Mission & Strategy

Mission | Values | Strategy

IUPUC Mission

IUPUC strives to be the destination for those who seek a high-quality education and a welcoming, distinctive small university experience that champions diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, and belonging and prepares our students to collaborate and contribute in meaningful and significant ways both locally and globally to twenty-first-century communities. Our mission is to advance the State of Indiana and the intellectual growth of its citizens to the highest levels nationally and internationally through research and creative activity, teaching and learning, and civic engagement by offering a distinctive range of bachelor's, master's, and professional degrees.

In pursuing its mission, IUPUC provides for its constituents, excellence in:

• Teaching and Learning
• Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity
• Civic Engagement, Locally, Nationally, and Globally

With each of these core activities characterized by:

• Collaboration within and across disciplines and with the community,
• A commitment to ensuring diversity, and
• Pursuit of best practices

IUPUC Value Statement

IUPUC values the commitment of students to learning; of faculty to the highest standards of teaching, scholarship, and service; and of staff to the highest standards of service.

IUPUC recognizes students as partners in learning. We value the opportunities afforded by our location and are committed to learning from and meeting the needs of the communities we serve. Our students, faculty, and staff are involved in the community, providing educational, workforce, and leadership programs, collaborating with a wide array of community and clinical partners, and engaging in context-driven research. As a leader in fostering collaborative relationships, IUPUC values collegiality, cooperation, diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, social justice, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship as well as honesty, integrity, and support for open inquiry and dissemination of findings. IUPUC is committed to the personal and professional development of a diverse campus community of students, faculty, and staff; continuous improvement of its programs and services; and building a strong, welcoming campus community for all.

IUPUC Strategic Initiatives and Goals

Our Strategic Plan consists of ten overarching initiatives and goals for our campus in Columbus, Indiana.

Student Success

1. Optimize Enrollment Management
   1. Streamline recruitment, admissions, advising and enrollment processes to enhance student experience and satisfaction.
   2. Formulate a long-term enrollment growth strategy with annual growth of between 3-5 percent, reaching enrollment of 1850 students by 2022.
   3. Increase transfer enrollment by 2 percent annually.
   4. Create a comprehensive branding approach for IUPUC with a focus on positive name recognition and connection to the resources of Columbus. 

2. Promote Undergraduate Student Learning and Success
   1. Enhance the collection and use of data on student learning and institutional effectiveness through a comprehensive program of outcomes assessment.
   2. Enhance support for faculty and staff development to strengthen teaching effectiveness.
   3. Improve student retention and graduation through a broad range of student support initiatives and services.
   4. Strengthen out-of-class learning opportunities for students, including the honors program and honor societies, student-faculty research, women’s center, internships, service-learning, study abroad, leadership programs, student organizations and activities, career services, financial literacy, student jobs and special events. 

3. Increase Capacity for Undergraduate, and where appropriate, Graduate Programs
   1. Develop a 10-year academic plan that identifies programs for growth, proposes new academic degrees, concentrations, certificates, minors, and tracks, specifying a timeline and resources needed.
   2. Secure appropriate accreditation that demonstrates the quality and strength of our programs.
   3. Examine the feasibility of developing programs and curricula targeting non-traditional student populations. 

4. Transform Online Education
   1. Promote the development of high quality online certifi­cate and degree programs.
   2. Develop innovative technology-enabled learning experiences.
   3. Participate in IU Online with program and certificate options. 

5. Position Our Students to be Global Citizens
   1. Increase funding for study-abroad opportunities for our students.
   2. Develop additional local study-abroad opportunities and promote system-wide opportunities.
   3. Further integrate global perspectives in our curricula. 

Economic Development and Economic Opportunity

6. Align Academic Programming initiatives with regional economic development and economic opportunity priorities
   1. Develop programs to address critical regional needs in education, healthcare, safety, security, management, information systems, engineering, and technology.
   2. Strengthen current relationships and collaboration with regional guiding groups, local governments, the EcO Network, economic development boards, chambers of commerce, community foundations, significant employers, and regional planning initiatives.
   3. Build capacity to support and enhance the growth of the regional talent pipeline, particularly in the areas of diversifying the pipeline, creating welcoming communities, and supporting the global workforce in our region.
   4. Become an employer of choice for staff and faculty by providing meaningful work, improved workplace culture and communication, and advancement opportunities. 

7. Increase Capacity for Innovation and Discovery
   1. Enhance support for scholarly activity.
   2. Enhance capacity for grant-funded research and scholarship.
   3. Enhance support for faculty/student research.

Engagement

8. Deepen our Commitment To Community Engagement
   1. Engage communities and their leaders in the IU/IUPUC Bicentennial Campaign; create and meet targets and timelines.
   2. Develop and host community events in the community and on campus to position IUPUC as a regional thought leader.
   3. Leverage the IUPUC Center for Business and Economic Development to build stronger connections with local employers and community organizations in order to support placement of our students, engagement in the community, and long-range philanthropic efforts. 

9. Foster a Welcoming Campus Environment
   1. Develop and foster a culture that proactively seeks out solutions to challenges and creates/fosters a positive environment.
   2. Review all campus messaging (events and communications) for consistency with the principles of a welcoming and diverse campus.
   3. Support an active Diversity Council and strong diversity programming for the campus and community.
   4. Achieve a representative employee population in line with state, regional, and national benchmarks. 

10. Develop Faculty and Staff
    1. Strengthen promotion and reward structures for non-tenure track, tenure-track, and tenured faculty.
    2. Provide regular professional development opportunities for faculty and staff.