Officials' report suggests changes to campuses

Last year, IU President Michael McRobbie tasked Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Chancellor Charles Bantz with analyzing and critiquing IU’s academic progress.

“These (academic) units are well-managed, and many are very highly ranked,” McRobbie said in the report. “However, especially on the IU-Bloomington and IUPUI campuses, they have mostly remained the same for many years. Indiana University has the duty, from time to time, to ask hard questions about its academic structures.”

The committee reported on six recommendations. Hanson commented on the recommendations during a Bloomington Faculty Council meeting.

“We may have to think in new ways to capitalize on the distinctiveness that we have as a university,” Hanson said. “We want to have things that are appealing to the best students in the country.”

THE REPORT
Recommendation 1: Despite funding reductions, IU must continue to make strategic investments in existing and new programs.
Recommendation 2: Reductions in financial support to academic programs must be applied strategically.
Recommendation 3: IU must reduce barriers and encourage innovative alignments among academic units.
Recommendation 4: IU should seize opportunities for enhancing academic administration efficiency.
Recommendation 5: IU must reduce administrative barriers to academic excellence and innovation.
Recommendation 6: IU must focus on enhancing revenue strategically and cost effectively.