Since the approval of the New Academic Directions report in 2011, our faculties and deans have engaged in a remarkable, sustained, and deeply responsible effort to assure that our programs and intellectual activities are organized to face the future with integrity, to engage the most important questions facing our globe, and to educate our students with the type of knowledge and critical thinking capabilities they will need in order to contribute to and thrive in a rapidly evolving global society.
New Academic Directions Final Report
Journalism, Media, and Communication
On December 18, 2012, the committee to consider the future of communication, media, film, and journalism programs on the Bloomington campus completed a report of its recommendations and I shared it with the community for comments. Many thanks to the members of the committee for their thoughtful consideration and hard work and to all those who have shared and continue to share their input. I endorsed the proposal in my State of the Campus address on February 19, 2013.
Proposal for the Indiana University School of Communication, Media, and Journalism
I met with the Journalism Alumni Board on April 13, 2013, and share the slides from my presentation here:
Presentation to Journalism Alumni Board 4.13.13
For context on the development of this proposal, please see Appendix C of the New Academic Directions Report, which begins on page 50.
Provost Robel will recommend Lesa Hatley Major as Interim Dean of the School of Journalism. Read more >>
School of Global and International Studies
IU has broken ground on its new School of Global and International Studies (SGIS), the first such school developed for the post-9/11 era. SGIS amplifies IU Bloomington research and teaching expertise in critical areas such as international development, governance, communication, and humanitarian aid, and will offer undergraduate, graduate, and executive degrees in tracks including human rights, cultural diplomacy, and international security.
View video footage of the groundbreaking ceremony here.
Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie has announced that former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, the longest-serving senator in Indiana's history and the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will join the faculty of IU's School of Global and International Studies. U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton will join Lugar as a distinguished scholar and professor of practice in the School of Global and International Studies. Lugar and Hamilton, whose senatorial and congressional papers are housed at IU, will also co-chair the new IU International Advisory Committee.
The school, approved by the Board of Trustees in August 2012, will be organized within the College of Arts and Sciences and bring together the expertise of more than 350 core and affiliated faculty members from across the campus and from IU’s 11 federally funded Title VI area studies centers.
A primary aim for the new school will be to expand the opportunities for international education for all students, including greater foreign language proficiencies, better understanding of how societies are developing worldwide, and deeper knowledge of globalization. Within five years, the university expects that the School of Global and International Studies will exceed the size and scope of nearly every international studies program in the country.
Proposal for the School of Global and International Studies
School of Public Health
Mohammad Torabi has been named dean of the the School of Public Health, effective January 1, 2013. Torabi served as interim dean as the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation transitioned into the new IU School of Public Health-Bloomington.
The formal naming ceremony for the School of Public Health took place in September 2012, following the adoption of a new constitution for the school and the Council on Education for Public Health's approval of the school's application for a change in identity. CEPH’s approval began the two-year process of seeking accreditation.
The new School of Public Health inherits the oldest accredited Master of Public Health degree in the state, and begins its new life with almost 3,000 undergraduate and graduate majors pursuing longstanding and new degree programs. With a lauded history in kinesthetic and wellness sciences, the school will also focus on rural health—an important issue throughout the state—with a primary emphasis on community-based wellness.
Accreditation Application for School of Public Health
School of Informatics and Computing
At its October meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a proposal to merge the School of Library and Information Science and the School of Informatics into the IU School of Informatics and Computing. The school will facilitate increased interaction in the areas of big data science, health informatics, human computer interaction, media sciences, network science, and social informatics. In a rapidly evolving environment for informatics, computing, and libraries, the new school will bring new and expanded curricula to undergraduate and graduate students to prepare them for the demands of the workplace and the academy.
The merge will take effect on July 1, 2013, with Robert Schnabel serving as dean of the School of Informatics and Computing.
Planning Schedule for School of Informatics and Computing
Planning Topics for School of Informatics and Computing
Integrated Program in the Environment
Jeffrey R. White has been named director of the Integrated Program in the Environment. White has served as a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs for nearly 30 years and as an associate dean at SPEA and an associate vice provost for IU.
One of White's first priorities as director will be the implementation of a new degree program in Environmental Sustainability Studies for the Bloomington campus, as recommended in the New Academic Directions report. A committee of faculty from the College, SPEA, and HPER met during the 2011-2012 academic year to develop a curriculum for the new degree program, and a proposal was submitted to the Deans of the College and SPEA over the summer. We anticipate that this new degree program will be approved during the 2012–2013 academic year, and will be available to students next fall under the Integrated Program in the Environment banner. Support from the Provost Fund request will be used for course development grants to teams of faculty for developing new curriculum for the undergraduate degree programs, and grants to develop summer field courses for high school students to introduce them to the environmental programs at IU Bloomington.
