Spring 2024

Thursday, April 25, 2024

From Sue's Desk

After two incredible years, I am retiring from my role as Vice President of Regional Campuses and Online Education at the end of June. I have so enjoyed working with all of you. You have been collegial, collaborative, and welcoming every time I have visited your campuses. My passion for the mission of the regional campuses has been a driving force in my career and I will miss the personal and professional rewards this work brings.

Thanks to you, we’ve moved forward on our goals, always focused on student success. We’ve seen all the regional campuses initiate the Groups Scholars Program, increase their interactions with K-12 schools with external funding for new staff to promote the Indiana College Core (ICC) certificate and career pathways programs, welcome three new chancellors on the Kokomo, East and Southeast campuses, launch a very active faculty and staff diversity task force and affinity groups, create a common calendar, invest in microcredentials and badges, and launch IU 2030 strategic plans.

In addition, our work with IU Online has significantly increased the enrollment of online students on each campus. This has enabled us to weather the demographic cliff that continues to challenge enrollments in our service regions.

While my departure is bittersweet, I have no doubt that forward movement will continue amidst the leadership transition. I am so proud of the work that I’ve witnessed in my tenure as Vice President, and I thank you for your innovation, passion, and commitment to be #student-ready. I know you will continue to “Lead from Where You Are.”

Sincerely,

Dr. Susan Sciame-Giesecke

Let's take a look at all that has been accomplished!

IU Online

Associate Vice President, Dr. Chris Foley

Online undergraduate program enrollment at IU Bloomington, IU Indianapolis, and the regional campuses has seen growth with 3,112 students enrolled in Fall 2021, 3,233 in Fall 2022, and 3,615 students enrolled in Fall 2023.

Online graduate program enrollment at IU Bloomington, IU Indianapolis, and the regional campuses has remained steady over the past three years with a total of 5,112 students in Fall 2021, 5,120 students in Fall 2022, and 5,028 students in Fall 2023.

Road Show Summary

Following through on the promise of increased transparency and open communication with faculty and administrators across IU, a team of IU Online leaders set out in early January to visit seven campuses with a presentation entitled “Reimagining IU Online.” The presentation and ensuing discussion were delivered to academic leadership and faculty governance groups in an hour-long session that often spilled over into additional conversations and follow-up meetings. By the conclusion of this series of visits in late February, each member of the team had built new relationships, reinforced existing partnerships, and gathered important feedback regarding the next steps in the continuing development of IU Online.

One key takeaway from these conversations was the need for increased sharing and collaboration between student services across online and campus groups. Building trust and integration in this area could create even better support for our students. Another recurring theme was the desire to eliminate competition in online course sharing and commit fully to the more intentional model used by collaborative programs. Overall, the team recognized university-wide enthusiasm for the progress in IU Online program support and student services over the recent years and a universal belief that online education is an important part of Indiana University now and in the future. Despite some past challenges, all are motivated by the opportunity to expand the reach of IU education to students who depend on the flexibility of online programs.

Office of School Partnerships

Interim Assistant Vice President, Dr. Leah Nellis

Events

In March, we hosted a speed-dating event to learn about and discuss summer programming for PK-12 students. Compiling resources and follow-up communications for future meetings to stay connected are currently in swing. Faculty and staff from across IU campuses attended and learned from IU colleagues who shared information about their summer programs.
We have scheduled the OSP PK-12 Education Annual Summit for August 9, 2024 in Indianapolis. Save the date and watch for more information in April.

Indiana College Core (ICC)

We developed a Power BI map using Indiana Department of Education and IU data to identify potential schools for IU-ICC partnerships, facilitating contact based on regional service areas.
We initiated the IU-ICC Network, a virtual platform for PK-12 school leaders to discuss their experiences with the ICC.
We published a new IU-ICC adoption handbook (physical and digital) for sharing with high school principals and superintendents interested in an IU-ICC partnership.

IU's Advancing the Science of Reading in Indiana Grant

With the support of a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Education faculty from eight IU campuses are participating in professional development focused on the science of reading aligned instruction and working on revising courses for teacher candidates pursuing a degree in early childhood education, elementary education, or special education.
Thus far, ten faculty have completed the training and over 50 more will do so by the end of summer 2024 and we are revising over sixty courses. These efforts will help to prepare new teachers to provide PK-6 reading instruction that aligns with new Indiana guidelines.

Summer Programming Impact Study

We welcome anyone interested in participating in a pilot study on PK-12 summer programs and college matriculation. Contact Kristin Norris and Rod Whiteman for more details.

Marketing and Outreach

Established a new LiveWhale calendar global PK-12 tag and a shared calendar on the OSP website. If you are promoting a PK-12 event, consider using the tag in LiveWhale. Together, we can illustrate all that IU is offering. If you have questions, contact Lance Farrell in the OSP.
Launched a statewide survey to collect input from PK-12 schools about ways IU can support their efforts to support innovative learning experiences in the PK-12 space.

Regional Campus Strategic Plan Update

PILLAR ONE: STUDENT SUCCESS

AASCU Student Success Equity Intensive

IU regional campuses were selected as one of the AASCU institutions participating in the third cohort for the Student Success Equity Intensive (SSEI), working to achieve equitable outcomes for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and low-income students. The SSEI, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will enable teams from multiple AASCU institutions to come together to work collectively on student success, learn from one another with support from AASCU and subject matter experts, and access tools and strategies through our engagement in national networks.

Regional campuses’ leaders, faculty, and success teams completed the Institutional Transformation Assessment (ITA) and participated in the Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) in fall 2023. Campuses met for “sensemaking” reflective conversations about ITA results over Capacity areas such as: institutional policy, leadership and culture, strategic finance, institutional research/data use, information technology, and state policy; and Solution areas such as advising, developmental education reform, digital learning, emergency aid (holistic student support), and pathways during April 2024. They will attend the national meeting held in Indianapolis in June 2024.

Groups Scholars

The Groups Scholars programs are thriving. The inaugural group of 129 students at regional campuses persisted through fall semester with a fall to spring retention rate of 89.6%. Their cumulative fall semester average GPA was 3.02. Groups 2024 recruitment is well under way and looking strong. Groups Scholars have been leading on their campuses by energizing student groups like My Sister’s Keeper at IU Northwest, Campus Activities Board at IU Southeast, and the Multicultural Affairs Club at IU East. Help us promote this program to our communities at IU East, IU Kokomo, IU Northwest, IU South Bend, and IU Southeast.

Coaching Conversations

The Coaching Conversation Model has been adopted by our academic advisors. Trainings took place on multiple regional campuses yielding 43 out of 52 (83%) academic advisors certified and using coaching conversations for holistic student support. Additionally, over 40 non-academic advisors also took advantage of the free training provided by VPSS partners.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

The Regional Campus DEI Task Force continued to hold in person and virtual meetings to promote affinity groups and mentoring for BIPOC faculty and staff to help retain diverse faculty and staff. In-person meetings were held September 29th at IU Kokomo and April 6th at the IDEAL Conference in Indianapolis.

Regional campuses have developed individual inclusive excellence draft plans and are now receiving input through a peer review process before finalizing these plans.

Over 31 BIPOC faculty and staff attended and/or presented at the IDEAL conference sponsored by IU VPDEI Office and NCORE, serving over 750 attendees from multiple states across US.

Over 350 completions to date for DIB Vector LMS modules, to help faculty and staff at regional campuses improve their work to position regional campus student for equitable student success.

Regional campuses have hired 11 new faculty under the Presidential Diversity Hiring Initiative. Launched in the fall of 2021, the Presidential Diversity Hiring Initiative is a first-of-its-kind, a $30 million, seven-year investment that was developed for the sole purpose of helping IU campuses diversify the number of tenure-track faculty members from traditionally underrepresented groups in higher education so that students can be mentored by faculty who look like them.

During 2023-2024, 22 regional campus faculty and staff completed the IU DEI Leadership Certification program sponsored by OVPDEI, adding to the 15 previous completions in Spring 2023. The Vice President of RCOE ensured there would be at least two participants from each regional campus participating. Additional participants received a generous discounted fee to complete the leadership training opportunity which builds skills to develop a community that embraces a culture of belonging that positively impacts employee performance and engagement, innovation, resiliency, and profitability.

Regional Campus Common Calendar

In summer 2021, the Regional Faculty Council (RFC) took up the challenge to create a Regional Campus common calendar. With the rise of online course sharing and program collaboration among the campuses, differences in the campus calendars were creating a hardship for students. University Registrar Jeff Johnston presented a draft calendar for their consideration, and they began the process of intercampus collaboration toward this goal.

The RFC created a three-stage process to rise to this challenge. In stage one, each campus would gather feedback regarding the proposed calendar from the appropriate committees/faculty groups but were asked not to vote. In stage two, the RFC brought together the feedback and negotiated a compromise calendar draft that involved concessions from all groups. They realized quickly that there was no perfect solution, but they were able to create a draft that solved most issues and gave each campus something that they valued. Finally, they presented a clean compromise proposal and requested that campuses give it an up-or-down vote.

In this way, through the efforts of the many faculty and staff across the system, they arrived at the Regional Campus Common Calendar. By working through faculty governance, they were able to consider many factors that impact faculty and students in each region and still come to consensus within about six months. This three-stage process has served as a road map for considering further alignment of practice and policy across the Regional Campuses.

PILLAR TWO: RESEARCH & CREATIVE ACTIVITY

In spring 2023 a task force was assembled to discuss issues related to promoting research and creative work on regional campuses. The task force report raised many topics for consideration which were woven into the work of the VP’s office over the 2023-24 academic year.

The task force identified the need for more fluid management of faculty load regarding research priorities. As a result, we have encouraged academic leaders to consider faculty release time and teaching load on a three-year rolling basis via the faculty annual report process. Training and support have been extended to Deans and Chairs to help with these conversations. Another important support for the faculty annual report process will be the adoption of Simplectic Elements in the coming year. This new system for reporting faculty productivity promises to be more user-friendly, generate more robust aggregate reports, and cost less than our current system.

The task force also suggested increased sharing of research-related news from the regional campuses. The adoption of LiveWhale Content Management System has facilitated broader sharing of campus level news across university websites. A major redesign of the website for the VP’s office highlights many important faculty accomplishments from each campus.

A productive collaboration between the regional campuses and the UA Office of Research can significantly impact research productivity. This year many university research awards were opened to all faculty across the system. A review of the award criteria is expected in the coming year. Also, a successful collaboration with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) team resulted in clarification of the parameters for student research review. IRB staff have committed to training and support for faculty overseeing student research going forward.

There is more work to be done in support of regional campus research. In the coming year we hope to help coordinate a collaborative applied research project, provide additional support for faculty collaboration across campuses, and continue to explore increased sharing of library databases and resources.

PILLAR THREE: SERVICE TO THE STATE

Services to P12 Students

Pathway Specialists at regional campuses work with students in P12 partner schools to provide college readiness, career exploration and development, and advising services. As of mid-April 2024, Pathway Specialists across IU’s regional campuses provided over 10,000 instances of these services to P12 students during the 2023-24 academic year.

Over 3,000 middle school students participated in presentations and hands-on activities to learn about college and careers they can prepare for at an IU regional campus. Middle school students visit campus and learn about IU when a Pathway Specialist visits their classrooms and participates in school events such as career fairs and open houses.

College to Career Pathways

All regional campuses partnered with local P12 schools to offer an Education Professions college to career pathway for high school students during the 2023-24 academic year. Across the regional campuses, 25 high schools were involved including those in urban, suburban, and rural communities. The number of high schools participating is on track to increase for the 2024-25 academic year as campuses have been working with school districts to expand these opportunities.

Faculty from regional campuses have also been working together to identify the courses for college to career pathways in other disciplines including Computer Science, Criminal Justice, Exercise Science, and Business. Campuses are working with school partners to enroll high school students in these pathways for the 2024-25 academic year.

Indiana College Core (ICC)

IU campuses continue to expand P12 school partnerships to offer the Indiana College Core. In total, IU currently has an ICC partnership with 43 school districts with 24 of those being with an IU regional campus. Campuses are actively working to increase the number of school partnerships through outreach and consultation.
The Indiana University-Indiana College Core (IU-ICC) Network launched in February. The IU-ICC Network brings together ICC school partners across the state to share ideas and resources, and to create a network of support for offering the ICC through IU. Representatives from 20 school districts registered to attend the inaugural network meeting and will be invited to participate in upcoming meetings.