As the Fall semester draws to a close and we anticipate happy times with family and friends, I'd like to wish each of you a holiday season filled with joy and loads of fun with those whom you cherish. May your new year bring you prosperity, good health, and continuous professional and personal fulfillment.

Beginning with this newsletter you will find on the Academic Affairs web page Academic Cabinet minutes for the entire semester.  We will post these minutes to keep you abreast of important discussions within Academic Affairs.  As always, your comments are welcomed at vcaa@iusb.edu. 

A long term member of our community, Peter Biegel, is leaving us for an exciting position with the Florida Community College System.  Peter has been an integral and invaluable member of IUSB.  He has contributed in immeasurable ways to the smooth functioning of the Registrar's Office and has been a strong advocate for IUSB at university-wide policy meetings.  We, in Academic Affairs, will miss a good colleague and friend.  We wish him much success in his new adventures in sunny Florida.

New Programs: Last week at the meeting of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, Dean Jon Meyer and I defended the School of the Arts' proposal for a new program in Integrated Media Studies which was approved unanimously.  This program which is to be implemented over a five year period was also recommended for funding.  This funding request will be included in Indiana University's budgetary request to the legislature.  Without funding, we will not implement this program.

Associate Faculty Conversion: Within the last month, the deans have worked with their faculties to present a phased-in plan for conversion of some associate faculty positions to lecturers.  At this month's Board of Trustees meeting, the trustees accepted the university's request to convert associate faculty to lecturers in critical areas, most notably in English, Math, and the Arts.  We requested 27 lecturer positions.  The trustees also acknowledged that new monies would be needed for successful implementation.  The deans and I, in further consultation with the faculty, will begin working on a three year phase-in that will prioritize the greatest needs.

Spring Enrollment: Year to date figures for the week ending December 8 indicate that we are ahead of last year's number of admitted students: 461 vs 359.  Staff and faculty are working diligently to ensure that these admitted students do enroll.