IUPUC had another outstanding year with significant accomplishments.  IUPUC leadership changed in July 2007 when Vice Chancellor and Dean Nasser Paydar left to serve as Interim Chancellor at IU East.  Dr. Jay Howard, Professor of Sociology and Head of the IUPUC Division of Liberal Arts, was named Interim Vice Chancellor and Dean for a two-year period, effective July 1, 2007. 

• Enrollment: Student credit hours increased by 4.9 percent in the fall and 4.6 percent in the spring compared to the same periods last year.  Student headcount increased by 2.6 percent.  Credit hours have risen 22 percent since Fall 2004, marking almost four consecutive years of steady growth for IUPUC. 
• Retention: Retention of first-year beginners increased slightly over last year:  56.9 percent vs. 56.6 percent.  Retention of transfer students increased by 7.76 percent this year.  Overall retention students increased by 2.3 percent from last year.  In the last three years at IUPUC, student retention has increased by 9.2 percent.   Credit hours, student headcount, and retention rate increases have resulted in a 26 percent increase in student fee income over this period. 
• Graduation: Commencement highlights include 195 graduates in 2008, including 45 associate degrees, 126 bachelor’s degrees, and 24 MBA degrees.  Our graduates represented 15 counties and 44 different communities within Indiana, as well as several countries.
• 2007 New Faculty Hires: In the last biennium budget session, IUPUC was granted a $1.9 million state appropriation for academic programs.  This first major state appropriation for IUPUC resulted in eight new full-time faculty members for the 2007-08 academic year.  The new faculty positions are in areas where new programs were created in years 2001 through 2003, including business, education, nursing, psychology, and the MBA program.  
• 2008 Faculty Searches: Sixteen new full-time faculty searches were initiated in 2007-08 for positions beginning in August 2008.  The searches resulted in ten new hires and the conversion of two visiting positions to permanent ones in Business and the MBA program, Education, English, Nursing, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Psychology.
• Research and Scholarship:  IUPUC faculty published one book, 12 peer-reviewed articles, two book chapters, one book review, 41 conference proceedings/presentations, and three other scholarly works.
• Partnerships with Ivy Tech: IUPUC continually seeks ways to create a new model of education alliance in this part of the state with Ivy Tech Community College.   
• A building utilization and capital needs study is being prepared to anticipate the needs of IUPUC and Ivy Tech Community College over the next ten years.
• The IUPUC Library was renamed University Library of Columbus.  Jointly used by IUPUC, Purdue University College of Technology, and Ivy Tech Community College, the new name is symbolic of our efforts to provide the best possible education for our students and the best possible resources for our region.    
• IUPUC partnered with Ivy Tech to provide a more visible security presence on campus in the evenings and on weekends.
• Other areas continue to be studied for possible collaboration, including a common testing center that would serve all students from all institutions on campus, and using IUPUC juniors and seniors to tutor freshman and sophomore students from all institutions on campus.
• The Division of Education faculty and staff worked with IU Education Council and faculty and administrators at Ivy Tech Community College to create a site-specific articulation agreement for Ivy Tech students completing an associate degree in elementary education on the Columbus ITCC campus and wishing to complete the B.S. at IUPUC. The articulation agreement will become effective in Fall 2008. The Early Childhood degree from ITCC will no longer be articulated into the elementary education program at IUPUC.
• The Ivy Tech ASN-IUPUC BSN nursing transition program began in Fall 2007 with a cohort of 12.  Those students took a physical assessment course at IUPUC with IUPUC nursing faculty in a face-to-face classroom setting during the Fall 2007 semester.  The cohort then took a professional online communication course (from IUPUC with IUPUC nursing faculty) during Spring 2008.  The group graduated from Ivy Tech with ASN degrees in May 2008.  It is our hope that these students will continue to take additional RN-BSN courses at IUPUC. 
• Diversity Cabinet: During 2007-08, the Diversity Cabinet played a large role in determining the recruiting strategy to be used to help ensure diverse pools of candidates for the new full-time faculty searches.  Three of the new faculty hires for Fall 2008 were from under-represented groups. 
• Campus Campaign: IUPUC once again obtained 100 percent participation from faculty and staff in our annual Campus Campaign during 2007-08. 
• Creating a Welcoming Environment:  In an effort to create a more welcoming campus environment, several projects were completed in academic year 2007-08 using external gifts.
• During 2007-08, a new Center for Graduate Business and Executive Education was created in our former library, providing offices, classrooms, and small group breakout rooms for our Business programs. 
• A newly renovated faculty wing provides 13 additional full-time faculty offices and a conference room. The conference room was aptly named the “Paul R. Bippen Conference Room” and dedicated at a ceremony held in February 2008. 
• A new permanent sculpture, “Discovery,” was installed on campus at a special dedication ceremony held on September 12, 2007. “Discovery,” made possible by the generosity of Mike and Phyllis Ryan, is a granite sculpture comprised of a one-ton globe that floats and spins from the flow of a fountain emanating from a stack of three books weighing two tons each.
• Division of Education: With the addition of three full time faculty at the Assistant Professor/Clinical Assistant Professor rank and the support of one Future Faculty Fellow, 2007-2008 program delivery in the Division of Education achieved a long-envisioned depth of academic expertise and collaboration. Faculty leaders coordinate the dual license programs and oversee the integration of content in each of their areas of specialization into the elementary education program curriculum.
• Division of Liberal Arts:  Faculty Members received significant recognitions. 

• Katherine Wills, Assistant Professor of English, received what may be the most prestigious honor for Liberal Arts faculty in 2007-08 when her co-edited collection, Critical Power Tools: Technical Communication and Cultural Studies, was selected in a competitive process by the National Council of Teachers of English as the winner of the NCTE Award for Best Collection of Essays on Technical and Scientific Communication.   
• Jay Howard, Professor of Sociology and IUPUC Interim Vice Chancellor and Dean, served as past President of the North Central Sociological Association and also was selected as the Indiana University South Bend 2008 Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Arts and Sciences. 

• Division of Nursing: 

• Suspended the LPN to ASN nursing program at IUPUC.  The final cohort of 43 students was admitted in March 2008.  These students will graduate in May 2009.
• In May 2008, 12 students graduated with a BSN from IUPUC.  It is anticipated that 15 students will graduate in May 2009; it is hoped that these numbers will increase over time as a result of the growth of the Ivy Tech ASN-IUPUC BSN transition program.       
• IU School of Nursing, including the IUPUC campus, was visited in February by the National League of Nursing (NLN) for a reaccreditation review. The IUPUC Division of Nursing was responsible for providing information about the LPN to ASN program, as we are the only IU campus with this program. The visit was successful and all IU SON nursing programs were reaccredited for eight years.

• Civic Engagement:  IUPUC faculty and staff serve on numerous community committees, boards, and councils, including the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC) Board of School Trustees, the BCSC Academy of Finance, Leadership Bartholomew County, Indiana Campus Compact, Columbus Technology Advisory Committee, and the Columbus Area Arts Council.  
• IUPUC Alumni Association:  Hosted the quarterly series “IUPUC Downtown:  Connecting for Lunch,” on-campus “Human Experience” film series, “Excellence in Leadership Series,” and the “Possum Trot Bicycle Boogie”—an annual event that raises money for IUPUC scholarships.