IUPUI Honored for Undergrad Support

INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI’s efforts to improve undergraduate learning have earned the campus two major awards this year. Both awards – a Theodore M. Hesburgh Award and a Council for Higher Education Accreditation Award – honored IUPUI for its principles of undergraduate learning, the foundation of curriculum for all undergraduates on campus.

IUPUI and the University of Michigan each earned Certificates of Excellence in the highly competitive awards process for the Hesburgh Award, which is named for the president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame.

The CHEA award also was given to IUPUI for implementing its principles of undergraduate learning to help raise the overall standards of educational quality.

“At a time when universities are being criticized for graduating students who cannot communicate effectively, think critically or integrate and apply their knowledge in new situations, these two awards are a tremendous affirmation of IUPUI’s approach to general education and undergraduate learning,” said Sharon Hamilton, the associate dean of the faculties and a Chancellor’s Professor of English.

The University of Colorado-Boulder received the Hesburgh awards program’s top prize. The awards were presented in February in Los Angeles and are sponsored annually by TIAA-CREF, the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.

The CHEA awards were announced in mid-March.