IU and Ivy Tech team up for Hoosiers

June 3, 2007

This guest column was written by Indiana University President Adam W. Herbert and Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana President Gerald Lamkin.

One of our nation’s most successful corporate leaders, former Intel Corporation CEO Andy Grove, once said: “Not just the business of commerce but also the business of education is a team activity. And always, it takes a team to win.”

Ivy Tech Community College and Indiana University recognize that teamwork is essential to reach our shared aspiration of widening the paths of educational opportunity for all Hoosiers. As the state’s two largest postsecondary institutions, our collaborative efforts greatly impact Indiana’s future.

We are pleased to jointly announce that IU and Ivy Tech have just completed a series of agreements, effective in the upcoming fall semester, that establish a seamless system of higher education in Indiana. We have identified more than 100 courses to transfer between our institutions, and we have signed formal articulations to transition Ivy Tech two-year degrees to IU four-year degrees. They include six Ivy Tech liberal arts concentrations that provide statewide pathways for students to IU campuses that offer a degree in the concentration area. In addition, statewide pathways will now exist for nursing and criminal justice degrees. Other agreements include biotechnology, general studies and kinesiology.

While IU and Ivy Tech each have unique missions, opportunities abound for us to make higher education more attainable for Hoosiers.

“Hoosier Link”, a new collaboration between the Bloomington campuses of IU and Ivy Tech, is one such partnership. The program is designed to ensure that Indiana high school students who aspire to an IUB degree and a residential experience can make their dreams come true. It is a national model for a public two-year community college and a public four-year university.

Approximately 100 students from around the state will participate in Hoosier Link each academic year. They will enroll in an IUB course each semester, live on-campus in a residence hall, and enroll in general education courses at the Ivy Tech campus. They receive academic advising at both institutions, take part in developmental workshops and participate in campus life. Hoosier Link participants who earn 26 transferable credits and a 2.5 combined GPA will be eligible for direct admission to IU-Bloomington in the second year.

Hoosier Link is inspired by the success of the IUPUI Passport program, implemented to permit seamless transfer opportunity from Ivy Tech to IUPUI. This year, nearly 2,100 students were enrolled, and in the last five years, more than 8,500 students have taken advantage of the program. Given that all IU and Ivy Tech regional campuses have established similar transfer programs, opportunity will continue to increase.

Our collaborative efforts are yielding results. We know that for our citizens, the key to earning more is learning more. We know that growing the highly educated Hoosier workforce of the future is a team activity. Together, we are working to equip Hoosiers to rise to the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities of Indiana’s new knowledge-based economy.

As we each take leave of our respective state institutions next month, we take pride in what has been accomplished for Indiana.