Stakeholders Internal

At the AEI, we have identified those we believe are the major internal stakeholders in the progress and success of the AEI over the next 5 years. These stakeholders fall into 3 categories: (1) stakeholders within the AEI itself, (2) stakeholders within the College of Arts & Sciences, and (3) stakeholders within the University of Oregon.

I. AEI

Within the AEI, we have identified our major internal stakeholders as faculty members, administrators (both faculty and Officers of Administration), classified staff, Graduate Teaching Fellows (GTFs), and students. AEI faculty include career-track instructors and adjuncts.

Senior instructors have successfully completed the university review procedure for senior instructor. They are expected to provide the versatility and leadership required for effective operation of a language program in the areas of administration, university academic activities, and other services to the AEI in addition to teaching. They are also expected to pursue professional development activities that enhance operational efficiency, instructional quality and the national and international reputation of the program.

Career-track instructors are hired through national searches and meet the qualifications of an academic ESL professional. They are expected to teach and to take on administrative duties or provide other services to the AEI. They are also expected to pursue academic and professional development activities outside regular teaching.

Adjunct instructors are hired through local or regional position announcements and are intended for limited-duration employment. Adjunct faculty are not required to pursue extensive academic activities outside their regular teaching load, but are expected to show some evidence of an active interest in the profession.

GTFs are Linguistics Department students working on either Masters or PhD degrees. Preference in assigning these GTFs is given to students with ESL/EFL teaching experience, and occasionally qualified GTF’s from other departments are hired.

a. Administrators

Our administrators make up the leadership of the AEI and are comprised of faculty and Officers of Administration (OAs). The Officers of Administration play key roles within the institute and in support for the directors. They inform the directors and other executive committee members about budgetary and other factors that impact day-to-day program operations. Within the AEI, our administrators include the AEI Directors, the Department of Linguistics Head for AEI Matters, and the Academic Advisors.

Some of the AEI administrators comprise the Exeutive Committee. The Executive Committee is tasked with making core decisions on funding, personnel, program design, and directions the institute will take. This committee includes the Director, the Associate Director, the Director of Sponsored Programs, the Linguistics Department Head for AEI matters, the Director of Online Programs, the Director of Marketing and Alumni Relations, the Assistant Director of Finance, and the Director of Student Services. They are aware of proven norms for how to function as a unit, as well as procedural guidelines and process of conflict resolution. They provide clear communication to other AEI members on decisions, direction, and program goals, and receive input from all stakeholders in the spirit of transparency and collegiality. The academic advisers help improve students’ success rates and mediate issues between students and instructors. Their job performance impacts both student satisfaction and success.

b. Staff

The AEI staff is made up of classified staff office workers and support staff, including student workers and classroom tutors. The staff run the offices, support the non-academic needs of the students, and perform the day-to-day administrative tasks essential to the smooth operation of the institute. Their work impacts our ability to track student progress, take care of the logistics needed to run our programs, anticipate needs and numbers, and run orientation and other support programs efficiently. The student workers and classroom tutors are UO students who work at least one hour per week, either in the office or directly with the students in the classrooms. Their performance is important because it directly impacts the students' experience and satisfaction. In order for the AEI to continue to be successful, it is important for the staff members to feel valued, engaged, and successful.

d) Students

The current students in each area of the AEI (IEP, AEIS, DE, SGP) are the fundamental group of stakeholders in our programs and determine our growth and success. Their numbers determine our funding and size, and their success beyond the AEI influences our reputation and value to university. They enhance our reputation at home and abroad by word of mouth, and take back to their communities the ideas and resources they have been given through their experiences here. For our continued success, the AEI will need to continue our ongoing investment of time and energy into outstanding curricular and extra-curricular activities that meet the growing and ever-changing needs of our student population. Doing so is the best way to ensure continued enrollment numbers needed to sustain our programs, and maintain our strong reputation on campus and beyond.

II. The College of Arts & Sciences (CAS)

The AEI is housed within the Department of Linguistics, a department of the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS). There are several key stakeholders within CAS whose continued support is central to our future success over the next 5 years.

a) CAS Administration The CAS Administration is made up the Dean of the College, Associate Deans and the support units within the office. Our Associate Dean is focused on those programs in the Humanities versus those in either the Social Sciences or Sciences. The CAS administration holds the ultimate decision-making power for all units within the College, such as resource and policy decisions, and budget allocations. For our continued success, the AEI needs CAS to be invested in our program development, recognize us as a major positive asset in CAS, and think of us when ear-marking resources for the College.

b) Linguistics Department The Department of Ling is our ac home. as such, clear and timely comm so that faculty in both depts are well informed strengthen the connections, not create more threads

The relationship between the Department of Linguistics and the AEI is one of the most central to our existence and success because the Department of Linguistics is our academic home. As such, several factors will become even more important within the next 5 years. First, as we are under the umbrella of Linguistics, it is important to understand how the Department of Linguistics views the role of the AEI as part of their own strategic plan. If Linguistics decides to continue their partnership with the AEI, this may affect our own scholarly focus. As such, the AEI needs to have clear and timely communication with the Department of Linguistics so that the Linguistics faculty are informed about the AEI’s goals and strategies, which they will then hopefully support. In addition, we need to build more collaboration between the AEI and greater Linguistics faculty so that we can create more threads that bind both groups together.

c) College of Arts & Sciences Information Technology Support Services (CASIT)

CASIT is also one of our major stakeholders within the College of Arts & Sciences. They allow us to maintain smooth daily operations and provide efficient service and maintenance of our computers at a reasonable cost. Given our heavy reliance on technology on a day-to-day basis, for both online and face-to-face classes, maintaining our relationship with CASIT continues to be vital in the future.

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III. The University of Oregon

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As part of the University of Oregon, we are influenced by the administration and governing body of the Oregon University System (OUS). We have identified many current and potential stakeholders in our future success at the AEI and have categorized them into university administration, departmental partners, and support systems.

a) University Administration

The university administration sets policies regarding space management, and staffing support that all units within the university have to follow. Our aim is to receive recognition and acknowledgement for our accomplishments and to be valued and given a voice in policy decisions that may affect us.

b) College and Departmental Partners

We want to support any department our students study in on campus. We have currently identified the College of Education, the College of Business, the Graduate School, and individual faculty members in other departments as key stakeholders in our future success.

With the College of Education, while we have no direct partnerships with them at present, our goal is to try to foster more collaboration with the College of Ed., especially in terms of K-12 ESOL education and student/teacher observation opportunities.

Because of the growth of the Graduate School at UO, the AEI may be called upon to offer more graduate support classes in the future. In order to do that, we need to be in greater communication with the Graduate School to understand the needs of these student populations. For instance, there is currently a program proposal under way to better address the language and academic support needs of international graduate students

Many of the AEIS undergraduate students are currently enrolled in the Business School, which makes the Business School a valued ally of ours. Additionally, we also offer credit-bearing courses in Business Communication. However, as we move forward, one issue that we need to discuss is whether the AEI should continue to subsidize 100% of those courses, or whether we should explore additional ways of meeting the business students’ needs.

In addition to whole departments, many of our most valued partners in the university are individual instructors in other departments. Because our students major in a wide range of academic disciplines, many of these instructors will be teaching current and former AEI and AEIS students at some point over their four years. Therefore, their interactions with our students could influence how the UO administration views our programs and curricula. Furthermore, interaction between faculty and our students can potentially further enhance the reputation of the AEI on campus. Therefore, we need to strive for good communication, trust, and cooperation with instructional faculty outside the AEI.

b) Support Systems

There are a wide range of support services within the university as well as the AEI that faculty, staff and students depend on. All are key to our continued success, and are listed below.

For direct student support, Student Services is essential. They comprised of a number of areas designed to meet the needs of our students and handle everything from registration to health care to housing.

Disability services also provides us with resources and support for our students with special needs.

The Writing Center provides writing support to all UO students, including international students. Right now they are the primary support system for writing outside the classroom. Our goal is to make sure they can also receive additional training on how to support needs of international students.

Additionally, the Yamada Language Center has been a partner with the AEI for over 15 years on both academic and IT matters. In the future, we will need their support in a collaborative review of next steps for servers and data as the AEI moves to Banner.

In addition to those support systems directly dealing with students, we have a number of key stakeholders who work primarily in support of faculty and staff. The Office for Research Support & Administration (ORSA) and Sponsored Program Services (SPS) are two of our most valued partners. ORSA & SPS provide support to the administration in applying for competitive grants, and they have worked closely with us to obtain Humphrey, USDOS, IIE, USAID and other funds. They also provide us with continued support, efficient processing of reports, accurate accounting, and proactive advice on managing funds.

We also have a very important relationship with International Admissions. International Admissions makes decisions on conditional admits to AEI and AEI students, and are able to change the rules of IEP enrollment. They, through the English Proficiency Group, also make important decisions regarding required TOEFL scores, which in turn influences number of students required to enroll in AEIS and length of time in the IEP. We need to continue open communication and teamwork with International Admissions so that we can build a strong shared system that uses collaborative recruiting.

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The UO Space Committee controls allocation of space resources within the university. Thus, they affect whether AEI has to negotiate for off-campus space, but/rent space, and have (in)adequate working conditions for faculty and staff. As the AEI continues to expand, their support and cooperation will become even more crucial.

The UO Affirmative Action office is an important partner because they guide the hiring process of new faculty and staff, work with the Family Medical Leave Act, and support other employment practices.

Lastly, Knight Library provides support to students, faculty, and staff in the areas of technology, online content development and support for publications, etc. In the future, we aim to continue our partnership with them to develop innovative projects/resources, whether short- or long-term.