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Chancellor of IU Southeast
Making a difference! This is a phrase I often hear when people talk about a regional campus like Indiana University Southeast. Offering higher education and service to a population that otherwise might not have that opportunity is at the heart of the regional campus mission.
Shortly after I became chancellor at IU Southeast nearly two years ago, I had the opportunity to talk with Judy O'Bannon, the wife of Gov. Frank O'Bannon. In our conversation, she noted with much enthusiasm how IU Southeast is making a difference in the lives of the people in its nine- county service area in southern Indiana. The area includes the O'Bannons' home county of Harrison.
I recently spoke to a civic club meeting in Salem, in Washington County. The chair of the education committee gave an impressive report on the club's activities in encouraging higher education attendance among the students at the three high schools in the county, and on the work in raising funds for college scholarships for graduates of the three schools.
After the meeting, she told me the story of how IU Southeast had made a major difference in her life and how today she is a very successful insurance agency owner (one of the top five agencies in her company in Indiana). She said that if it had not been for the location of the campus just 30 miles from her home, in addition to the strong encouragement and counseling she received from the faculty and staff at IUS, she definitely would not be the successful person she is today, with a thriving business and four children, all of whom are college graduates with their own careers.
As a divorced single mother in her early 20s, she had earlier dropped out of college after completing less than two years and said she had very low esteem and not a lot of ambition. She was encouraged to revisit the IUS campus where she met with Professor John Moody, who helped her rebuild her self-esteem, get enthused about her academic career and, eventually, to complete her degree.
She now funds college scholarships for graduates at each of Washington County's high schools and works year around on improving college opportunities for students.
While its graduates now live and work in each of the 50 states and in at least eight foreign countries, IUS is making the greatest difference in the southern Indiana and Greater Louisville area where more than 80 percent of our graduates now live and work.
Our alumni are making a difference in the educational climate of the region. More than 60 percent of the teachers in our service counties hold at least one degree earned at the IUS campus. Our alumni are making a difference in local government. For instance, in Floyd County, the county prosecutor, the state senator and the mayor of New Albany are all IU Southeast alumni.
IUS is also able to make a difference in the economic development of the region by hosting the Japan Center and the Japanese Saturday School; by sponsoring the Regional Economic Development Resource Center; by offering an accredited master of business administration degree program for persons working full time; and by educating many business owners and managers.
When IU President Herman Wells established IUS in 1941, he wanted the campus to make a difference in the quality of the lives of the people it serves. Its record shows that it is doing so.
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