraints.

“We thought they were bad in ’03; just wait until ’04 and ’05,” he said.

Skoien, who has been a trustee since spring 1999, said he wants to keep NIU efficient and let state and the country officials know what a great school NIU is.

Also elected at the meeting were Trustee Barbara Giorgi Vella, who was named as vice chair of the board; Trustee Catherine Adduci, who was named as secretary; and Trustee Sanchez, who was named as the fourth member of the executive committee.

The board also passed the appointments of Rathindra Bose, the new vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, and Promod Vohra, the new acting dean of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. And faculty members who had been recommended for promotion, promotion with tenure or tenure only were approved.

The BOT also inducted Kevin Miller as the new student trustee for the upcoming fiscal year. Miller, who was the 2002-’03 Student Association president, will replace Jesse Perez.

As Sanchez’s last meeting as board chairman concluded, he said that he would like to continue the progress that the board and the university have made during the last seven years.

“I’m confident we will continue on that mission; on producing some of the greatest graduates,” he said.

Skoien said he would like to renew work on west campus development; however, he would not make any official comments on what that development may entail.

“When you have a blank palette like that, you have a lot of possibilities,” he said.

Peters, however, said the university has 230 acres of clear land over which NIU has developmental authority. However, he said the west campus project is conceptual, and it may be 35 to 50 years before it is complete.

He envisions the possibility of a performing arts center, married student housing and more research facilities. But, those are only a few developments that one day may surface on the west campus.

“The sky’s the limit,” he said.