IU Takes Regional Collaboration Online
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana University has rolled out a website to advance cooperation among regional campuses. The initiative follows President Michael McRobbie's decision in 2010 to create a vice presidential office responsible for regional campuses. That led to the online Regional Commons effort. October 14, 2013
News Release
Indiana University's new Regional Commons website brings together information for and about IU's regional campuses and provides opportunities for faculty, staff and students to connect to projects, propose new collaborations and find resources to support teaching and learning.
The site chronicles collaborative activities of the regional campuses under the auspices of the Blueprint for Student Attainment strategic plan. It includes tools for monitoring progress toward cross-campus goals and enables local community members and state officials to learn about best practices developed from joint efforts of the campuses.
In March 2010, IU President Michael A. McRobbie created a vice presidential office responsible for regional campuses, leading to the planning and collaboration that produced the Regional Commons.
Cross-campus teams were encouraged to propose bold, innovative ideas responding to the changing, complex higher-education environment in ways that would promote significant growth in degree completion and attainment.
“Our regional campus teams found the multi-campus discussions to be richly rewarding, and they remain eager to find ways to maintain cross-campus collaborations,” said John Applegate, IU executive vice president for university academic affairs. “The Regional Commons website was designed to provide a structure for continuing that shared spirit.”
The Regional Commons includes links to regional campus websites and detailed information about the development and implementation of the Blueprint for Student Attainment, a detailed plan that charts a path to greater success for regional campus students while addressing the importance of the campuses to the state and the regions they serve.
The site also includes:
• Regionals in the News links to news and feature stories about regional campuses and with profiles of faculty, staff and student excellence.
• Links for connecting to ongoing Blueprint for Student Attainment projects and for proposing new multi-campus research and teaching collaborations.
• Metrics and data that chart degree completion and other measures of success, access and affordability for students.
• Information about best practices for meeting the needs of students and serving communities, including reports, conferences and other materials.
IU South Bend professor and assistant vice president Rebecca Torstrick serves as regional campus coordinator and led the development of the Regional Campus Commons website.
Along with creating the Regional Commons, IU has put in place new cross-campus structures to facilitate collaboration. These include the Regional Campus Cabinet, composed of regional campus chancellors and Executive Vice President Applegate; the Regional Faculty Caucus, made up of the presidents of campus faculty organizations; and the Center for Regional Campus Excellence, comprising regional campus executive vice chancellors for academic affairs.
In addition, advisory groups have been created to oversee Blueprint activities in six key areas: Transfer and Articulation, Joint Academic Programming and Faculty Development, Research and Learning to Meet Regional Needs, Online and Hybrid Education, Pervasive Student Advising Programs, and Data Gathering and Evaluation.Source: Indiana University