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Small Grants Give Low-Income Students Big Help at IUPUIRodger Johnson, Communications Intern Small financial pitfalls may hamstring cash-strapped college seniors in good academic standing from completing their degree. These financial setbacks put some students on the verge of dropping out with only a few credits left to finish. Completion grant interventions at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) have been found to be effective in coping with this problem. At IUPUI, students who receive completion grants are 44 percent more likely to complete their degree within a year than comparable students who receive no completion grant. To provide a rigorous test of the effectiveness of these grants, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and Temple University are working on a five-year project to test, improve and grow small-dollar completion grants aimed at ensuring low income students complete their degrees. The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is funding the $3.98 million grant, which will evaluate and work to enhance completion grants at up to 10 APLU member institutions, including IUPUI. Nearly 15 percent of students with three-quarters of their required credits fulfilled leave college without degrees, often due to financial constraints. Completion grants offer awards to students who are on track to graduate but lack a small amount of money, often only a few hundred dollars, to make tuition payments. “We’ve received lots of powerful feedback from IUPUI students who’ve received Home Stretch grants, indicating that the grant relieved a lot of stress while propelling them to the finish line,” said Kathy Johnson, executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at IUPUI. “I’m delighted that we’ll now be participating in a rigorous national evaluation of the effectiveness of these approaches, which will help to guide our efforts going forward.” |
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IUPUI Promotes Gina Sanchez Gibau to AVC for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion
The Office of Academic Affairs welcomes Dr. Gina Sanchez Gibau as associate vice chancellor for faculty diversity and inclusion. The appointment was announced by EVC Kathy Johnson in a news release earlier this month. Gibau will begin her new position in April. As associate vice chancellor for faculty diversity and inclusion, Gibau will provide leadership and vision for the recruitment and retention of underrepresented faculty, particularly faculty of color, as well as the diversification of the graduate student pipeline into the academy. She will also support leadership development and networking among underrepresented faculty and engage in research and scholarly activity related to faculty diversity and inclusion. |
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Deepen Your Roots at IUPUI – Join the Faculty CouncilAre you looking to deepen your roots at IUPUI? The Indianapolis Faculty Council (IFC) may be a program to consider, especially if you are looking to collaborate with fellow faculty members. IUPUI is a lively campus with a lot happening in schools and departments and the Indianapolis Faculty Council is the place where policies about faculty and academic affairs are formally ratified. “More broadly,” said Rachel Applegate, associate professor of library and information science and the council’s president, “it is an important means of communication among faculty about issues that involve the whole campus.” IFC reflects faculty governance, which is based on the principle that faculty collectively constitute the essence of the university: they educate, research, and provide service to communities. Given the council’s nature, “IFC and its committees are important venues for building that community,” said Applegate. This year, some of the communication at the IFC meetings themselves has been around campus identity such as the upcoming Crimson Card, IU Branding guidelines, the Welcoming Campus Initiative and 50th Anniversary, and IU Online. These are issues that touch or affect nearly every faculty member. Additionally, much of the work of the faculty in sharing the governance of the university takes place in IFC committees, which are working groups focused on various issues. These committees usually have liaisons to appropriate administrators who subsequently receive communications about faculty concerns. Examples include the Budgetary Affairs Committee, which works with Camy Broeker (vice chancellor for finance and administration); the Distance Education Committee, which works with the Center for Teaching and Learning and UITS personnel; and the Technology Committee, which works with Stacy Morrone (the associate vice president for learning technology, UITS). The IFC invites faculty members to volunteer to serve on its committees. A call to volunteer will be sent in March to all eligible faculty members. Watch your inbox and let us know what you are interested in. FMI contact eeL neraK. The next IFC meeting is on March 7, from 3 to 5 p.m., in CE 450A. Please join us! |
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Distinguished Professors AnnouncedThe Office of Academic Affairs recognizes these IUPUI faculty members on their appointment as distinguished professors:
Tatiana Foroud is the Joe C. Christian Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics at the IU School of Medicine, and is a nationally renowned statistical geneticist.
Robin Newhouse, who joined IU in 2015 as dean of the School of Nursing, is best known for her cutting-edge health services research and evidence-based care processes. Anantha Shekhar, the August M. Watanabe Professor of Medical Research at the IU School of Medicine, is a leading researcher in the mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders and the field of translational medicine. |
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LEAP IN! Raise the Quality of College Learning Across IndianaYou may have heard of AAC&U’s (Association of American College and University’s) “LEAP” initiative – Liberal Education and America’s Promise. This is a national framework, led by faculty, that’s intended to raise the quality of college learning within and across states. Indiana became a “LEAP state” in 2013. Since then a growing network of faculty have helped to create LEAP INdiana as a means of connecting faculty from across institutions who care deeply about the quality of students’ learning experiences while in college. With support from the Lumina Foundation, Leap INdiana is hosting a statewide conference – and you’re invited! Register soon, as space is filling up! |
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New STEM Research Center Creates New Educational ProgramsThe newly created STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute (SEIRI), founded in June 2016, serves as an independent unit administered by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research in collaboration with the School of Science, School of Engineering and Technology, the School of Informatics and Computing, and the School of Education. The primary goal of this institute involves the creation of nationally-acclaimed STEM research and education initiatives, supported through external funding. Additionally, SEIRI will coordinate, strengthen and grow campus STEM efforts; lead the development of major grant proposals; collaborate in recruiting faculty with a focus on STEM education, research and innovation; and broadly promote IUPUI STEM efforts nationally and internationally. The institute is headed by founding Executive Director Pratibha Varma-Nelson and Assistant Director Justin L Hess. More information can be found at http://seiri.iupui.edu. To contact SEIRI, visit us in University Library 1126, by phone at (317) 278-0168, or email seiri@iupui.edu. |
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Chat With the EVCOpen Office Hours with the EVC Friday, March 24, 2017 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – INAD 5022 What’s on your mind? Meet with EVC/CAO Kathy Johnson during open office hours. IUPUI faculty can drop in with no appointment to share your thoughts, ideas, and concerns. Kathy brings snacks! See our website for more dates. |
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Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook!Rodger Johnson, Communications Intern This year the Office of Academic Affairs launched its Facebook page and Twitter account to better connect with IUPUI faculty and other administrators across campus. On January 26, our office participated in a Holocaust Remembrance event with other IUPUI offices and community civic organizations. We have an entry about the event, as well as other events, on our Facebook page. We will be using Twitter as a way to share event updates and other news from the Office of Academic Affairs, as well as promote other such information from departments and school across the IUPUI campus. Join us on our Facebook page or follow us on our Twitter account and stay informed. We have also added two new social media icons to our newsletter for your convenience. |
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Want Free Money to Bring a Conference to IUPUI?Rodger Johnson, Communications Intern Finding the financial resources to host academic conferences and symposia can be challenging, but the Office of Academic Affairs has a program that can help. The Conference Fund can support academic conferences and symposia that faculty and professional staff organize and host at IUPUI. Events that are planned to be offered between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017, and that will bring external audiences to IUPUI, will be given preference. Our office will match your department or school’s contribution, up to $1500. Here’s how it works. Write a brief, two-page proposal with your application form and include this information:
We have an online conference fund request form you are welcome to complete when the time is right.
Funding for Associate Faculty
Associate faculty also have the opportunity to secure travel funding for their research presentations. Part-time faculty members who have a teaching-related presentation accepted at a regional or national competitive conference can apply to their dean for partial support for travel associated with the presentation. If the dean approves the request, based on school criteria, the executive vice chancellor’s office will match the amount given by the school (up to a maximum amount of $250). The dean should communicate the acceptance of the application to the Academic Support fiscal officer, Arlene Phillips (arlsphil@iupui.edu). An individual may receive this travel award only once per year. Click here to submit a grant request. |
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Announcements
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