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		IUPUC receives $2 million appropriation from the State of Indiana Just before midnight on Sunday, April 29, the Indiana General Assembly passed the 2007-08 biennial budget, which included $2 million allocated for IUPUC. The annual funding is the first major state appropriation IUPUC has received, and the funding will support newly developed bachelor’s degree programs as well as the IU MBA Columbus. "We're excited about this appropriation," said Dr. Nasser H. Paydar, vice chancellor and dean, “because it will help us strengthen our newly developed mission for the university. With this funding, we now have the opportunity and the responsibility to become the bachelor’s degree-granting institution of choice in south central Indiana." Paydar noted that IUPUC has increased its number of full-time faculty by 50 percent since 2000, and the state funding will allow the university to add another 20 faculty members, an additional increase of more than 60 percent. “Our faculty members do more than engage students in the classroom; they engage themselves in the communities we serve,” Paydar said. Several staff positions will be added as well. “We’re building a new IUPUC,” he added. “Our campus is different than it was five or 10 years ago, and over the next five or 10 years it will continue to evolve. We offer more degree programs, we have more students working toward their degrees, and we are taking a more vital role in the economic development and quality of life in this region,” Paydar said. “There are so many who made this possible, but I would specifically like to thank the leadership at Cummins Inc., Senator Greg Walker, and Representative Milo Smith, as well as Columbus area leaders,” Paydar said. “Each has recognized the long-term need for higher education in south central Indiana and each has demonstrated a willingness to invest in improving the lives of residents in our region.” Paydar said their long-range planning and support of higher education in the region has made it an attractive place to those who share the same vision. “We’re fortunate to live in an area with a climate that favors learning and values education,” he said. “Working together, we will create a cycle of positive impact for south central Indiana,” said Paydar. “IUPUC has been experiencing consistent growth the past several years, and this funding will allow us to teach more students, produce more graduates, and impact more lives for generations to come. Ninety-six percent of our graduates stay in this region, contributing to the economic growth and development of their employers, their neighbors, and their own families.” “Today, we are equally proud and grateful,” Paydar said. Read The Republic coverage...

		2007 IUPUC Commencement Day Ceremony IUPUC held its 2007 Commencement Day Ceremony on Sunday, May 13, awarding 51 associate degrees, 124 bachelor’s degrees, and 32 MBA degrees on behalf of Indiana University and Purdue University. Dr. Nasser H. Paydar, vice chancellor and dean, told the graduates they “represent the most profound contribution we make as an institution to the world around us.” In his commencement speech, Paydar said, “The picture the Class of 2007 presents is one of a diverse, active, busy group of individuals who are committed to completing their education while balancing families, employment, and outside interests.” This year’s IUPUC graduates represented 38 different communities in Indiana as well as three cities out of state. Roughly 65 percent were first-generation college graduates, 20 percent were parents, 80 percent held a full- or part-time job, and 80 percent received some form of scholarships or financial aid. Traditionally, about 95 percent of IUPUC graduates remain in south central Indiana, taking a more vital role in the economic development and quality of life in the region. 2007 Commencement Program

		A 'bonzer' student teaching experience Shane Yates is ready to be a teacher. The IUPUC student finished his schooling in December and is settling back into life in the United States after spending three months student teaching in Australia. He looks forward to joining the many IUPUC elementary education alumni in the workforce. “I just wanted a culturally different experience,” Shane said. Being “down under” made him the first IUPUC education student to select Australia as his student teaching placement, according to Debra Winikates, head of the Division of Education. IUPUC students have also student taught in Kenya. His connection in Australia was a family friend who has lived there for the last eight years. He had just finished an eight-week stint teaching third grade at Hope Intermediate School before leaving for Australia. His self-described well-rounded experiences as an elementary education student at IUPUC provided him exposure to different subjects and age levels – kindergarten through 6th grade – that prepared him well for his teaching experience abroad. “There wasn’t anything I didn’t expect,” Shane said. Well, almost anything. The classroom he was in turned out to be the “wildest class” he had ever been a part of, yet the good-natured senior welcomed the challenge. His new test turned into a bargain with his students. When they commented that they’d never seen anyone with hair as short as his, he made a deal with the students to let his hair grow if they would be quiet when asked and follow his classroom instructions. The result: The students cooperated and Shane went three months without a haircut. His ten weeks in Cheltenham, Victoria, which is near Melbourne in the southern tip of Australia, gave him a taste of teaching at a different time of the school year as well. Though he left the U.S. at the beginning of the school year, in Australia the academic calendar follows the typical calendar year, so finishing up in December taught him how to close out a school year. But Shane learned much more than just how to adapt to different schedules. He experienced first-hand other variations in education while teaching on the other side of the world. In the U.S., Shane would occasionally bring some kind of prop from home to demonstrate a teaching concept. His Australian students proved more stoic. “It made me be creative and figure out different ways to teach,” he said. He enjoyed learning about Australian culture while the students enjoyed learning from him. They would frequently ask Shane to say different words and phrases. “They loved my accent,” and, he said, “I loved theirs.” The overall emphasis on health in Australia is something Shane would like to see more of in American classrooms. Aussie students spend more than two hours each day participating in some kind of physical activity, and Shane taught volleyball, tee ball, basketball, and soft cross (similar to lacrosse but with a softer ball). He said benefits of fitness are obvious, but thinks the ideal situation would be a balance between Australian fitness and the academic standards stressed here. The seasons and Ozone depletion requires Australians to take an extra measure of caution for health. The rule for recess, Shane said, was “No hat, no play.” Australians are encouraged to “Slip, Slop, Slap,” meaning slip on a pair of sunglasses, slop on some sunscreen, and slap on a hat. Even SPF 30 wasn’t always good enough, though, as Shane recalls days of getting easily sunburned while outside. Indiana residents joke about having to have the heat on driving to work and the air on coming home. He said Australia is more extreme, having all four seasons in a day at times. The lack of humidity during the 100-degree spells made it nice, though. Another vast difference in Australian classrooms compared to American classrooms is openness about religion. Teaching abroad is a worthwhile experience IUPUC faculty encourage for education students, said Winikates. “These students develop a much more global perspective. As teachers, they share that rich new perspective with the children in their classrooms,” she added. “They also encourage their own students to investigate, to take risks.” Shane grew up in the Columbus area and his entire family lives within about a 20-mile radius. Traveling 10,000 miles away gave him a more global perspective. He even completed a project there involving global concerns. During his three months, Australia experienced one of its worst droughts in history. He thinks he would have been unaware of some of the drought conditions here in the United States had he been in Indiana during that time. “It took me to be 10,000 miles away to realize that.” After school let out, Shane traveled the continent for two weeks with his girlfriend, Becky, who studied elementary education at IU Bloomington. Australians asked Shane about certain places in the U.S. that he had never visited, so he is now more interested in seeing more of the country. Shane wouldn’t trade his once-in-a-lifetime experience for anything, and he would like to visit Australia again someday. He was offered help in finding a teaching position down under, but he doesn’t think he would want to live that far away from home. Though more expensive than student teaching in south central Indiana, “It was well worth it,” Shane said. “I feel like I’m prepared to get a job. My experience, both at IUPUC and in Australia, gives me confidence that I’ll do well.”

		IU MBA Columbus celebrates 5th Anniversary “Incredible” is the word Dr. Georgia Miller uses to sum up her thoughts on the IU MBA Columbus program – both in its creation and in the celebration of its fifth anniversary. To date, more than 120 students have enrolled in the program, including 13 from India, three from Ghana, two from Mexico, two from Pakistan and one each from Hungary, Japan, Jordan, and Italy. Students come from about 60 undergraduate institutions and with degrees in more than 25 areas of study. This year’s Class of 2007 was the largest cohort yet with 32 students, half of whom earned promotions before graduating. Miller, head of the Division of Business and of the MBA program, first learned of the possible desire for such a program in Columbus in the 1970s while teaching at Indiana University in Bloomington. Two decades later, the need for an MBA program in Columbus – and the ability to create it – reached a critical mass. IU Dean Emeritus Dan Dalton, head of the Kelley School of Business at the time, worked with academic, business, and civic leaders in the late 1990s about developing an MBA program at IUPUC. “A high quality MBA program in Columbus only promised to complement other programs,” Dr. Dalton said. “I thought then, as I do now, that a competitive MBA program in Columbus would provide opportunities for people who otherwise would not complete an MBA anywhere.” The Columbus community and area businesses agreed. Tom Clerkin, Division of Business faculty member, was chairman of the Columbus Education Coalition and president of the Learning Center Corporation at the time. He said through the years businesses would send employees out of state or to Indianapolis to pursue their MBAs. While that worked for some, Dr. Clerkin knew there were some who could not travel very far to earn their MBA degree because of work, family, and community obligations. The Indiana Commission for Higher Education approved the program, allowing the first cohort to enter the program in August 2001. “And the first cohort graduated in 2004,” noted Dalton, “exactly, positively on time.” Miller credits early community and business support as critical to the success and growth of the program. “I don’t think we would have survived without the couple of commitments that came out of those early days,” she said. Those commitments came from Cummins Inc., which guaranteed a certain number of its employees would become students, and the Arvin Gift Fund, which provided money for bridge funding, future faculty increases, and the accreditation process which is currently underway. “That allowed us to start building the quality faculty we have now,” Miller said, “and look to the future as well.” The Arvin Gift Fund is also assisting with the renovation of the old library, which by this fall semester will house classrooms and offices for the MBA program and the Center for Executive Education. “It’s an efficient use of the space,” Miller said. “The classrooms will be designed for MBA learning. We’re really excited about the renovation. This creates a home for the MBAs.” With the recently announced state appropriation, the IU MBA Columbus program can start expanding its faculty as well. Searches are currently underway for tenure-track professors in marketing, accounting, and finance. The early success of the program and the anticipated accreditation should help those searches. “Accreditation for our program was an outcome and vision from the very beginning by those who first established the MBA here,” said Clerkin. “It’s an external validation that what we’re doing is solid and helps to make sure the program continues to improve,” Miller added. Potential faculty will also enjoy a hands-on commitment from civic and business leaders, who regularly make presentations and lead topical discussions in MBA classes. “To have CEOs and company presidents come in almost weekly – that doesn’t happen in very many MBA programs around the country,” Clerkin said. And that intimacy is important in the IU MBA Columbus program, Miller said, noting that smaller class sizes have been part of the mission since its inception. Those class sizes fluctuated initially, but now are consistently growing. “Now that the program has stabilized,” she said, “we’re looking at the next stage,” which includes two cohorts per year. “We’re meeting and exceeding anyone’s expectations of where this program would be in five years,” Clerkin said. “We’re ahead of where I reasonably thought we could be. It’s been everything we wanted and more.”

		An IUPUC Family Affair: MBA father and undergrad daughter comfort and encourage each other Reggie Meeks’ daughter, Megan, didn’t have a working vehicle when she started attending IUPUC as an undergraduate in the fall. Dropping her off that first day took Reggie back to when Megan first started school as a little girl. The difference is, Reggie is a student now, too. “It kind of feels a little weird being in school at the same time as your kid,” said Reggie, who is in the IU MBA Columbus Class of 2008. Megan is an undergraduate interested in possibly pursuing a degree in biology. The father and daughter duo enjoy attending the same institution at the same time. Reggie took some prerequisite courses before starting the MBA program, so he learned what attending as an undergraduate might be like. “I felt really comfortable with having her come here,” he said. “I knew she would get a good education in a smaller environment.” And, he said, “We can encourage each other.” He joked, “I try not to stay on her case too much.” Megan was initially interested in attending a larger campus away from home, but she is really enjoying her experience at IUPUC. She sees how her father works full-time as an electrical engineer at Cummins and balances MBA schoolwork. Many evenings he goes to the church where he is associate pastor and studies late into the night. “Seeing you do that is inspiration to me,” she told him. Megan occasionally asks him for math homework help, but most of the time is just comforted to live at home with family support and to know her father is going through the challenges of schoolwork as well. “It’s comforting for both of us,” she said, also noting that she and her friends from her high school class attending IUPUC appreciate having parents close by. Last fall, 85 percent of the first-time full-time students at IUPUC were traditional in age, choosing IUPUC straight out of high school. Reggie said, “The quality of education is such that high school seniors can attend and get a great education from IU or Purdue.” Megan added, “This is a nice school.” And they aren’t the only “family affair” at IUPUC: Siblings, married couples, and other parent/child pairs have found the Columbus campus to be a good fit. With its smaller class sizes and flexible scheduling, Reggie Meeks said IUPUC is a great place for adults to attend to earn their undergraduate or MBA degrees, so he isn’t surprised to learn of the many families furthering their education here. “It’s a natural mix for older and younger generations,” he said.

		IUPUC News & Notes All IUPUC faculty and staff made a financial contribution to the campus during the 2007 Campus Campaign, marking the fifth consecutive year of 100% participation by faculty and staff. Laura Lee Wetzel, associate director of IUPUC’s Center for Executive Education, was recognized as the Outstanding Woman Staff “Newcomer” Leader at IUPUI’s Women’s History Month Leadership Awards Reception on March 28. On April 10 the IUPUC Library/Center for Teaching & Learning welcomed their 200,000th customer since opening and starting gate counts in September of 2005. Thirty-four students, one alumnus, six faculty members, and three staff members were recognized at the IUPUC Honors Convocation on April 11. List of Honorees Also in early April, Dr. Debbie Winikates, head of the Division of Education, was awarded Volunteer of the Year by the Foundation for Youth in Columbus for coordinating field placements for education students to tutor FFY children. IUPUC recognized The Cummins Foundation and Tom O. Vujovich as its honorees at the 19th annual Indiana University Spirit of Philanthropy Celebration on April 26.

		Upcoming IUPUC Events IUPUC Funtastic Fridays This is a hands-on program for prospective students to learn more about IUPUC through talking to Student Ambassadors who graduated from area high schools. Guest students will view a short presentation about degree programs, tour the Learning Center and receive information about financial aid and scholarships. The $50 application fee is waived for high school seniors who apply at these sessions. High school students are encouraged to join the games, gifts, food, and fun! May 18, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. IUPUC, Learning Center Contact info: 812-348-7311 or admissions@iupuc.edu Discover IUPUC Program for non-traditional prospective students to learn more about IUPUC. June 9, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. IUPUC, Learning Center Contact info: 812-348-7311