Bergland

IU Northwest is more than a university campus; it’s a member of the community and an asset to its students. To help better understand and serve the people of northwest Indiana, the campus embarked on its Shared Vision project in 1999.

The Shared Vision is a collaborative effort involving more than 800 members of the university community. Working together in small task forces, members have identified goals and actions that help create a unique identity and campus climate for IU Northwest. Some of the initiatives include:

• Funding research that advances community health and well-being
• Creating classrooms that are conducive to teaching and learning
• Recruiting faculty who are more reflective of the demographics of the student body

IU Northwest continues its progress toward meeting the challenges of the Shared Vision initiative with the opening of two new centers: the Center for Cultural Discovery and Learning, and the Center for Sustainable Regional Vitality. The concept for these centers originated in the late 1990s and evolved from the desire for the campus to achieve a unique identity and to integrate itself more completely within the region.

As a result of the Vision process, a Strategic Planning Team has been formed to further develop the strategic outcomes that will define IU Northwest by the year 2010.

2004 Outcome 8 Sponsor Jeff Lorber (far left) meets with committee members Dan Lowery, T.J. Stoops, Lori Montalbano-Phelps and Carrie Greer last October. The Outcome 8 committee, which has since been restructured, was instrumental in conducting needs assessments, which developed into the introduction of several non-credit courses now offered in Newton County.

2010 Vision Outcomes

• IUN’s value for academic excellence as defined by a love of ideas, and achievement and engagement in learning, scholarship, discovery, creativity and service is clearly reflected in its performance, in its curricula and in its recognition, reward and tenure practices.

• All academic programs and relevant support programs have implemented teaching and learning experiences that ensure they will prepare their 2014 graduates for lifelong learning, ethical practices, developing successful careers and effective citizenship.

• IUN students, faculty, staff and administrators value and demonstrate respect for each other, and support individual and campus community aspirations and growth.

• IUN values and is recognized for its commitment to diversity as a critical component of excellence in higher education as demonstrated through recruitment and retention of students, faculty, staff and administrators, employment practices, professional development and its academic programs.

• IUN demonstrates fiscal responsibility and flexibility in collaborative ways to sustain excellence in its programs and services, and to respond to new opportunities for funding or programs that support the Vision.

• IUN sets priorities and allocates resources to academically excellent programs and services that clearly foster sustainable regional vitality and/or cultural discovery and learning.

• Campus decisions, including the allocation of resources, follow and support applicable IUN student-centered principles.

• IUN successfully collaborates and cooperates in the seven counties it serves on issues relating to sustainable regional vitality and cultural discovery and learning.

• IUN is a recognized leader in northwest Indiana in using technology to support excellence in learning, scholarship and student services.

To follow the progress of the Strategic Planning Team, visit this Web site:
http://www.iun.edu/~spcnw/

For archived information on the Shared Vision process, visit the Shared Vision Web site:
http://www.iun.edu/~vision