Five IU regional campuses join equity-building consortium
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Five of Indiana University’s regional campuses will work to improve the student experience and close equity gaps for Black, Latine, Indigenous and low-income students through involvement in the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Student Success Equity Intensive, or SSEI.
IU East, IU Kokomo, IU Northwest, IU South Bend and IU Southeast are apart of the intensive’s third cohort. IU Southeast Chancellor Debbie Ford will act as a representative for all regional campus chancellors.
“The regional campuses of Indiana University are laser-focused on being student-ready learning environments,” Ford said in a news release. “Participating in the third cohort of AASCU’s Student Success Equity Initiative will accelerate our work and strengthen our shared commitment toward student success. This partnership aligns with IU 2030 and serves as a catalyst to educate even more students for Indiana.”
Supported by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is a multiyear initiative that now involves 52 higher-education institutions, including the IU schools.
Over three years, the universities will work on reflecting on their practices, collecting data and preparing an assessment. By the summer and fall of 2024, the project will identify and prioritize challenges and goals. Strategies are estimated to be implemented by 2025.
Being a part of the intensive means university officials have the resources and support to work through this process, IU said.
The universities’ involvement also prepares them for the influx of Indiana’s 21st Century Scholars in the pipeline following a program expansion likely to double its enrollment that was approved in this year’s Indiana General Assembly.