‘Shared Vision’ energizes campus community

By Bruce Bergland, Chancellor, IU Northwest

The vision presents a word picture of the kind of institution we are striving to create at IU Northwest. It begins with the statement: “We the students, faculty, staff and alumni of IUN take pride in our unique identity as Indiana University, serving the seven county region of Northwest Indiana.” That’s a very honest statement for all of us, but it brings with it the potential to go in many directions. One of the points that has become most clear to us at IU Northwest is that we do not have the resources to do all the things that might fit with being IU Northwest serving the northwest counties of Indiana.

Given the constraints under which we are operating, we have chosen to develop our efforts around two dimensions. In order to pursue our vision, our initial steps will be to develop a unique identity for our institution, and secondly, to enhance the campus climate in such a way as to provide more support for our students and faculty in the learning process.

We have identified nine different task forces that will focus on eight outcomes related to unique identity and campus climate. These task forces have been working now for approximately nine months and involve more than 250 faculty, staff, students and members of our community.

The work of these task forces has progressed according to plan, and we are accomplishing many things. For example, one of the outcomes focuses on the quality of our classrooms in terms of the actual physical environment. We have assessed each of our classrooms in the context of lighting, heat, furniture, technology, etc., and have inventoried and ranked them in terms of their conduciveness to learning. Our next step will be to begin an orderly process of bringing all of the classrooms up to a level in which they are conducive to learning rather than barriers to learning. This is just one example from one of our task forces.

In our effort to develop a unique identity, we have made the choice to pursue two broad areas of excellence for which we plan to be known as we build academic strength. One area focuses on the sustainable vitality of northwest Indiana. In pursuing excellence in this area, we shall develop partnerships with the northwest Indiana community to develop solutions that promote and produce sustainable, regional vitality. We shall emphasize leadership in systems thinking and pursue programmatic emphases such as environmental systems, urban planning, and regional health and wellness.

The second area of excellence emphasizes cultural discovery and learning. In this area, we plan to develop partnerships with our community to explore our regional cultures through diverse perspectives and forms of expression. We shall use traditional and new media in developing this collaboration, and we shall initiate and sustain cultural projects, programming and events that serve the seven-county region.

IU Northwest is committed to accomplishing our vision. We are gaining momentum as accomplishments are achieved. Follow our progress:

http://www.iun.edu/~vision/