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Academic Excellence at Indiana University Northwest
Indiana University Northwest is committed to academic excellence, characterized by a love of
ideas and achievement in learning, discovery, creativity, and engagement. Within the context of
our urban and regional setting, IU Northwest strives for the highest quality in teaching, research
and service. With recognition of past accomplishments, this statement on Academic Excellence
serves as an inspiration to even greater achievement.
I. Love of Ideas. “Love of ideas” is a commitment to lifelong learning by all members of the campus
community.
II. Institutional Excellence. Excellence is a characteristic of an institution that empowers faculty, staff,
and administrators to carry out university goals and purposes stated in its Mission, Shared Vision, and
Strategic Plan.
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III. Academic Program Excellence. A program demonstrates excellence through a collectivity of
excellence in research, teaching and service. IUN supports research in broad domains such as the
scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of teaching and learning, the scholarship of integration, and the
scholarship of application or engagement. Accrediting bodies for professional schools may have
additional criteria or standards for excellence. Examples of characteristics of academically excellent
programs are:
A. Utilization of Resources to produce quality and efficiency, by funding:
 A critical mass of qualified faculty and resources to meet instructional and research needs;
 Innovative instructional methods that promote learning and serve a variety of learning styles;
 A sufficient number of fulltime and part time faculty positions to provide faculty teaching
loads and faculty/student ratios that support instructional effectiveness;
 Initial accreditation and maintenance of accreditation for all appropriate programs.
B.
A Curriculum appropriate for the Mission and Vision of IUN:
 Based on standards appropriate to the general education goals of the university, and/or the
goals of the department/discipline;
 Structured so that students are placed in classes appropriate to their level of preparation;
specifies and adheres to course prerequisites and progressions.
C. Program Learning Assurance and Quality that
 Encourages every student to be an active participant in the learning process;
 Reflects diverse ways of learning and applying knowledge;
 Respects diversity as a critical component of academic excellence;
 Defines clear learning goals with high expectation for learning;
 Measures student learning to determine whether students have achieved learning outcomes;
 Feeds data from assessment back into instruction to encourage continuous improvement in
student learning and mastery of learning outcomes;
 Assists students through retention programs in meeting learning goals of general education.
D. Demonstration of Continuous Program Improvement through
 Self-studies and external program reviews;
 Awards of accreditation through professional accrediting associations;
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Strategic planning processes with quality assessment measures and benchmarking;
A variety of assessment methods.
E. Support for Faculty Development activities that
 Facilitate and reward creativity and independent and critical thinking by faculty that lead to
excellence in teaching, learning, scholarship and creativity, and service;
 Enhance teaching and learning endeavors of faculty who integrate knowledge of current
thought in their field into their teaching, resulting in continuous revision of course materials
to reflect synthesis of current thought into pedagogy;
 Promote high standards in recruitment and retention of faculty;
 Enable faculty to manifest their potential in teaching, learning, scholarship and/or creative
work with funded research and teaching support programs;
 Invest in mentoring and sponsorship programs for faculty that provide guidance and
assistance for junior faculty.
F. Relative Stature: Current academic stature of program benchmarked against peer institutions or
national rankings, relative to the norms of the discipline: honors and awards; membership in
national academies.
G. Ability to generate sponsored programs, grants, fellowships, and awards.
IV. Administrative Excellence. At IUN excellent administrators (chairs, deans, directors or above):
 Ensure decisions and initiatives reflect and advance the Mission, Shared Vision, Strategic Plan
and unit Vision and Mission;
 Develop innovative and efficient organization systems and procedures;
 Demonstrate fiscal responsibility and effective allocation of resources consistent with the pursuit
of excellence, taking into consideration the academic unit ‘s institutional needs, resources and
priorities;
 Encourage and maintain constructive human relations among peers, faculty, staff, and students;
 Communicate effectively; listen and respond to the ideas, needs, and suggestions of
administrators, peers, faculty, staff, and students;
 Foster personal and professional growth and development of faculty and staff through training,
scholarship and creative activities and participation in professional organizations;
 Provide honest, competent, and accurate performance reviews;
 Develop and coordinate academic unit fundraising activities as appropriate; effectively represent
the campus and the academic unit throughout IU, professional and accrediting organizations, and
the community;
 Vigorously work to implement their individual commitment to institutional excellence.
 Document excellence through annual written performance reviews.
V. Excellence in Staff: Excellence for biweekly staff is based on the Annual Performance Appraisal,
and for Professional Staff on the Performance Management Program. Excellent staff, in support of
academic excellence,
 Further the mission of the university and the responsibilities of the unit;
 Work effectively to meet the objectives of the job and use resources effectively to meet these
objectives;
 Make effective decisions: implement sound decisions or timely actions based on available data;
 Efficiently plan and prioritize time and resources to improve productivity;
 Arrive to work at scheduled time, and are present when committed to be present;
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Demonstrate knowledge and skills required to carry out job related duties, understand applicable
unit and university policies; keep current on trends in field;
Focus on quality and productivity to increase personal and organization effectiveness; examine
and improve processes related to job responsibilities;
Build and maintain productive working relationships with superiors and peers;
Relate effectively and diplomatically with employees, students, and community; present
professional image to customers; make customers feel valued, are responsive to customer needs
in terms of timeliness and ability to deliver services;
Incorporate IUN Shared Vision in workplace responsibilities;
Generate new ideas and find original approaches; encourage others to do so;
Implement the Student Centered Principles and appropriate service philosophy;
Document excellence in annual written performance reviews
Additionally, supervising staff will:
 Effectively coach, evaluate, and counsel staff;
 Identify areas for and support employee development opportunities for staff;
 Encourage teamwork and group achievement for staff;
 Lead change/achieve support for objectives for staff;
 Enable and empower staff; provide appropriate opportunities for growth for staff;
 Strive to achieve diverse staff at all levels;
 Understand diversity issues and create supportive environments for diverse employees.
VI. Faculty Excellence: Academic excellence for faculty requires satisfactory active participation in
research, teaching, and service (teaching and service only for clinical appointments and lecturers), and
superior performance in one area. Clinical appointees and lecturers follow the same guidelines for
teaching and service, but will not be evaluated on scholarship/discovery. Librarians additionally are
evaluated on professional performance. Evaluation is based on the criteria provided in the Academic
Handbook and Promotion and Tenure Guidelines. Excellence in faculty is documented in annual
written evaluations/ performance reviews. Individual units can add criteria for excellence as long as
the unit requires faculty to meet the stated criteria in the IU Academic Handbook.
A. Research (May include the broad domains of scholarship of discovery [and creativity], teaching,
integration, and application.) To be adequate, all tenure-track and tenured faculty must be
engaged in peer reviewed scholarship that contributes to, integrates or applies the body of
knowledge in one’s field through scholarly activities and widely-disseminated peer-reviewed
publications, exhibitions, and/or presentations at state, regional, national, or international
professional meetings. Quality of publications is more important than mere quantity. Excellence
in research requires high-level scholarship. Characteristics may include but are not limited to:
 Ability to provide well-documented assessments of the quality of scholarship using measures
that are credible and verifiable;
 Disciplinary knowledge demonstrated by peer-reviewed scholarship and continuous
professional development;
 Ability to generate research funding in disciplines where funding is available;
 Relevant to discipline, a significant number of scholarly publications within a five year
period;
 Citation rate of publications, where appropriate;
 Ability to publish in high quality journals;
 Other quantitative evidence of distinction in scholarship;
 Honors and awards;
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Creative Work disciplines: rank among peer units at other universities using such indices as
gallery/museum exhibits for visual artists, stage productions for theatre artists, screenings for
film makers, dance concerts for dancers/choreographers, and publications for creative writers.
Assessment of quality should be external. And while rankings by external agencies are not
usually available for units focused on creative work, such units should be cognizant of any
such rankings or comparative studies.
B. Teaching: The baseline for effective teaching is pedagogic skill and competency in the faculty
member’s subject matter. Excellent teachers display such characteristics as:
 Being professionally active—in scholarship, curriculum development, teaching
development, and, if appropriate for rank or discipline, producing publications and/or
engaging in community outreach;
 Being committed to and facilitating student achievement of learning outcomes;
 Engaging in scholarship and producing high-level peer reviewed scholarly outcomes
and publications, as appropriate for rank or discipline;
 Teaching in interactive ways; are partners in the learning experience and inspiring love
of and desire for learning;
 Respecting individuals, individual differences and diversity of opinion, and adapting
teaching methods to a variety of student backgrounds and learning styles;
 Effectively utilizing technology, where appropriate, to enhance the learning
experience;
 Being readily available for consultation with students and publishing and keeping
liberal office hours at times convenient to students;
 Using multiple and fair measures to assess student work and providing ongoing, clear
feedback to students;
 Providing periodic documented peer review of teaching by program faculty.
C. Service (May include the scholarship of application or engagement). Scholarly activity in applied
research and/or professional or public service must involve a high level of skill in communicating
and applying the knowledge of one’s professional competence to the university, the profession,
and/or the community. Service may be both inside and outside the university and may be
rendered to the academic unit, department, university, community, professional organizations,
governmental bodies and other institutions. Adequacy in service requires consistent activity, good
citizenship, and an equitable contribution; however, such scholarly service activities are not
sufficient for excellence as “scholarship” unless they lead to peer-reviewed recognition, activities
and/or publications.
VII. Student Excellence. At IUN, students are prepared for lifelong learning, ethical practices,
successful careers, and civic engagement. Student Excellence is defined in Outcome 1 (2004) Student
Profile of Academic Excellence. Students, upon graduation, are prepared to perform well in their work
and as citizens. An academically excellent student is one who
 Has mastered basic skills needed to begin university level work;
 Assumes responsibility for developing and monitoring his/her academic course of study;
 Engenders respect, motivation and interest in learning;
 Assumes responsibility for one’s own learning;
 Demonstrates higher-order cognitive skills;
 Demonstrates achievement of all IUN General Education Goals by the time of graduation.
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