IU Southeast
The IU Southeast School of Education recently received an additional $317,413 in funding for the Growing Tomorrow’s STEM Teachers (GTST) project from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. The purpose of the GTST program is to enhance the recruitment, preparation, and education of highly qualified STEM teachers in Indiana school corporations, and to assist teachers who need to update their status to stay current with state requirements.
IU Northwest
The STEM Center came to fruition thanks to a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and Articulation Program, which IU Northwest was able to apply as a federally designated HSI. The grant’s goal is to increase the number of Northwest Indiana students graduating with bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields.
Moving forward | 2023-2024 goals
Group of students on a tree lined sidewalk.
At our August retreat we established common goals for the coming academic year. Below you will find an update on our progress to date. I look forward to our continued work during the spring semester of 2024. Best wishes for a restful break so we can continue to be #StudentReady!
Leveraging P-12 relationships
Due to funding from the Office of School Partnerships, each campus now has two positions devoted to work with our P-12 students. These positions allowed us to establish ~40 partnerships with high schools during our first year across regional campuses and IUB to promote college attendance, career advising, and dual credit through the Indiana College Core (ICC). The ICC is a block of 30 credit hours of college coursework that covers competencies and learning outcomes commonly found in general education programs. Advance College Project (ACP) enrollments increased by 4,875+ credit hours and 570 new high school students. Additionally, 400 high school students were enrolled in on-campus or online courses totaling 2,000 credit hours. In addition, these positions allowed each campus to launch an education pathway to provide students with a career pathway to college.
Regional campuses (Kokomo, South Bend, Southeast) presented 4 out of 12 sessions at the June 2023 PK-12 Education Summit.
IU Kokomo campus is launching a health care and business marketing career pathway this fall.
IU Northwest hosted Kids College, a free two-week camp designed to empower middle school students from historically underrepresented and low-income populations who qualify for free and reduced lunch, to prepare for college and career pathways.
The P-12 Relationships’ impact level includes partnerships with 89% of the 415 school corporations across Indiana and 54% of K-12 schools are partners.
Building online capacity
After launching new marketing initiatives in the spring of 2023, IU Online has already begun to see enrollment growth. 52% of IU students take at least 1 online course, and 8643 students have fully online schedules. Our “freaky fast” enrollment services allow many students in 100% online programs to move from application to enrollment in less than an hour.
IU Online official census highlights fall 2023
Programs:
IU Online now offers 232 degree and certificate programs -- 12 more than last academic year.
50 of these programs are offered through a collaboration between multiple IU campuses.
Headcounts:
Online plan enrollment = 8,643, 9.6% of total heads (was 9.3%), an increase of 3.5% over fall 2022.
From fall 2022 to fall 2023, On-Campus/Hybrid plan enrollment decreased by 211 students, while Online plan enrollment increased by 290 students, netting an increase of 79 students university-wide.
Excluding IUB Kelley, online plan enrollment = 6,713, an increase of 10.0% over fall 2022
Collaborative online program enrollments = 2,284, an increase of 26% over fall 2022
Undergraduate online plan enrollments are up 11.8%
New undergraduate online students are up 21.8%
Returning undergraduate online students are up 9.1%
Graduate online plan enrollments are down 1.8% (primarily due to IUB Kelley down 14.1%)
New graduate online students are up 19.0%
Returning graduate online students are down 8.0%
Promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion
The Regional Campuses DEI Task Force continued its work to promote BIPOC Affinity Groups and Mentoring Programs through convening a second in-person meeting at IU Kokomo. Faculty and staff were able to practice mentoring conversations. Asian and Desi, Black, and Latine affinity groups will stay connected in-person and virtually and provide support for its members.
Groups Scholars programs were launched on each regional campus for 129 new students, where 98% of participants completed the summer experience program.
Rebuilding community/reengaging students
Regional campus enrollment increased this fall largely due to the nearly 6% increase in new students. With this increased enrollment, we saw more students 100% online, increasing from 29% to 31%. More students of color are attending regional campuses, increasing from 27% to 31%.
The housing units at IU South Bend and IU Southeast were at capacity to start this academic year. There was student involvement in our multicultural centers, with career development, and in student groups. We have an extraordinary opportunity to innovate to reengage students and rebuild community.
Our colleagues are disrupting traditional engagement with Discord, Inscribe, or Facebook Live streaming. We are exploring ways to offer honor societies or honors programming online or ways to integrate online students in commencement activities.
Encouraging academic collaboration
History faculty across the regional campuses have paved the way for other units through their proactive collaboration. Online history undergraduate and graduate programs have seen impressive growth in the last year, with over 230 currently enrolled. Many other faculty are embracing the opportunity to share courses, create collaborative programs, and work together on research initiatives across the regional campuses.
Strengthening recruitment & retention
IU regional campuses received funds for five full-time success coaches, as part of an ICHE College Success Grant awarded to all IU campuses. Each campus success coach will be dedicated to supporting the 1,200+ 21st Century Scholars on regional campuses, the recruitment of incoming 21st Century Scholars, and their retention to graduation. This includes working with the new Groups Scholars programs summer experience, support during the academic year, and partnering with local ICC pathway specialists.
Additionally, IU Online Education will receive a success coach position to help online 21st Century Scholars on regional campuses who want to be more engaged and involved to explore opportunities to do so. The grant is renewable and will help regional campuses to be student-ready for the ICHE projected 20,000+ students who will enroll for college by 2027 due to the recent auto opt-in to the 21st Century Scholars program under HEA-1449. This initiative will expand the coaching conversation model of supporting holistic student success for IU students and other success coaches at Indiana institutions participating in the ICHE College Success Grant.
Supporting student success
All five regional campuses are participating in the ASSCU Student Success Equity Intensive. This multi-year process seeks to eliminate equity gaps for Black, Latine, Indigenous, and low-income students. In case you missed it, read more about the initiative here.
Reimagining campus structures and programs for a more nimble future
Each campus is reexamining the academic and administrative structures and academic programs to see if they align with current student enrollment. The goal is for the restructuring work to be finished by fall 2024.
