Office of Academic Affairs VCAA News  October/November 2003

Dear Colleagues, Democracy is our nation=s most precious gift.  We have much to be thankful for.  At IU South Bend, we enjoy the highest expression of democracy through free and open inquiry. One of the hopeful outcomes of undergraduate education at IU South Bend is that students leave with an understanding of and a commitment to civic involvement.  Last week, I had the privilege of exploring with faculty at a system-wide conference how universities engage students in democratic principles of civic and moral engagement.  Attending the conference from IU South Bend were Linda Fritschner, Eileen Bender, Neovi Karakatsanis, Betsy Lucal, De Bryant, Diana Hess, Jerry Hinnefeld, and Bill Hojnacki.  Beginning this year, IU South Bend, with other IU campuses, will be engaged in a three-year project in partnership with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the Carnegie Foundation and the New York Times in exploring issues of democracy and the civic engagement of students through curricular and co-curricular activities.  It is not enough that our students are well-trained to enter the workforce and thus aid in the economic development of their communities.  If students are truly to benefit from the promises of an education thoroughly grounded in the liberal arts and sciences, it is equally important that they leave the academy as engaged citizens. Our recently adopted general education, with its emphases on diversity and globalism, sets the stage for broader campus conversations about civic responsibility in a democratic society.  Next spring, we will begin a dialogue among faculty, students and staff about how we integrate the principles of civic and moral engagement into our campus culture.  Professor Bill Hojnacki, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, who has a long and distinguished history of civic engagement, has agreed to take the leadership in working with core faculty in determining how IU South Bend will participate in this project.  Already, over twenty-five faculty have expressed an interest.  I invite all of you to join the discussions. General Education Implementation As many of you know, last spring the IUSB Faculty Senate approved new requirements for General Education. (If you are not already familiar with these requirements, please find them at http://www.iusb.edu/~gened.) Over the summer a new committee was charged with the responsibility of planning the implementation of the recently approved requirements. Members of the General Implementation Committee include Douglas Agbetsifa (Business), Linda Chen (LAS), Nancy Colborn (Library), Marsha Heck (Education), Jerry Hinnefeld (LAS), Christine White (Nursing). The committee has been meeting since late August and have recently identified a structure and timetable which will result in the creation and scheduling of classes needed for the new General Education requirements by the fall of 2005. The committee will provide information and updates about deadlines and progress toward them through periodic reports to the Senate, and through the website mentioned above. The first task is the creation of the new curriculum, specifically the identification of expected outcomes and goals for the new courses in the Core and in the Fundamental Literacies. They have formed several subcommittees, each headed by a member of the Implementation Committee, to perform this task over the coming year. For this effort to be successful they need your time and your expertise. The following subcommittees are presently at work: Fundamental Literacies: Nancy Colborn, chair (this includes the new courses in Critical Thinking, Visual Literacy, and Information Literacy) Natural World: Jerry Hinnefeld, chair Human Behavior and Social Institutions: Doug Agbetsiafa and Linda Chen, co-chairs Literary and Intellectual Traditions: Christine White, chair Art, Aesthetics, and Creativity: Marsha Heck, chair Resource Issues: Ben Withers, chair Please consider how you might contribute. When you have identified an area of interest, write directly to the subcommittee chair to volunteer. Or, if the chair of a subcommittee calls you, please agree to help. The new General Education requirements create exciting possibilities for our campus. With your help we can make their implementation a success. Assessment Committee News 1)  Assessment Institute -   The Assessment Committee sponsored the attendance of four faculty members,  Barbara Peat, Linda Fisher, Paul Newcomb and David Vollrath, at the Assessment Institute in Indianapolis earlier this month:  . Barbara Peat felt that the Assessment Institute meetings offered an excellent opportunity to learn about assessment in higher education applicable to a variety of contexts including its use in course development, curriculum planning, student satisfaction surveys, senior presentations, portfolios, and accreditation.  She found three of the sessions particularly useful in her work in assessment within her division as well as her work with the Assessment Committee.  These were:  The Multi-Tiered Model of Assessment:  Using Faculty Analysis of Course Design, Student Perceptions, and Student Learning Outcomes in Assessing Courses;  Senior Presentations as Indicators of Institutional Effectiveness; and Course Syllabi as an Assessment Tool. Linda Fisher found the keynote address on: Learning in a Technology-Rich Environment: A Seminal Model of Assessment raised important questions.  The speaker and panelists discussed choosing appropriate technology and supporting faculty who use technology. They emphasized making the use of technology a success by developing faculty expertise, and by assessing its usefulness on several levels.  She explored some of these new technologies, including electronic portfolios and using Oncourse feedback for curriculum modification, in other sessions.  She also appreciated case study presentations on: Using Assessment Results to Make Positive Changes to Academic Programs, and The Levels and Loops of Learning at a Dental School.  One presentation explored the results of a longitudinal assessment project.  Linda felt that the speakers did an excellent job of simplifying assessment issues into a few manageable questions.  The dental school presentation looked at the ground-up development of a curriculum using base competencies as the foundation. 2)  New Assessment Resources – Several new books are being added to the assessment resource collection.  The titles include:  Assessment Essentials:  Planning, Implementing and Improving Assessment in Higher Education by Palomba and Banta; Assessment Practice in Student Affairs: An Application Manual by J. Schuh and Upcraft; 500 Tips on Assessment by Brown and Race; Building a Scholarship of Assessment by Banta and Associates; and Portfolio Assessment: Uses, Cases, Scoring and Impact by Banta ed.  These books can be borrowed by contacting Rhonda Culbertson (x6598). Articulation Agreement between IU South Bend and Ivy Tech State College North Central: IU South Bend and Ivy Tech State College North Central continue to cooperate to make it easier for students to transfer courses and credits. September 2003, Chancellors Mae Reck and Virginia Calvin signed an articulation agreement that makes it possible for students with an Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree with a concentration in History eligible to complete the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in History at IU South Bend.  This agreement is pending approval of the A.A. degree from Ivy Tech by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. Majors & Programs: I know the recent web redesign has caused some confusion, but I hope you are all finding it easier to navigate and friendlier than our old site. One of the most exciting new features is the Majors and Programs site linked right off the front page. This site gives incoming students, faculty, counselors, etc. a quick guide to all of our majors and programs in a very consistent fashion. We have recently moved this site to the Academic Affairs office, so if you would like to suggest a change to your section on that site please send an email to Erika Zynda (ezynda@iusb.edu) who maintains all of our pages. The next Dean's Seminar of the 2003-04 series will be held on Friday, November 21, 2003 at noon in the Board Room. Dr. Kevin Smant, Lecturer, History/Education, will present his project entitled "I Think Old Abe Will Win It:" Politics and Elections in an Age of Civil War" IRB Update - There were 113 original files sent to Bloomington. Of those, 38 have been approved (9 after re-review) and 21 have been closed. This leaves 54 studies still under review, but every one of those has received at least initial contact from the Bloomington committee. New Degrees and New Minors at IU South Bend: On Friday, November 14th, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education approved two new graduate degrees for our campus: The Master of Arts (M.A.) in English and the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) English. That same day our Academic Senate Curriculum Committee approved two new minors for our campus: an African American Studies minor and and International Studies minor. We all look forward to the new opportunities that the graduate degrees and minors will provide our students. Kudos: Please join me in congratulating Dr. James Wolfer for receiving an SBC Fellows Grant for his project entitled "Enhancing the Computing Curriculum with Hands-On, Real-World, Real-Time Robot Assembly Programming."  This is the fourth SBC (Ameritech) award on this campus in three years. Best wishes, Alfred J. Guillaume, Jr. Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs