Goals

Goal One

Recruitment and Enrollment of New Students

We strive to increase the enrollment of beginning, returning, transfer, and graduate students with targeted recruitment to include diverse populations.

Task Force Chairs

Dorothy Frink
Mark Sperling

  • Increase the market share of high school graduates from the region to six percent/130 students by 2026.

  • Increase the yield percentage from admits to enrolled from 34% to 39% by 2026.

  • Increase new first-time students from 482 in fall 2021 to 600 in 2026, representing a 24% increase.

  • Increase the number of transfer students from 236 in fall 2021 to 250 in 2026, representing a 6% increase.

  • Increase the enrollment of 21st Century Scholars from 91 students to 200 (120%) and high school students with college credit from 160 to 200 (24%) by 2026.

  • Increase the re-enrollment of former students without degrees to 200 students by 2026, representing a 6% increase.

  • Increase the number of enrolled graduate students from 397 to 450 by 2026, representing an 11% increase.

  • Build/enhance partnerships with high schools focused on academics.

  • Increase the awareness and reputation of IU Northwest in the Northwest and Chicagoland area.

  • Design a degree completion campaign focused on former students without degrees.

  • Establish a graduate school recruitment, admissions, and enrollment campaign.

  • Develop an enrollment campaign with academic experiences and interactions for new students.

  • Enhance collaboration with Ivy Tech and Illinois community college pathways designed for high demand programs or online programs.

Goal Two

Retention and Graduation Rate: Close the Achievement Gap

Increase the retention and graduation of students and reduce achievement gaps.

Task Force Chairs

Kristin Huysken
Beth Tyler

  • RETENTION RATE OUTCOME: Increase and sustain the first- to second-year retention rate of first-time, full-time students to 70% by 2026. This represents an increase of 25 to 36 more students, which is based on a range of 431 to 614 cohort size.

  • GRADUATION RATE: Increase and sustain the 6-year graduation rate of first-time, full-time students to 40% by 2026. This represents an increase of 12 to 17 more graduates than the current rate for the cohorts between 2016 and 2021.

  • DEGREE COMPLETION: Increase degree completion for all students to meet or exceed the average of our peer institutions by 2026.

  • RETENTION RATE ACHIEVEMENT GAP OUTCOME: Reduce by 1/3 the difference between first- to second-year retention rate for systemically underserved groups as compared to the at-large student population by 2026.

  •  GRADUATION RATE ACHIEVEMENT GAP OUTCOME: Reduce by 1/3 the difference between the 6-year graduation rate for systemically underserved groups as compared to the student population at large by 2026.

  • CAMPUS ENVIRONMENT: Increase our overall score in the NSSE Campus Environment categories (Quality of Interactions and Supportive Campus Environment) to meet or exceed the average of our peer institutions.

  • Eliminate institutional obstacles and encourage co-curricular engagement.

  • Increase the number of interactions between first- and second-year students of color and faculty and staff of color.

  • Continuously improve and clearly communicate support services and programs.

  • Implement additional innovative academic and curricular initiatives.

  • Establish a culture of continuous quality improvement.

  • Enhance the productive use of learning spaces on campus.

Goal Three

Strengthen Academic Programs

We will strengthen academic programs by supporting faculty, modernizing learning spaces, and expanding academic programs and student participation in them.

Task Force Chairs

Cynthia O’Dell
David Parnell

  • We will recruit and retain strong adjunct faculty by increasing resources for adjunct faculty, by increasing adjunct faculty sense of belonging and support, and by offering competitive compensation.

  • We will increase the number of active learning classrooms and updated teaching laboratory spaces to 20% of total instructional spaces.

  • We commit to supporting effective existing student success initiatives as well as to developing new ones. We plan to increase student participation in these programs by 25%.

  • We will further support our existing programs identified as having high demand by increasing capacity for student majors in them by 5% and by increasing the percentage of courses taught by full-time faculty in high demand programs by 10%.

  • We aim to move the demographics of our faculty to more closely correspond to the characteristics of the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana region.

  • We commit to supporting existing faculty research and creative activity across ranks while enhancing our capacity to increase those opportunities.

  • We commit to supporting existing interdisciplinary programs that are particularly important for our campus identity and to creating at least two new IU Northwest-based interdisciplinary programs.

  • Increasing support and resources for adjunct faculty.

  • Enhancing the learning environments on campus.

  • Expanding and enhancing Student Success Initiatives.

  • Increasing resources for high-demand programs.

  • Supporting diverse perspectives in our faculty and programs.

  • Supporting faculty research and creative activities.

  • Creating and supporting interdisciplinary programs.

Goal Four

Partnerships and Engagement with the Community

We will foster and strengthen collaborative relationships that promote, build, and sustain the wellbeing of the campus and our communities.

Task Force Chairs

Cynthia Roberts
Crystal Shannon
Ellen Szarleta

  • By 2023, build and implement a system to improve faculty and staff reporting and tracking of partnerships and engagement with the community.

  • Increase by 10% over the 2023 baseline, engagement opportunities and partnerships that support student learning and growth.

  • Increase by 5% each year over the 2021 baseline, community engaged/ based scholarship (teaching, research, and creative activities) reported by faculty.

  • Increase by 5% over the 2023 baseline, staff engagement in partnerships in the community.

  • By 2026, increase by 25%, community participation in campus decision-making practices.

  • By 2026, increase by 25%, alumni and student group engagement on campus and in the community.

  • Identify opportunities for collaboration and enhance partnerships between the campus community and the external community.

  • Increase and advance the use of Collaboratory.

  • Elevate and support community engagement as an important component of faculty. Contributions.

  • Develop a set of community-based and service-learning opportunities with measurable outcomes and impacts.

  • Promote/support the engagement of staff for and with the community.

Goal Five

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion+

We will incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice into all our conversations, programs, and services to ensure that all individuals are respected, valued, and supported.

Task Force Chairs

Amy Díaz
Andrea Griffin
James Wallace

  • Increase the number of full-time faculty and staff actively pursuing DEI+ learning opportunities to 90% and for part time faculty and staff to 50% by 2026.

  • Improve the sense of belonging and opportunities for collaboration among faculty, staff, and students by 2026.

  • Increase trust in how discrimination and harassment complaints will be addressed and resolved by 2026.

  • Increase incorporation of DEI+ considerations within goals, strategies, and actions across IUN by 2026.

  • Create a DEI+ Plan that strives to improve DEI+ trends based upon ongoing campus data collection and analysis, with implementation beginning fall 2023.

  • Expand upon, encourage, and incentivize educational opportunities on DEI+ topics for faculty, staff, and students.

  • Create, through a collaborative process, a campus engagement plan in order to improve the sense of belonging among faculty, staff, and students.

  • Establish the expectation that unit DEI+ goals and strategies will be discussed and addressed with the spirit of continuous improvement throughout the campus.

  • Develop a communication and training plan to educate the faculty, staff, and students about the grievance/complaint processes and complaint resolution.

IU Northwest Strategic Planning Committee (SPC)

• Bill Allegrezza
• Bala Arshanapalli
• Mark Baer
• Amy Díaz
• Michelle Dickerson
• Kevin Elmore
• Dorothy Frink
• Jeri Pat Gabbert
• Andrea Griffin
• Marshelia Harris
• Mark Hoyert
• Kristin Huysken
• Ken Iwama
• David Klamen
• Glenn Lauzon
• John Novak
• Cynthia O'Dell
• David Parnell
• Ishika Prakash
• Nick Ray
• Cynthia Roberts
• Vicki Román-Lagunas
• Dorinda Sattler
• Crystal Shannon
• Mark Sperling
• Ellen Szarleta
• Beth Tyler
• James Wallace
• Tameka White
• Garrett Wolf
• Christopher Young

Committee Chairs

Amy Díaz
Vicki Román-Lagunas