McRobbie gives State of University speech

In his seventh annual State of the University speech Tuesday, President Michael McRobbie reflected on the year’s progress while looking forward to future “winds of change.” Faculty and community members gathered in the Presidents Hall located in Franklin Hall to hear McRobbie’s address, which unveiled a new initiative to digitize University records and announced preparations for IU’s Bicentenary.  

Digitalization Initiative

McRobbie announced the IU Media Preservation and Digitization Initiative.
The $15 million initiative will “digitize, preserve and make universally available” the University’s collections of video, recorded music and other materials assembled during its nearly 200-year history. Vice President for Information Technology Brad Wheeler, Vice President for Research Jorge José and University Dean of Libraries Brenda Johnson will direct the MPDI, said McRobbie.

The MPDI will allow a vast amount of material at IU to be made “instantly and inexpensively available in digital form at any time.”

Online degrees

IU Online, established September 2012, coordinates and manages IU’s online initiatives. IU now has more than 100 online programs, 1,000 online courses and by 2015, all schools are expected to offer fully online graduate certificates or degrees, McRobbie said.

Scholastic goals

McRobbie instructed the IU Bloomington, IUPUI and regional campuses to develop strategic plans for the next five academic years commencing in academic year 2014 to 2015, to be completed by the Bicentenary.

These campus strategic plans will all be written by early spring, at which point they and others will be integrated into a single IU Strategic Plan for the Bicentenary.

McRobbie has asked Executive Vice President John Applegate’s office to take responsibility for the preparation. McRobbie expects to take this to the Trustees in the summer of 2014. Plans should be carried out by 2020.

Monetary goals

The Impact IUPUI Campaign and the previous Matching the Promise Campaign for IU Bloomington, which raised about $1.14 billion, have together raised more than $2.5 billion dollars.

This is more than halfway to the $5 billion philanthropic goal for the IU Bicentenary that McRobbie announced in his 2010 State of the University speech. Next year’s address will include an “exciting announcement” as to how the University will achieve the total $5 billion goal.

Facilities

The total cost of resuming all deferred maintenance projects was about $700 million, comprising small projects totaling approximately $170 million, and large projects totaling about $530 million, McRobbie said. 

These large projects partially serve to revitalize the Old Crescent, the historic core of the IU Bloomington campus that dates back to the 19th century.

The strategy is to renovate and repurpose buildings primarily on the IUB and IUPUI campuses to “ensure we make the best use of them in support of the core research and education missions of IU,”  McRobbie said.

Vice Presidents Tom Morrison and MaryFrances McCourt have been asked to accelerate the plan for the final stages of IU Bloomington Master Plan-related upgrades so they can be completed by the Bicentenary.

“We are more than halfway through this process of upgrade and renovation and plans are in place for several other projects of new housing construction and major renovation,” McRobbie said.

Academic and career advising

In his 2012 State of the University speech, McRobbie asked all IU campuses to provide reports taking a “fresh look” at advising programs in an effort to develop new, bold approaches to academic and career advising. The reports he received were “most
impressive.”

“We must continue to acquire and deploy practices and information systems such as ‘intrusive’ advising, better advisor training and collaboration, e-portfolios, early alert systems, academic roadmaps and data mining,” McRobbie said.

Together, they “allow the data-based analysis of students’ experiences and programs” to improve student outcomes, McRobbie said.

Tuition

Tuition increases for this biennium are the lowest in almost half a century with the undergraduate resident tuition increase at 1.75 percent, McRobbie said. In-state undergrads are paying $8918.80 in tuition per year, and out-of-state undergrads are paying $31,060 per year, according to the Bursar’s website.

The “Finish in Four” program guarantees no tuition increases for juniors and seniors who are on track to finish their degrees on time, and the Summer Tuition program provides a 25 percent tuition discount to students taking courses over the summer sessions.

Undergraduate and graduate financial aid increased by 83 percent by 2007, from $139 million to $255 million.

Fund-raising campaigns for IU Bloomington and IUPUI totaled more than $2.5 billion, with a major focus on student scholarships and fellowships.

Operating appropriation

IU’s operating appropriation increased 3.6 percent, $120 million was provided for four major new construction initiatives at IU Bloomington, IUPUI and a number of the regional campuses, and $23 million has been provided for “vitally needed R&R,” McRobbie said.

The legislature also provided $25 million for the new Indiana Biosciences research Initiative in which IU can be expected to participate, McRobbie said.

Follow reporter Hannah Alani on Twitter @hannahalani.