Each year, the Chancellor and Chancellor's Cabinet determine specific priorities to guide annual planning, decision-making, and implementation of specific actions to be undertaken during the Academic Year. These yearly priorities are aligned with and derived from the broader strategic plan goals and objectives.
Summary of Chancellor Paydar’s Priorities for AY 2021-22
1. Focus on our Enrollment Strategy
a. Intensify efforts to recruit and admit beginner students, including through more aggressive marketing, outreach, and recruitment efforts, and by engaging influencers throughout our region.
b. Review structures and processes within and between campus units (Division of Enrollment Management, Division of Student Affairs, and Division of Undergraduate Education) to Ensure processes supporting admissions, transition, and orientation are seamless, coordinated, and integrated, including leveraging the Center for Transfer and Adult Students.
c. Expand and intensify coordinated school and campus recruitment efforts, including aligning and implementing institutional aid in a more targeted, strategic fashion to secure beginner student yield.
d. Continue to implement campus-wide strategies, particularly engagement in Proactive Advising and use of the Student Engagement Roster—centrally and within academic units—focused on retention and timely persistence to degree completion.
e. Develop innovative programs/credentials at the graduate/profession level and encourage academic units to partner for development of new degrees/certificates/micro-credentials; development of novel professional degrees at the doctoral level; and development of more collaborative Ph.D. programs.
f. Identify financial mechanisms to support Ph.D. training and degrees, including federal and foundation grants.
g. Expand co-curricular opportunities to promote student engagement and belongingness.
2. Evolve our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Agenda
a. Implement unit-specific Diversity Plans, develop 2016-2021 Campus Diversity Plan Report, and launch 2021-2026 Campus Diversity Plan.
b. Identify and prioritize action items related to diversifying IUPUI’s faculty and staff talent, in coordination with broader IU initiatives.
c. Promote inclusive teaching practices and eliminate policy and process barriers to student success, particularly in developmental education and general education courses.
d. Complete Black Women’s Task Force Report/Recommendations and Anti-Racist Committee Report.
e. Continue Senior Leadership Reading Group and campus-wide reading groups on book(s) and topic(s) related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
f. Develop and administer an Equity Framework Professional Development Series for faculty and staff in partnership with the Office for International Affairs, the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Institute for Engaged Learning and the Multicultural Center.
g. Support review/revisions to school and department-based P&T standards and faculty merit review to explicitly recognize and value DEI-related activities.
h. Deploy curriculum enhancement grants aimed at fostering equity and inclusion.
i. Plan and execute mutual priorities in the success of Indiana Avenue, Urban League African American Quality of Life of Plan, and Madam Walker Legacy Center.
j. Support the university and city diversity priorities of mutual interest by diversifying vendors, providing educational offerings and workforce development through the Business Equity Initiative.
3. Leverage our Research Portfolio’s Potential for Growth
a. Finalize research plans within each academic unit, including goals for research, benchmarks with peer or aspirational institutions/programs, and emerging inter- and multi-disciplinary research opportunities.
b. Seek significant external sources of support from Foundations and other grantmaking entities to support campus research priorities and foci.
c. Review the EMPOWER program and potential for expansion to support more faculty.
d. Develop a new program, partnering the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Office of International Affairs, for funding research on United Nations Sustainability Goals.
e. Examine the need for responsive, special funding programs, or seed support to accelerate mid-career faculty.
f. Encourage faculty to submit more foundation, Department of Defense, and federal grants.
g. Assess campus support for undergraduate research, including looking for funding resources for undergraduate research and working to improve communication regarding student research opportunities and success.
h. Expand implementation of program reviews of research centers and institutes at IUPUI to determine effectiveness and future directions.
4. Promote Involvement of Students, Faculty, and Staff with On-Campus, Post-Pandemic Engagement Activities
a. Launch the beginning of Academic Year 2021-22 with significant on-campus events and activities aimed at fostering a sense of community, connection, and welcoming for students, faculty, and staff.
b. Continue developing and implementing recommendations from Post-Pandemic Working Group to support engagement of students, faculty, and staff.
c. Allocate funds from the Welcoming Campus Initiative’s (Re)Building Community Through Engagement grant process to support campus-wide and unit-specific activities, including using these opportunities to establish new campus traditions.
d. Enhance outreach and communication efforts to students, in partnership with IU Studios, including better coordination of messages from central units and academic units.
e. Reestablish stakeholder engagement in valued IUPUI traditions and signature events, including Weeks of Welcome, IUPUI Regatta, Top 100, Elite 50, IUPUI Jagathon Dance Marathon, and Jagapalooza.
5. Support President Whitten’s Priorities for IUPUI and Indiana University
a. Promote the advantages IUPUI, IUPUC, and IU Fort Wayne afford Indiana University to ensure President Whitten is aware of strengths to leverage.
b. Involve President Whitten in meetings, events, and activities to equip her with knowledge and familiarity with the assets and resources of our campus contexts.
c. Engage in Year 1 leadership activities in which President Whitten will undertake, likely including strategic planning and priority setting, to ensure the interests of IUPUI, IUPUC, and IU Fort Wayne are represented in broader Indiana University decision-making.
d. Introduce President Whitten to key individuals, groups, communities, and other stakeholders to garner their support, engage them in the work of Indiana University, and share with them plans and priorities.