IUPUI University College

IUPUI University College proposal to be fine tuned

By Ric Burrous

Future IUPUI students will have new reasons to choose the university and plenty of support to help them earn their degrees when they reach campus. Beginning next summer, IUPUI plans to launch the much-discussed University College (UC).

The proposal would establish University College as an attraction to bring prospective students to IUPUI, a gateway for new students when they arrive and a support mechanism to help keep them on track once they've begun their higher education careers.

"University College should be a magnet, with an exciting first-year experience, the promise of a compelling new general education, supplemental instruction to help build confidence and a variety of other responsive student services," said Chancellor Gerald L. Bepko during his December State of the Campus address.

IUPUI leaders hope to start University College July 1, once the final proposal has been approved by the Trustees of Indiana University. That proposal is still taking shape, and "town meetings"

(see schedule, page 8) are planned this semester to help refine the proposal before it is given to the trustees.

"The goal of University College is to instill high expectations for personal academic achievement in our students," said William M. Plater, dean of faculties, "along with the skills, experience and confidence to succeed."

The meetings will offer faculty, staff and administrators an opportunity to shape the University College concept and help it achieve that goal.p The current draft proposal would create University College by combining the Undergraduate Education Center (UEC) and the orientation services portion of the Admissions Office. In the future, plans may call for blending in the Honors program and other existing service programs that fit the needs of UC students.

Under the plan, all undergraduates will be admitted to University College and will receive advising and first-year support services through UC. Key components of the UC proposal include a new student orientation program, faculty leadership and participation in advising; a first-year gateway course taught by a faculty member in collaboration with a librarian, an adviser, a technology expert and a peer mentor; "learning communities" designed to connect students with each other and with the campus; supplemental instruction by peer mentors; special advising for at-risk students; a model general education program; an honors program designed to attract new students and reward achievement for current ones; core skills courses; and upon completion of UC programs, the transfer of UC students to other IUPUI schools for completion of baccalaureate degrees.

Recruiting new students to IUPUI continues to be a major goal of the university, but one of the driving forces behind the UC proposal is IUPUI's efforts to improve its rate of retention of first-year students. The current national average is 70-percent retention of such students; at IUPUI, the rate is 56 percent.

"Clearly, retention is one of our most serious challenges," said Plater. "We need to improve. A new vision, a new model and a new commitment are required. University College will provide the means for refocusing existing programs to meet the goals of persistence."

University College is designed to help IUPUI overcome problems with first-year students who are taught by associate faculty, who often are not fully connected to IUPUI. Another problem is "unacceptably high ratios of students to academic advisers," said Scott E. Evenbeck, associate vice chancellor and director of the UEC.

"University College is designed to provide a coordinated and supportive transition to the university," Evenbeck added, "to move students through orientation to enrollment in learning communities." The support of those learning communities will be broadened through expanded mentoring programs, along with other forms of support. The key, both Plater and Evenbeck noted, is greater links between students and IUPUI's faculty.

"Full-time faculty involvement throughout the undergraduate experience is critical to our students' success," said Plater. Under the current proposal, University College will be headed by an academic dean, who will hold a tenured appointment in a degree-granting school in addition to University College. Only tenured faculty will be eligible to hold faculty appointments in UC, although other faculty members may participate in teaching and advising efforts in the college.

"University College will not have a separate faculty," said Evenbeck. "In fact, the concept of University College depends upon linking faculties and programs across traditional school and disciplinary boundaries so that it becomes the shared, common intellectual core of the campus."

Under the plan, the Purdue School of Science and the IU School of Liberal Arts will not merge, although faculty from both schools are likely to perform a substantial portion of the teaching and advising.

University College is expected to allow IUPUI students more support and more time to choose the direction they wish for their academic career, the primary focus of general education. Coupling that with the eventual inclusion of such attractive options as IUPUI's honors program is considered likely to make University College a strong recruiting tool for prospective students.

"We want the word to spread among students and their parents that the University College experience is just what is needed for the intellectual development of today's students," said Bepko in his State of the Campus address.

"We want the experience at IUPUI to be so positive that it causes students to persist, and attracts more and better-prepared students to pursue their undergraduate education at IUPUI," he added.
A full text of the proposal for University College is available through the chancellor's office, or on-line at the UC site.