September 1999

Following trends of the last few years, IUPUI’s fall enrollment reflects an increase in credit hours taught (up .3% from last fall). Unlike previous years, headcount is down — 234 fewer students — for a total enrollment of 27,587.

A new, tighter approach to admissions is one reason. Beginning this fall, in anticipation of the new community college system, more students with shallow preparation for college were referred to Ivy Tech State College via the Passport Program, the product of a decade-long partnership between IUPUI and Ivy Tech. It has led both to easier transferability of credits from one institution to another and smoother cooperation between our registrars, academic advisors, and admissions and financial aid officers in placing students into the best institution for achieving academic success in beginning and continuing their postsecondary study.

IUPUI and Ivy Tech faculty have participated in exchange and team-teaching programs and worked together to ensure that courses are equivalent and students well prepared to transfer. We have also shared staff and space at off-campus sites, all in furtherance of Ivy Tech’s development as a community college, which is now being accelerated with new state resources, new locations (such as Fort Benjamin Harrison), and the new visibility of the developing Ivy Tech / Vincennes University community college system.

Making it easier for students to transfer from a two-year to a four-year degree program has had promising results. In 1993, 240 former Ivy Tech students transferred to IUPUI. By fall 1998, the number was up to 639 students.

While overall IUPUI headcount is down 1.6 percent in IUPUI's undergraduate programs, the loss is offset by a gain of 1.9 percent in graduate and professional programs. Attracting the largest percentage increases in full-time equivalent student enrollment were graduate programs in our new [U School of Public Health and our Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, where students in our new media programs are currently counted.

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When Starbucks Coffee Company opens its Indianapolis-area stores, its coffee mugs will be adorned by the artwork of Shanay Yahaira Sotomayor, a junior studying visual communication at the IU Herron School of Art at IUPUI. Her design was chosen from among several submitted by Herron students. It includes not only the Starbucks logo but also a number of Indianapolis landmarks.

IUPUI was second among institutions in U. S. higher education in the 1996-97 number of degrees awarded in allied health sciences, community health services, dentistry, nursing, optometry, and other health-related fields — first, if you don't count Regents College (the University of the State of New York), a “virtual university,” which awarded 2,232 health sciences degrees, primarily through distance education.

According to these U.S. Department of Education statistics, IUPUI awarded 1,300 health-related degrees. Our closest competitors were the University of Illinois at Chicago, with 1,233 degrees awarded and Ohio State University, with 1,229.

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Sadly, the rate of firearm deaths in Indiana (homicide, suicides, and accidental shootings) is about 14 per 100,000 population, according to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, putting Indiana in the first rank among surrounding central states in gun-related deaths.

With a $500,000 grant from The Joyce Foundation, a Chicago-based philanthropy that supports public policies to improve quality of life in the Great Lakes Region, the Indiana Partnership to Prevent Firearm Violence seeks to reverse this trend through public education, advocacy training, and a database that tracks effects of firearm injuries on victims and families.

The statewide initiative brings together the IU School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics, Riley Hospital for Children, professional medical associations, faith communities, civic and government organizations, and others.

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IUPUI was among the “Family-Friendly Standouts” listed in the August 23-29, 1999, issue of the Indianapolis Business Journal, on the basis of its policies on flexible work arrangements, child care, family leave, education benefits, percentage of female managers, and health and retirement benefits.

Incidentally, our annual IUPUI Family Day occurs September 19, beginning with the IUPUI Jaguars women's soccer team playing Western Michigan University at the IU Michael A. Carroll Track and Soccer Stadium at IUPUI.

Neighboring attractions at White River State Park are graciously offering discount admissions to IUPUI employees and their families for the day.

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The IU Center on Philanthropy has been instrumental in attracting four outstanding new faculty members to two of our professional schools and two departments in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.

•Noted British scholar Adrian Sargeant has joined the marketing faculty in the IU Kelley School of Business at IUPUI. He is editor of the prestigious International Journal on Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing.

•Wolfgang Bielefield, a prolific scholar, will join the faculty specializing in nonprofit management in the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI.

•Nancy Robertson joins the Department of History at IUPUI. Her research focus is the history of philanthropy in America.

•Una Okonkwo Osili has accepted an appointment in the Department of Economics at IUPUI and will develop a course for the Center on Philanthropy in nongovernmental organizations and development.

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The IU Center for Aging Research was front and center on Senior Day at the Indiana State Fair as Steven R. Counsell, M.D., director of the center's clinical programs and associate professor and director of geriatrics at the IU School of Medicine, offered testimony before a field hearing of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, convened by Senator Evan Bayh. The focus of the discussion was long-term care for the elderly. Senator Bayh introduced legislation in Congress last month to allow families a $1,000 tax credit when caring for loved ones in their homes.

The Center for Aging Research was established two years ago as a cooperative effort of the IU Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, Nursing, Social Work, and Allied Health at IUPUI. It conducts research on osteoporosis, Alzheimer's Disease, and other conditions affecting older patients, as well as how health care providers can better meet their needs.

Dr. Counsell pointed out that, while people are living longer, gains in life expectancy include both more years of activity and more years of dependency. One-third of older Americans need help in self-care; but for every person in a nursing home, two or three persons with the same self-care needs live in the community with the aid of family, friends, or social agencies.

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On August 26, the NCAA Committee on Athletics Certification announced that IUPUI had successfully completed its year-long process to gain certification in Division I. The certification program ensures integrity in NCAA institutions’ athletics operations and compliance with operating principles adopted by Division I membership at the 1993 NCAA Convention.

Season play is now under way for the Jaguars. Enclosed is a mailer for season ticket purchases, which can be donated, by request, for use by area youth organizations.

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We couldn't have been prouder or happier that world-class cyclist Lance Armstrong was victorious in his quest to win the Tour de France this past summer. Although Lance lives in Austin, Texas, he had some admiring fans at IUPUI, especially in the IU School of Medicine, cheering for him from afar at every stage of cycling's most prestigious and difficult race.

A 25-year-old Lance Armstrong first came to Indianapolis in the fall of 1996 after having been given a 40-45 percent chance of surviving testicular cancer, which had already spread to his lungs and brain — or two months maximum to live, if he did not respond to treatment.

An Internet search and an e-mail tip led him to Indiana University and to chemotherapy expert and Distinguished Professor of Medicine Lawrence H. Einhorn, M.D. Larry Einhorn is internationally known for having proved a regimen of treatment that turned a 90 percent death rate into a 90 percent (or more) survival rate among victims of testicular cancer, usually young men in their 20s.

Larry immediately grasped that Lance wanted to not only survive the cancer but to return to world-class cycling competition. He also suspected that Lance would be a fighter. He offered a treatment that had more side effects during chemotherapy, but left less residual damage to lungs or other major organs in the long term.

Lance Armstrong continued athletic training throughout his recovery. His winning the Tour de France is a wonderful symbol of courage and determination for all those battling cancer.

He and Dr. Einhorn will testify before the U.S. Congress September 28-29 to advocate for more National Institutes of Health funding for research.

Gerald L. Bepko

Chancellor