VCAA Newletter

Dear Colleagues,

With the arrival of spring, new beginnings and dreams of rest and renewal blossom anew. We are winding down the academic year and will soon share in the joy of many of our students who will be graduating and starting out on new adventures. And we will have time during the summer months for reflection on the accomplishments of the past year and will begin planning for next year. A new chancellor brings new directions, new aspirations. Challenges remain. As you heard from Paul Herr at last week's senate meeting, critical issues regarding the budget must be resolved. With the continual collaboration among the deans, faculty leadership and the Senate Budget Committee, I am confident that we will be able to engage the entire academic community in setting the budget priorities necessary for responsible academic planning. There is also continuing work to be done in general education, assessment, strategic planning, student academic support services, centralized advising and diversity. In this and upcoming newsletters, I will be updating you on these various activities.

I do wish for each one of you a pleasant summer with family and friends. I also thank you for your dedicated teaching and service. I particularly want to thank staff whose work is essential to the accomplishments of all our goals. I hope to see many of you at the graduation ceremony on May 7 as we celebrate our students' achievements.

New General Studies Director Dr. Paul Joray, economics professor in the School Business and Economics, has been selected as the Director of General Studies and assumes the directorship on June 1. Joray previously served as Dean of the School of Business and Economics and brings a wealth of experience to the position. Earlier this spring, Paul received the Lundquist Faculty Fellowship award which is given to meritorious faculty who exhibit excellence in teaching, scholarship and diversified community service in Michiana. Please join me in congratulating Paul on his new leadership role. We look forward to working with him.

MAY 10 ACADEMIC AFFAIRS MEETING The Higher Learning Commission (formerly the North Central Association) is developing new standards for reaccreditation. As you know the Campus Directions Committee must submit IUSB's strategic plan to the commission by 2005 and IUSB's next accreditation visit will be in 2007. On Friday, May 10, I will convene a meeting which is to include the Campus Directions Committee members, the Budget Committee, the Assessment Committee, the General Education Task Force, Dean's Council, and any other members of the IUSB community who are interested to initiate a discussion of these new standards which will affect our campus.

Briefly, for our next accreditation, IUSB will be asked to prepare a self-study which advances and PROVIDES EVIDENCE of the goals articulated in the campus strategic plan. Not only will our campus vision need to be focused on student and instructional outcomes, but it will need to be more future-oriented (rather than concentrating on existing data and past performance, although such data must be collected and submitted). This will put new demands upon all of us for an assessment-based approach. It will also mean that our campus strategic plan, which will be focused on the future, will likely become a critical part of IUSB's next campus self-study.

A fuller discussion of the content and impact of this significant change will be held at the May 10 meeting from 10:00 a.m. until noon in Wiekamp 1001. All members of the IUSB community are invited to this meeting.

Registration Information

Mike Carroll has provided me with the following registration information that I would like to share with you.

Two weeks of registration are complete. Enrollment for Fall stands at 2,353 students in 23,880 credit hours. These numbers are 21.6% and 27.7%, respectively, ahead of the same period last year. They also equal 31.7% of students and 36.2% of credit hours when compared to the Fall 2001 Census.

Enrollment for Summer I stands at 2,137 students in 8,650 credit hours. These numbers are 13.3% and 13.7%, respectively, ahead of the same period last year. They also equal 77.1% of students and 81.6% of credit hours when compared to the Summer I 2001 Census.

Enrollment for Summer II stands at 1.533 students in 6,070 credit hours. These numbers are 11.9% and 12.3%, respectively, ahead of the same period last year. They also equal 62.7% of students and 64.8% of credit hours when compared to the Summer II 2001 Census.

For more detail on the comparison to the previous two years, review the "rg29" document attached. For a comparison of students by school and classification refer to the "headcount comparison" document attached.

The "Comparison to Budgeted Credit Hours Report" is not available at this time.

There may be a modest difference in the student count due to where and when the data are pulled for these reports.

(This information is now available on the Enrollment Data section of the Office of the Registrar web site. Under the Summer 2002 and Fall 2002 headings, click on Enrollment Updates and you will find the reports by date.)

Kudos:

Distinguished Research Award: Dr. Monle Lee has been selected to receive this year's Distinguished Research Award. We look forward to hearing Dr. Lee speak about her research in the public lecture this fall.

Bryn Mawr: Beth Kern from Business and Economics will be representing us at the 2002 Bryn Mawr Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration.

Harvard Institute: Nanci Yokom, Director of the Dental Education program, will be representing us at the Harvard Institutes Management Development Program in June.

SPEA: Dr. Leda McIntyre Hall will be the new Assistant Director of SPEA effective July 1, 2002. We look forward to working with Leda in this new position.

TRUSTEE TEACHING AWARD WINNERS: I am pleased to announce the 2001-02 Trustee Teaching Award winners. They are: Karen Ackoff, Tracey Anderson, Anne Brown, Susan Cress, Randy Isaacson, Barbara Keith, Brenda Knowles, Monle Lee, Betsy Lucal, Gail McGuire, John Russo, Sara Sage, Yu Song, Rebecca Torstrick and Lesley Walker.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

R&D Awards: The following faculty members received internal funding through the Research & Development Committee programs during the AY2001-02:

Cathy Borshuk, Psychology
Rebecca Brittenham, English
Cheri Brown, Foreign Languages
Peter Bushell, Biology
Reza Espahbodi, Business & Economics
Andrea Greitzer, Arts
Neovi Karakatsanis, Political Science
Alan Larkin, Arts
Deborah Marr, Biology
Jonathan Nashel, History
Gabrielle Robinson, International Programs
Sara Sage, Education
Michael Scheessele, Computer and Information Science
Carolyn Schult, Psychology
Rebecca Tortstrick, Sociology
Mary Truex, Biology
Dana Vrajitoru, Computer and Information Science
Ben Withers, Arts

More information on these awards can be found on the GrantsLetter pages at http://www.iusb.edu/~research/news.html

Promotion & Tenure: Congratulations to those faculty who have been promoted and/or have been approved for tenure:

Anne Brown-Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor of Math Education
Reza Espahbodi-Promotion to Full Professor of Accounting
Eleodoro Febres-Promotion to Full Professor of Spanish
Ann Grens-Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Randy Isaacson-Promotion to Associate Professor of Education
Mike Keen-Promotion to Full Professor of Sociology
Jonathan Nashel-Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor of History
Cristina Rios-Tenure
Monica Tetzlaff-Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor of History
Rebecca Torstrick-Tenure and Promotion to Associate Professor of Sociology
Bruce Wrenn-Promotion to Full Professor of Marketing

Associate Faculty Advisory Grants: The following Associate Faculty members received funding from the Associate Faculty Advisory Council for professional development grants this year:

Elaine Bennington, Education
Earl Bruning, Music
Cecilia Cunningham, Fine Arts
Diane Holaday, Fine Arts
Rebecca Hovan, Music
Jeff Kubaszyk, Foreign Languages
Susan Mishler, Speech
Mary Robinson, Fine Arts

Assessment:

New Assessment Resources: The IUSB Assessment Committee has a number of new resources on Assessment which should very valuable to campus departments as they plan and implement assessment programs. These books can be used by contacting Rhonda Culbertson, (rculbert@iusb.edu or x6598.) Copies of these books will also soon be available at the Schurz Library.

Learner-Centered Assessment on College Campuses; Shifting the Focus from Teaching to Learning by Mary E. Huba and Jann E. Freed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
Assessing Student Competence in Accredited Disciplines; pioneering approaches to assessment in higher education. Edited by Catherina A. Palomba and Trudy W. Banta. Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2001.
Student Assessment in Higher Education; a handbook for assessing performance. Allen H. Miller, Bradford W. Imrie and Kevin Cox. London: Kogan Page, 1998.
Classroom Assessment Techniques; A handbook for college teachers. Thomas Angelo and K. Patricia Cross. Second edition. San Francisco: Josey Bass, 1993.
Student Learning: A Central Focus for Institutions of Higher Education. Edited by Austin Doherty, Tim Riordan and James Roth. Milwaukee, WI: Alverno College Institute, 2002.

Assessment Third Year Reviews: Because academic programs are the fundamental unit for student education at IUSB, the primary tool the Campus Assessment Committee uses for monitoring, evaluating and improving assessment is the Third Year Review. On a rotating basis, each academic program presents to the Campus Assessment Committee an evaluation of results of assessment activities, and an overview of ways in which assessment will progress in the coming years.

This year, in response to the NCA report, the Assessment Committee is asking departments to particularly emphasize the outcomes of assessment activities, and the ways in which assessment has been used to change and improve programs.

The following departments are scheduled to present Assessment Third Year Reviews this spring: Undergraduate Business, Chemistry, Counseling and Human Services, Criminal Justice, Dental Assisting, Dental Hygiene, English, General Studies, Music, Physics and Astronomy, Social Work, Sociology and Theatre.

Based on these Reviews, the Assessment Committee will compile a report on Assessment at IUSB to be presented to the Academic Senate next fall.

Assessment Committee Report to the Academic Senate: A written report from the Assessment Committee has been submitted for inclusion in the April Senate meeting. A copy of that report is available at http://www.iusb.edu/~acadaff/assesreport.pdf

The Working Group on Diversity is in the process of completing two surveys. After devising these surveys on the climate for diversity at IUSB and on faculty coverage of diversity topics in their courses, we distributed them to a number of groups on campus.

A random (more or less) sample of courses being taught during Spring 2002 was chosen so that students could be surveyed on the campus climate for diversity. Approximately one thousand students will be surveyed if all faculty whose classes were chosen to participate do so. All faculty were also asked to complete this survey and the other one on coverage of diversity topics in courses. More than 400 surveys were distributed to full-time and adjunct faculty. If faculty have not yet completed and returned their surveys and/or have not administered them in their classes, we ask that they do so as soon as possible.

We then distributed the climate survey to all IUSB staff members. The last part of our project will involve a mailing of the climate survey to IUSB alumni who graduated in the past two years. We are working with Joann Phillips in Alumni Affairs on this mailing.

We are also working with Suzanne Miller in Continuing Education to include faculty and some CE students in our data collection. This will help to ensure that all groups on campus have some input into the process.

After surveys are returned, will we turn to the analysis phase of our project. By the end of the summer, we hope to have some preliminary data to share with the IUSB community. We will also share our findings with the Campus Directions Committee Diversity Taskforce.

Members of the WGoD are: Eileen Bender, Catherine Borshuk, Linda Young, Ruth Schwartz, Nanci Yokom, Cristina Rios, Kwadwo Okrah, Charlotte Pfeifer and Patty Dees. It is chaired by Betsy Lucal.

The reception to honor Retiring Faculty will be held on Monday, May 6, 2002 at 4pm in the Alumni Room. Faculty who will be honored at this reception include: Richmond Calvin, Ted Hengesbach, Len James, Curt Leggett, Romesh Mehra, and George Nazaroff.