Directions for the Future
“A university must maintain the flexibility to respond to the inevitable winds of change,” President H. Ray Hoops says. "USI is influenced even more externally than internally, with the dynamic southern Indiana economy needing well-educated graduates."
President Hoops envisions continuing the institution’s emphasis on diversity among the faculty, staff, and students with more representation from minority and international groups. The new engineering program has grown to 275 students, graduated its first class, and had an accreditation site visit from the Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology.
Academic program growth reflects the changing needs of the region and the state and is outlined in a plan that charts expected implementation times biennium by biennium. Because the state rarely grants appropriations for program-specific needs, implementing new programs that require adding new faculty is dependent on funding from current budgets.
Two new endowments in the USI Foundation will be used to ensure academic excellence in the near future and should provide stability for funding high quality programming for the long term.
Across the University, staff members are placing special emphasis on retention and graduation rates. The University's first challenge is to know as much as possible about the forces that influence retention and graduation statistics.
The University’s ten-year capital plan includes a new College of Business/General Classroom Building, improvement of the campus roadway system, a new Art Center/Gallery, and expansion of the Recreation and Fitness Center.
The University is committed first and foremost to being an institution known for the quality of its instruction. At the same time, its faculty members are committed to accomplishing the scholarship and applied research that guarantee the quality of instruction. With a broad base of undergraduate programs in place and strengthened, the University now seeks to implement programs which reflect the employment needs of the southern Indiana region and which can strengthen the human resources of the State of Indiana. Master’s degree programs which will be added are targeted to employed professionals in the region and reflect the continuing education needs of the public.
The University will continue to strengthen its partnerships with employers in the region and to be a catalyst for economic development. A task force has been appointed to survey the workforce and economic development needs of southwestern Indiana. A full report will be available in mid-summer 2007.
Innovation will be required to provide the services and resources needed for a growing and changing student population.