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Myles Brand
President, Indiana University
 Brand
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According to the study, IU has surged ahead of its peers in achieving a greater equilibrium between teaching and research.
These findings are part of a two-part study titled Changing Priorities at Research Universities 1991-1995 that was conducted by researchers at Syracuse. In 1991, the initial study polled administrators and faculty at 49 public and private research institutions about such matters as promotion, tenure and merit pay. At that time, IU was among the majority of schools in the country that placed greater emphasis on research than on teaching.
Things had changed five years later when the follow-up study was done. In 1996, Syracuse researchers contacted 11 of the participating institutions. The questionnaire responses and open-ended comments of administrators and faculty led them to conclude that we had achieved a greater equilibrium between these two essential missions than any of our peers.
I am extremely pleased by these findings and by the university-wide way in which we worked together to effect change.
Syracuse researchers said a variety of factors led to the turnaround at IU.
They noted that our trustees encouraged a greater emphasis on undergraduate teaching by dedicating a half-million dollars toward annual salary supplements for outstanding teachers. They cited our responsibility-centered budgetary system that makes excellence in undergraduate teaching a cornerstone of success for all schools and academic departments.
Also mentioned were various programs, such as IUB's new Student Academic Support Center, the Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs), living learning centers and other academically driven residential programs that facilitate student learning.
And finally, the report praised faculty efforts toward improving the quality of undergraduate courses and deepening student learning.
This is not always an easy balance to achieve, and I am the first to recognize that faculty constantly juggle the responsibilities of teaching and research. But Indiana University can, and must, excel in both of its essential missions. Indeed, excellent teaching is inseparable from excellent research: one nurtures and supports the other. Let me emphasize that our renewed stress on excellence in undergraduate teaching in no way implies a lessening of our focus on the research, scholarship and creative activity which are the very lifeblood of our community of learning.
The Syracuse report tells us something we already knew -- when it comes to walking the thin line between research and teaching, no one can beat IU, especially when we work together toward a common goal.
What's on your mind? E-mail President Brand at pres@indiana.edu.
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