2007-2008 AY No 6
ACADEMIC CABINET
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
This Academic Cabinet meeting was held with colleagues from the IU Northwest campus at
IU Northwest.
Participants from IU South Bend:
Alfred Guillaume, Academic Affairs
Rob Ducoffe, Business and Economics
Linda Fritschner, Academic Affairs
Michael Horvath, Education
Tom Miller, Arts
Jackie Neuman, Extended Learning Services
Marilynne Ramsey, Social Work
Mary Jo Regan-Kubinski, Nursing and Health Professions
Michele Russo, Library
Lynn Williams, Liberal Arts and Sciences
Participants from IU Northwest:
Kwesi Aggrey, Academic Affairs
Robin Hass Birky, Academic Affairs
Linda Delunas, Health Professions
Dorothy (Dee Dee) Ige, Liberal Arts and Sciences
Lydia Hairston Birch, Academic Affairs
Anna Rominger, Business and Economics
Linda Rooda, Nursing
Cuthbert (Bert) Scott, Distance Education
Tim Sutherland, Library
Stan Wigel, Education
Welcome (Bruce Bergland):
After a continental breakfast IU Northwest Chancellor Bruce Bergland welcomed the
group.
Introduction to the meeting (Kwesi Aggrey and Alfred Guillaume):
Meeting participants introduced themselves. Kwesi thanked participants for their
attendance. He spoke about some of the initiatives at IU Northwest (the Office of Assessment, the
Medical School, the midtown project, research projects, and the Education Leadership Program.
He urged the participants to continue to work together beyond this meeting.
Alfred also spoke of the benefits of collaboration between the two campuses. He spoke
about the Masters of Science in Nursing which will begin fall 2008 at IU South Bend and the
possibilities for IU Northwest faculty to help with this degree offering. Both Alfred and Kwesi
looked forward to conversations together.
Working with Ivy Tech Community College:
The community college initiative in Indiana is having an impact on the respective
campuses. IU Northwest and IU South Bend as well as the other IU campuses must develop some
rationales for maintaining associate degrees. At this point, Ivy Tech thinks that all associate
degrees should be taught on their campuses and not on the IU campuses. These degrees include
dental hygiene and radiography. A number of years ago, IU South Bend gave up the associate
degree in nursing. IU South Bend may have to give up its associate degree in dental hygiene
within five years, if Ivy Tech students are able to pass the licensure exam at the same rate as IU
students.
Ivy Tech wants to share space and use equipment at the IU campuses. These issues are not
resolved. There was concern about the boundaries of the collaborations with the community
college. There are concerns about the loss of enrollment and hence revenue should the dental
hygiene and radiography degrees be transferred to Ivy Tech. Another concern was the limitation
on the number of clinical sites for these degrees. A number of people also spoke about faculty
quality.
Each campus offers associate degrees (for example, Women’s Studies, Film Studies, etc.)
that don’t really make sense at the community college. The courses for these degrees are part of
various bachelor programs.
Faculty Productivity (Kwesi Aggrey):
There was sentiment that individual courses should not be evaluated for minimum
enrollment. Rather the entire teaching load and the number of students taught should become the
measure of faculty productivity. Academic department comparisons with the Delaware cost study
was given as an example. This study has been used at IU South Bend by the College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences as a measure of how the departments stack up against the same departments at
other public comprehensive masters I institutions.
Summer school was also discussed. IU South Bend has a salary cap of $5,000 or ten
percent of salary for a three credit hour course during the summer. IU Northwest may have to
institute a cap, although there was some dissention about this.
Assessment Center (Jana Szostek and Helen Harmon):
All participants were given an introduction to the IU Northwest Assessment Center.
Assessment Center activity is required in two business courses (a 100 and 400 level) at IU
Northwest. The focus of the center is on behavior. There are seven exercises that students
complete (i.e. case analysis, “in basket” memo writing, presentations, ability to handle a leaderless
group, etc.). In the exercises, students are evaluated by outside raters on twelve competencies (i.e.
critical thinking, written communication, interpersonal communication, teamwork, presentations,
conflict management, etc.). The goals at the center are to let students know their strengths and
weaknesses. Since center activities occur at the beginning level and nearer graduation, there is or
will be pre and post data. The center accommodates ten students at a time. Currently 130 students
are involved in completing the ten exercises. The center was funded with Commitment to
Excellence (CTE) dollars.
Conclusion:
Members from IU Northwest and IU South Bend were paired by area. Each one on one
team met for approximately an hour and ten minutes to discuss general items of interest. At the
luncheon, the IU Northwest representative from each team reported the results of the general
conversation and the item that the members planned to work on in the coming months. Stan Wigle
(IUN Education) had to leave before the reports began and so Michael Horvath (IUSB Education)
reported on the conversation for that team.
Respectfully submitted
Linda Marie Fritschner
Wednesday, October 3, 2007