Indiana State University Newsroom

More students at Ivy Tech Community College need to understand what opportunities are available to them after completing an associate degree, and that a four-year university doesn't have to be intimidating.

That was the consensus of a summit Friday involving about three dozen faculty and staff from Ivy Tech's Wabash Valley and Evansville campuses and Indiana State University.

Opening Indiana State classrooms and labs to Ivy Tech students as guests can go a long way toward improving that understanding, said Greg Warren, assistant professor of automotive service technology at Ivy Tech's Evansville campus.

"Let them see what the differences are," Warren said. "I don't think they understand. They think, ‘When I'm done, I'm done and there's no other way to go' (but) you have opportunities here because it correlates with what we do in technology."

Getting Indiana State and Ivy Tech students working together outside the classroom can also open doors, other summit participants said.

"You've got to get students engaged. You've got to get them excited and excitement doesn't always come in the classroom," said Bob English, dean of the College of Technology at Indiana State.

Including Ivy Tech students on Indiana State's Team Sycamore Racing and Shell Eco Marathon teams are among ideas that were discussed, according to Randy Peters, associate professor of applied engineering and technology management at Indiana State. Discussions with Ivy Tech faculty also identified a course that Indiana State students could take at Ivy Tech for more hands-on experience and transfer credits to Indiana State, he said.

New equipment in Indiana State's manufacturing lab, including a 3-D printer, will "vastly enhance" the university's applied engineering technology management program, which has about 600 students, and may attract more interest from Ivy Tech transfer students, Peters said..

"We've got a lot of inroads that we've made," he said.

Faculty and administers from Ivy Tech who attended the summit discussed including Indiana State faculty and students as advisers in technology competitions the two-year school hosts for high school students, said David Will, dean of technology at Ivy Tech.

Discussions also involved partnerships in new degree programs. Unmanned systems is currently a minor at Indiana State but a proposal before the Indiana Commission for Higher Education would allow a bachelor's degree to be offered in that subject. Ivy Tech has a precision agriculture degree pending that would be a natural partner with unmanned systems, Will said.

Cindy Crowder, chair of Indiana State's department of human resource development and performance technologies, said there was interest at the summit in new concentrations for the university's recently launched Bachelor of Applied Science degree and in Indiana State faculty visiting Ivy Tech's Vigo County Industrial Park campus, instead of the main Wabash Valley campus, for a transfer day event.

"Most of the things that were discussed will be implemented. It's always about improving the process," English said.

Echoing comments made by others, Kara Harris, associate dean of technology at Indiana State and the summit's organizer, said more interaction between faculty and students from the two institutions can help Ivy Tech students "understand that students at ISU are much like the students at Ivy Tech and the faculty here are caring just like the faculty at Ivy Tech."

Will offered to host another summit next year at Ivy Tech but said, "More importantly, our hope is that dialogue continues throughout the year so that there is an ongoing relationship between Ivy Tech faculty and ISU faculty so we are aware of changes in the curriculum and we can benefit our students."

Photo: http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Events/Events-by-Year/2015/Transfer-Summit-2015/i-MbNZk3Z/0/L/05_01_15_transfer_summit-2568-L.jpg - Kara Harris, associate dean of Indiana State University's College of Technology, speaks during a summit meeting with Ivy Tech Community College faculty May 1, 2015. (ISU/Tony Campbell)

Photo: http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Events/Events-by-Year/2015/Transfer-Summit-2015/i-Vb4gQGh/0/L/05_01_15_transfer_summit-2635-L.jpg - David Will, dean of technology at Ivy Tech Community College-Wabash Valley, was among 36 faculty and staff attending a summit meeting of Indiana State and Ivy Tech faculty from the Terre Haute and Evansville campuses May 1, 2015. (ISU/Tony Campbell.)

Contact: Kara Harris, associate dean, College of Technology, Indiana State University, 812-237-2987 or kara.harris@indstate.edu

Writer: Dave Taylor, media relations director, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3743 or dave.taylor@indstate.edu