IU Trustees Provide Updates, Add Degree Programs

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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’s Board of Trustees met Friday and provided a series of updates regarding enrollment, its presidential search, and sites for the new IU School of Medicine medical education and research facilities. The university says it continues to see steady enrollment while reaching new milestones in diversifying its student body.
IU says it credits much of the success to keeping its campuses open during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as prioritizing affordability and accessibility initiatives while strengthening its online program.
At the start of its spring semester, IU says its Bloomington campus exceeded the number of degree-seeking students from last year at the same time. The university enrolled 40,855 degree-seeking students, up 0.1% from last spring. The students are enrolled in a record 547,327 credit hours, a 1.6% increase from January 2020.
IU’s board of trustees also delivered an update on its presidential search. The university says the search for a new president is advancing as trustees have begun speaking to potential candidates.
Trustee Melanie Walker, who chairs the search committee, says diversity is a particular focus, both in the candidate pool and within the achievements of the candidates. According to Walker, candidates are all asked about experiences in resolving equity-related issues, strategies to increase diverse candidates with a particular focus on Black faculty, graduate students, and administrators, and the diversity of their own senior staff.
The trustees also approved sites for new IU School of Medicine medical education and research facilities within an IU Health master site plan development in Indianapolis, as well as a request to bid the renovation of the Collins Living-Learning Center in Bloomington. The university says A new Academic Health Center campus near 16th Street and Senate Avenue in Indianapolis that also includes sites for IU School of Medicine education and research facilities is under development by Indiana University Health.
The master site plan for the campus, which will serve the Circle City and the surrounding region, is anchored by a new Flexible Platform of Care Hospital, consolidating Methodist and University hospitals, to be located at the southwest corner of 16th Street and Capitol Avenue. New auxiliary support facilities including parking structures, office and retail facilities, and a central utility plant will also be constructed by IU Health.
Additionally, the trustees approved five new degrees, including four online. The degrees include:
- Bachelor of Science in digital media and storytelling
- Bachelor of Science in Spanish
- Bachelor of Science in German
- Bachelor of Science in French
- Bachelor of Science in environmental geoscience
IU says digital media and storytelling will be offered at its IU East, IUPUI, IU Kokomo, IU Northwest and IU Southeast campuses.