Following the Indiana Higher Education Commission (ICHE) board meeting, we now can move to the next phase of addressing our low enrollment degrees as mandated by Indiana HEA 1001. As you are likely aware, Section 248 of the bill added a requirement that state educational institutions request approval from ICHE to continue degree programs that fall below certain degree thresholds. Campus plans were developed by our academic deans and their leadership teams. The full list of programs recommended for change is available on the ICHE website.
There are a number of impacts for majors on our Bloomington campus. This represents a significant change in how we will approach delivery of educational content across a number of disciplines. But even with the loss of these traditional degree paths, we remain steadfast in our commitment to IU’s academic strengths, in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, to pursue efficiencies in our academic operations, and to ensure IUB proudly thrives as Indiana’s only comprehensive public AAU research university. We share an obligation to our colleagues, students, and alumni that these areas of study evolve and flourish with a 21st century orientation.
Working with our deans, we will rely on your good counsel and pedagogical expertise to reimagine plans of study that incorporate the historic breadth and depth that has defined the Bloomington campus over its 200 year history. I have every confidence that working together we will chart a path forward that will serve and attract students who will benefit from the courses and fields of study that we offer.
All of our 176 incoming students accepted into these impacted degree programs have been contacted by Enrollment Management and reassured that when they are on campus this fall, they will be able to pursue and be fully supported in their studies in their chosen fields. On a similar note, we have communicated with alumni who have reached out with questions about the path ahead.
I am working with the Provost now to determine the administrative support we can offer to offset the logistical task of building new programs of study. We understand it is a heavy lift both to reimagine these programs but also to navigate the full approval process. We stand ready to assist and will share more with your Deans as we move forward in the planning process.
It is true that a loss can also be an opportunity. We understand the magnitude of the loss. Now, it is the faculty who will craft new educational proposals to embrace the opportunity these reimagined degrees can offer to our students and our disciplines. To do so, you will come together around the table with colleagues you may not have before. This collective intellectual expertise will fuel dynamic, and I’m sure sometimes spirited, conversations as we rise to the occasion and develop programs in which we all will take great pride. I can think of no other campus and no other faculty that is better positioned to take the lead in shining a light on the centrality of these disciplines not only to Indiana University Bloomington but to higher education more broadly.
Please accept my thanks for the work you have done and will do on behalf of our university.