VCAA Newletter

In last month’s newsletter I bemusedly lamented the late arrival of spring Now that spring is here with its April showers and warmer weather, hopefully our spirits are renewed as the mysteries of Nature’s rebirth unfolds. As a young scholar, I was fascinated by the intellectual and cultural life of antebellum Louisiana, a society that was in many ways more French than American. Before ceding to English, French was the dominant language of the arts and of commerce. Reflecting on the meanings of the seasonal spring, I recall a poem I translated from the French by a free person of color, L. Boise. The poem, “Au printemps,” trumpets the captivating renaissance of spring and the enduring love of a courtier for his beloved:

For the academic year 2004-05, the campus theme will be “Media and Democracy.” The theme ties nicely with our efforts in General Education and the American Democracy Project. Campus groups could explore this theme in a number of exciting ways both before and after the election having lectures, table talks, etc. on topics such as media coverage of the presidential race and debates, media coverage of the elected president’s first 100 days, the impact of comedy shows such as The Daily Show are having on people’s understanding of Democracy and politics, etc. The Political Science club already has “West Wing Wednesdays” which also fits well with this theme.

I am pleased to announce that the IU South Bend Libraries and the campus American Democracy Project are working together to bring One Book, One Campus to Indiana University South Bend during the 2004-2005 school year. The book for 2004-2005 is War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges. Hedges, a former war correspondent, writes of lessons learned in his 15 years of covering war zones, in among other places, El Salvador, Iraq, Sarajevo, and Kosovo. This book is an excellent read, a work that will provoke much thought and discussion among the IU South Bend community.

The working draft of the mission statement for the program is as follows:

The goal of the One Book, One Campus program is to encourage critical thought and discussion among students, faculty, and staff through literature. Specifically, through the reading and discussion of a new work each academic year, we aim to increase the IU South Bend community’s capacity for open-mindedness and the pursuit of new ideas. We hope to explore the complex moral and civic dimensions of issues facing the United States and the global community and how we engage in meaningful actions as citizens in a democracy. (The content of this statement is inspired by the published statement of the American Democracy Project at Indiana University and the ideas expressed in Educating Citizens by Anne Colby, Thomas Ehrlich, Elizabeth Beaumont, and Jason Stephens, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003).

If you have any questions about the project, please e-mail Julie Elliott at jmfelli@iusb.edu

General Education: I am delighted to announce that Professor Chaney will serve a two year term as Director of General Education. Professor Chaney will be working with the General Education Implementation Team, the deans and college/school faculties in the integration of the new general education core into the curriculum. It is my hope that we will be able to link the general education curriculum to thematic years. Currently, the new general education curriculum is slated for adoption in the AY 2005-06.

Institutional Self-Study: As the campus puts the finishing touches on its strategic plan, we must now begin the next critical phase of preparing for our next re-accreditation in 2007. Since our last accreditation in 2000, new evaluation standards have been established. Beginning this summer, we must begin earnest preparation for our self-study. Eileen Bender and Rebecca Torstrick will serve as co-chairs. During the summer, I will be working with them and with the self-study committee to plan the work of completing the self-study. If you are interested in becoming a member of the steering committee, please contact Eileen, Becky or me

We have recently received the compiled results from the comprehensive post-test that our graduating students in the MBA program as well as in Undergraduate Program were required to take during this spring semester of 2004, using ETS questions.

For Undergraduate Program, the data for spring of 2003, where 359 institutions had participated in this business field test, have been used for comparison. We had 37 students who were required to take this test. While the average score for all the participating institutions was 151, we are pleased to report that our school’s Undergraduate average was 164.6, and this has placed our Undergraduate Program among the top 5% of participating institutions. In addition, students’ performances in various disciplines were varied between the top 5% and 25%.

For MBA Program, this was the second year that ETS has developed such a comprehensive test for MBA programs, and the data for spring of 2003 have been used for comparison. There were 41 Graduate Programs participated in this test and the mean score for these institutions was 254.7 out of possible total 300. We had 16 students who were required to take this test, and their average score was 259.2. This has placed our MBA program among the top 35% of the business schools that have participated in this MBA business field test.

We consider these results not only as the external assessment benchmark of our business programs, but also as the continued reflection of quality of our programs and our products (graduates). Please, feel free to let me know if you need any other information in this regard for your public relations.

Barbara Peat attended the Higher Learning Commission Annual Meeting on behalf of the Assessment Committee. She was able to attend several sessions relating to assessment, and met individually with an expert on student outcome assessment. A session on the assessment of general education and values outcomes focused on the development of a rubric for assessing values/ethics outcomes. Another talk that focused on “Prior Learning Assessment in the Public Institution”, provided valuable information for those involved with enrollment management as well as faculty interested in learning how to use Prior Learning Assessment as a means of identifying and assessing college-level learning that occurred outside the formal classroom. The focus was on the nontraditional student. A third session was titled: “Civic Engagement and Service: Mobilizing the Campus Community”. The panelists provided information valuable to those interested in initiatives to involve students in community service and citizenship responsibilities. The presenters announced a conference on this topic scheduled for July 25-July 27 in Minneapolis. Materials and information from the Higher Learning Commission Annual Meeting are available through the assessment office.

IRB Update - There were 113 original files sent to Bloomington. Of those, 61 have been approved and 43 have been closed. This leaves 9 studies still under review. We have assembled a new IRB here at IUSB and that committee will be meeting over the next few months to bring our by-laws, forms, and processes into compliance. We will keep the campus posted on the IRB activities and will let you know when Human Subjects applications will be reviewed on our campus.

CLASS OF 2004

Members of the IUSB FACET class of 2004 are: Elizabeth Bennion, Asst. Professor of Political Science; Otis Grant, Asst. Professor of SPEA; Carolyn Schult, Asst. Professor of Psychology and Kenneth Smith, Assoc. Professor of English. They will participate in the annual FACET retreat in May which culminates with a recognition ceremony and dinner. Please join me in congratulating this year’s team.