Indiana University Southeast releases new seven-year plan
The new seven-year plan at Indiana University Southeast focuses on student success, research, and community engagement.
Indiana University Southeast has released its new seven-year plan, which is focused on community impact, research opportunities, and expanding student success.
The Indiana University Southeast 2030 plan is associated with the comprehensive Indiana 2030 plan at large, which is focused on the entire university entity. Every Indiana University campus has developed its own individual seven-year plan focused on three major pillars: service to Indiana and beyond, transformative research and creativity, and student success and opportunity.
Indiana University Southeast’s Interim Chancellor Kelly Ryan was quoted by the News and Tribune talking about the involvement that faculty, staff, alumni, students, and community have had in the development of the seven-year plan.
“Historically, our commitment to student success has meant making the expense of college manageable, providing flexible scheduling and modalities to meet students’ needs, and providing student-centered instruction and services. The IUS Southeast 2030 Strategic Plan will expand our impact to better meet the needs of our region, transform IU Southeast into a ‘student ready’ university, and become a leader in our region for undergraduate research,” she said.
Also quoted was the Vice Chancellor for Enrollment, Marketing, and Student Affairs, Amanda Stonecipher, who talked about the long history of the school’s use of strategic plans and stated that the new plan offers a “laser focus on really important areas where we know we can continue to be transformational for our students and for our community.”
The Interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Sanders Chair in Business at Indiana University Southwest, Uric Dufrene, talked about how the seven-year plan builds on the foundation that has been set down by previous plans.
“So this is a chance to really scale up things like student success, which is something that Amanda and I and the campus have worked on extensively, and we’re seeing the results right now on the student success side,” he said.
The three pillars supporting the seven-year plan are service to Indiana and beyond, student research, and student success and opportunity.
The service to Indiana and beyond pillar is based around establishing a center for nonprofit and business partnerships, and expanding programs that lead students from college to their careers.
The expansion of the career pathway and dual credit programs at high schools will be rolled out across the service region, according to Stonecipher. These programs will help students find their way to Indiana University Southeast, and complete their degrees.
The strategic plan calls for a 20% increase in internship placements, as well as a 20% increase in the number of students graduating with nursing and education degrees.
“This is a way to support economic development through graduates of certain fields such as nursing and education,” said Dufrene.
The strategic plan also lays the groundwork for the creation of a center for health promotions, which will offer public health information and screenings at local events. It also plans out the establishment of a community council on sustainability in the next two years.
Dufrene talked about the goal of making the school an asset to the region, and increasing that through collaborating with the community.
He discussed the creation of these new systems being part of that collaboration, saying, “This last goal really seeks to enhance collaboration among IU Southeast and the various community partners that we serve with.”
The pillar of student research focuses on getting the students more involved with the work being done at the school.
“One of the things that our faculty do quite well is engaging, involving students as part of their research. So that’s what this plan does is refining ways to scale up and to simply increase the number of students participating in research or creative activity,” said Dufrene.
There is also room in the strategic plan to support the creative and research activities being done by the school’s faculty.
Dufrene talked about how faculty and student research is intertwined with community engagement, saying, “The other piece is providing opportunities and recognizing the work of our faculty as it relates to community-based research. That’s part of the community engagement we’ve been focused on.”
He also noted that students participating in research is tied to a higher graduation rate for those students.
Indiana University Southeast is planning to implement a research and creativity mentorship program, as well, which will increase the amount of opportunities to work on and present their scholarly research.
The school is also planning to increase the number of grants, creative works, and publications put out by 25% while maintaining the quality of work put out through faculty, staff, and students.
Stonecipher noted that research done at the school is beneficial to students who partake, even for those who do not plan on pursuing a degree in academics, saying, “They may go on to further their academic career and really go into research, or they may go into their own chosen profession, but elements and the skills they learn through research here will serve them well in the future for whatever job they are in where they have to look at information and vet information against several different sources to find out information for their employer.”
The third pillar of the plan, student success and opportunity, is set up to create holistic support for all of the school’s students. Among other goals, it looks to do this by improving graduation and retention rates, and increasing graduate student enrollment by 25%.
The plan also looks to increase the enrollment and degree attainment of transfer students by 25%, as well.
Several initiatives to support students at Indiana University Southeast are set up in the plan, such as expanding financial aid and scholarship opportunities for students.
Remedying the declining enrollment the school has seen in the past ten years is also addressed in the strategic plan. Dufrene noted that a “key piece of enrollment is retention.”
“Moving forward, [retention] will be a key piece — in fact the piece — to overall enrollment growth...,” he continued.
Another call in the plan is for engagement in more applied and dynamic learning experiences for students. It looks forward to expanding the number of students who take part in service learning experiences, enhanced applied learning excursions, and internships. It also calls for most transfer and first-year students to enroll in a learning community.
The strategic plan also looks at meeting workforce needs by focusing on lifeline learning opportunities, employer partnerships, and career readiness.
Stonecipher talked about the effort the school is putting into student success, saying, “We want students to persist from one semester to the next and ultimately graduate from our campus. Also, in addition to that, or coupled with that, is wanting to be a place for the completion of other career outcomes and professional development.”
Indiana University Southeast is also looking to create Credit for Prior Learning programs, which would establish a pathway for people currently to return to school and use the experience they have gained on the job to provide credit for that learning.
The plan also calls for the school to be an institution of success for students, faculty, and staff in the community, regardless of their background. The goal includes expanding the school’s engagement with the 21st Century Scholars program to improve the rates of college-going and student retention. It hopes to increase the diversity of the population of students, faculty, and staff at Indiana University Southeast.
More information about Indiana University Southeast can be found at the school’s website.