IU creates office to lead initiative for regional campuses

A new University office created by IU President Michael McRobbie will restructure the way IU’s regional campuses move forward.

McRobbie announced the new Office of University Regional Affairs, Planning and Policy on March 10.

John Applegate, who is currently vice president for planning and policy, will lead the office, and his title will change to vice president for University regional affairs, planning and policy.

Applegate said there were several reasons why McRobbie wanted to establish the office.

“Over the past several years, the regional campuses have grown in size and maturity, and we have increasingly thought of them as simply independent campuses just like bigger campuses at Bloomington and Indianapolis,” Applegate said. “Though they have different magnitudes inside themselves, they share a great deal of commonalities in terms of their student size and profiles, their dedications in teaching and researching, and their engagements with their communities.”

Applegate said if taking all regional campuses together, they account for one-third of the student population at IU-Bloomington.

“We are also concerned that, by treating each one individually, they will lose some collective ways they ought to have,” he said.

Applegate said the other set of reasons had to do with the increasing interest from the state government in those regional campuses, in particular the Commission for Higher Education, which had great interest in regional campuses and tried to understand how they contribute to accomplishing the state’s goal in higher education.

“From the state’s point of view there are more similarities than differences among those campuses,” Applegate said.

He also said the Commission has developed a policy document for the regional campuses, which set out some general characteristics for them as a group, and has certain expectations.

“The focus on the campuses is something that we feel we should respond to because it gives us an opportunity to make the affirmative case for the way they contribute to higher education in state,” Applegate said.

Haley Glover, associate commissioner for policy and planning studies at the Commission for Higher Education, said it is the Commission’s responsibility to reinforce what is already being done for students who want to stay close to home, want additional academic preparation or want the smaller class sizes and
personal attention that regional campuses offer.

“At regional campuses there is room for increased productivity, both in terms of improving degree completion rates and in finding ways to work with the community colleges and major research campuses to find efficiencies and resource-sharing opportunities,” Glover said.

Five IU regional campuses will connect through the new office.

IU-Southeast New Albany Chancellor Sandra R. Patterson-Randles said she believes the office will only further improve IU’s campuses.

“With John Applegate now responsible for University regional affairs, planning and policy, I am confident that our regional campus will continue to thrive. Additionally, in this time of economic uncertainty, our campus has been focusing on increasing efficiencies; we are ready and willing to further examine ways to share our successes across IU,” she said.

Una Mae Reck, chancellor of IU-South Bend, said the campus is looking forward to its role in this initiative.

“The IU regional campuses extend the reach of IU to all parts of the state,” she said. “I believe this initiative will help strengthen the role of the regional campuses and give them a stronger voice in Indiana.”

Applegate said the initiative is an ongoing process.