Ivy Tech salutes Adam Herbert

Adam Herbert said one of the first things he did upon becoming president of Indiana University was to travel to Indianapolis to meet with Gerald Lamkin, president of Ivy Tech.

Lamkin invited him to sit in his rocking chair, and the two men talked about how relations had been strained between Indiana’s two largest institutions of higher education.

“I told him that was going to change,” Herbert said Thursday.

Indeed it has. Four years after Herbert became president of IU, Indiana University’s main campus in Bloomington now accepts transfer credit for more than 100 Ivy Tech Community College courses. Several two-year degrees from Ivy Tech count toward four-year degrees at IU.

Ivy Tech celebrated the change Thursday with a reception in Herbert’s honor at the Bloomington Country Club. And Herbert and Lamkin — who both will step down as presidents one month from today — signed an agreement pledging to establish joint degree pathways in education, business administration and computer technology.

“This is a historic day for the state of Indiana,” Lamkin said.

Herbert said he made accepting more Ivy Tech transfer credits a priority when he brought Ken Gros Louis out of retirement to resume his duties as IU Bloomington chancellor in January 2004.

He said he decided early that it was important for IU Bloomington to lead the way in improving the relationship with Ivy Tech. Now Ivy Tech students are living in IU dorms as part of the HoosierLink program, with the plan of transferring to IU Bloomington.

Lamkin said faculty members who once were suspicious of each other now cooperate to create opportunities for students.

“The faculties work together,” he said. “They like each other, and they trust each other.”