Interim Chancellor Barbara Bichelmeyer delivered the 2013-14 State of the Campus Address and presented the Distinguished Awards to faculty and staff at the 2013 Annual Faculty and Staff Annual Meeting Tuesday, August 20 in Richard K.Stem Concert Hall.

She began by recounting the many achievements of the past year, including the largest graduating class ever in May 2013 and the IU Southeast men’s basketball team competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Final Four for the first time.

“If caring, commitment and hard work are the only measures of our success, IU Southeast is thriving,” Bichelmeyer said.
However, Bichelmeyer said there are still several major challenges that the university is facing as it moves into the 2013-2014 academic year—low student enrollment which affects revenue, tightened budgets, low student retention and completion rates and rising student debt and default rates.

She said the university needs to focus on addressing these issues in the most student-centered, economically viable way while maintaining the core philosophies and standards of an Indiana University education.

“Serving in an interim role, I am perhaps more keenly aware than most that this is a year between what has been and what will be,” Bichelmeyer said. “It would be wise, I think, for us to pause at this time to consider our position and surroundings in order to chart a course that will keep us moving in the direction of our goals.”

Bichelmeyer said the university should work smarter, not harder to better the institution, by increasing student enrollment and retention, forming solid partnerships with Ivy Tech, the largest two-year educational institution in the state, making quality online programs available to help with retention and working to improve interactive relationships among all seven campuses and with university administration.

She said there is a need to acknowledge that the campus, the university and the state of higher education across the nation are in a period of transition.

“Shrinking revenue sources, increasing student debt burdens, calls for greater accountability, more and more aggressive competition and the impact of the Internet are a perfect storm of conditions that are forcing change,” Bichelmeyer said.

She said the Internet is changing the landscape of education because it has opened up a new world of potential for how people receive information.

“Historically, many people have confused information with education, but these are two very different things,” Bichelmeyer said.

“Information is the decrease in uncertainty while education is the ability to do things one could not previously achieve. We have the internet to thank for finally breaking the old paradigm of education as information dissemination, and bringing the truth into our collective conscience that learner engagement is the core element of education.”

Elaine Haub, dean of the School of Natural Sciences and professor of chemistry, received the Distinguished Teaching Award for full-time professors. She said although the nature of science already requires that there be a time for both lecture and a hands-on lab portion, she has increased her level of interactive learning over time.

“I have started over the years to include more and more opportunities for group work, more and more ways of active-type learning,” Haub said.

She said it is also important as an instructor to realize that students learn in various ways—verbally, visually, tactilely—and there need to be opportunities for all of them to learn the material.

On chancellor Bichelmeyer’s interim position, Haub said she has faith Bichelmeyer will be well suited to lead IU Southeast into the 2013-14 school year.

“Change is always scary and I think she will help us get through the transition,” Haub said.

Haub said it is important to the faculty that their voices not go unheard, and she believes Bichelmeyer is ready to listen.

“She seems to be very open to getting input and listening to the faculty’s wants and needs and worries and hopes,” Haub said.

Bichelmeyer left Stem Hall with a resounding call to embrace the changes and work together for a better future for Indiana University and all its students, faculty and staff.

“I know we will do great things together during this year of transition,” Bichelmeyer said. “I know it will all go so very quickly. Most importantly, I know the greatest gifts of this year will be the relationships we build with each other, and those will remain long after the year is finished and the initiatives have been completed. I know that our relationships will, ultimately, be the most important measures of our success.”