TransferIN: Indiana’s Statewide Transfer Initiative

Presenters: Tari Lambert, Director Larry Ottinger, TA Specialist Transfer Indiana Central Office tglambert@bsu.edu Larry Ottinger, TA Specialist lottinge@bsu.edu Barbara Stafford, Director of Degree Audit & Transfer Indiana State University bstafford@isugw.indstate.edu

Indiana Institutional Structure 4-Year Institutions: Public: 5 state schools with 15 campuses Private: 31 schools with 33 campuses 2-Year Institutions: Public: 2 state schools ( 1 with 23 campuses) Private: 1 > all public school campuses are autonomous > no state-wide CC system

History of Indiana Initiative November 1987 - ICHE approves 1st four AS degrees in Nursing to facilitate transfer All institutions and ICHE agree to improve transfer opportunities from two-year programs.

History (cont’d) November 1988 – Indiana Legislative Services Agency issues Final Report of the Interim Study Committee on Post-High School Study which “urges IVTC and Indiana’s colleges and universities to work to resolve the transferability issue, so as to avoid intervention by the General Assembly”

History (cont’d) January 1989 – General Assembly passes Senate Resolution 18, “urging all state universities and IVTC to enter into articulation agreements to facilitate the transfer of credits from courses successfully completed by IVTC students enrolled in IVTC associate of science degree programs”

History (cont’d) January 1990 – ICHE completes A Study of the Transfer of Credit by IVTC Students to Public Institutions in Indiana which concludes that “officially, most public institutions in Indiana do not transfer Ivy Tech credits”

History (cont’d) February 1992 - Indiana General Assembly passed P.L. 19-1992 which mandated 30 semester hours (10 courses) of general education courses transfer among state institutions

1992 - 1999 Some progress: >Beginning of distance education programs that articulate with Ivy Tech AS degrees >Beginning of systematic transfer evaluations >Beginning of transfer cooperatives between Ivy Tech and Vincennes University and baccalaureate-granting schools

April 2000 ICHE announced the Transfer Indiana Initiative To develop transfer-of-credit agreements for frequently taken courses To develop statewide agreements whereby AA and AS programs articulate fully with related baccalaureate degree programs To publicize by all appropriate means, including an electronic web site, a master list of transfer- of-credit & program articulation agreements

ICHE established two committees: Statewide Transfer & Articulation Committee (STAC) Web Site Development Committee

History (cont’d) September 2001 - Articulation agreements concluded with all public 4-year campuses for 8 Vincennes University A.A./A.S. degrees. (1st time in state’s history that statewide articulation agreements were concluded for an associate degree program with every public university campus.)

First 8 Articulation Agreements: English History Liberal Arts Philosophy Political Science Pre-Law Psychology Sociology

2001 – March 2002 >STAC determines 40 mostly frequently taken courses in Fall 1999 >Established course equivalencies for these 40 courses between all of the publicly funded schools Additional Activities: >Discipline based academic meetings >Regular meeting of academic representatives from each school >Establish both course and program articulations (with mixed results)

May 2002 ICHE approves Principles Guiding Statewide Transfer and Articulation in Indiana

Statewide Transfer Principles Principles Guiding Statewide Transfer and Articulation in Indiana: Faculty Primacy Equal Partners Collective Responsibility Comparable Treatment of Students Course-to-Course Transfer Articulation for Majors Inclusion of Independents

Principles (cont’d) Wide Communication Constructive Evaluation Currency Multi-Directional Transfer Responsiveness to Student Problems Appropriate Timing of Transfer

History (cont’d) April 2003 - HB 1209 passed by General Assembly; reinforced role of STAC (making it official) and demanded accountability August 2004 – STAC and other committees propose to ICHE that funding for a statewide transfer web site and support infrastructure be included in ICHE’s budget recommendation for the 2005-2007 Biennium.

History (cont’d) April 2005 – General Assembly passes HB 1001, which calls for STAC to establish statewide Core Transfer Library (CTL) with 70 courses that will apply toward degree requirements in the same way as the receiving institution’s equivalent course. HB also calls for the establishment of articulation agreement in 12 programs that will apply toward any IVTC or VU campus.

12 Programs from Ivy Tech and VU: English/Communication Mathematics Life/Physical Sciences Fine Arts/Humanities Social and Behavioral Sciences Languages Information Technology Manufacturing/Technology Business Education Nursing Criminal Justice

History (cont’d) August 2006 Funding provided by ICHE for: > Transfer Indiana Central Office (TICO) > Transfer system pilot project April 2007 Funding for 2007-09 Biennium approved by General Assembly

March 2008 – June 2008 Web site subcommittee formed Steps to completion: Searched statewide transfer sites Searched own sites looking at ease of use Independent person reviewed sites Researched other states / schools Determined major categories Process Results Assigned categories to committee members Research Writing content Coordinated all copy through several people Determined rudimentary format/style sheets

Launch date: Wednesday, June 4

LINK HEADINGS: Students Dual Credit Educators Transfer Links u.select / Degree Planner CTL Contact Us

Student Links Types of Transfer Steps for Transfer Military Information Transfer Policy

Educators STAC Documents Annual Reports to State Legislature STAC members Articulation Agreements

Transfer Links Colleges Financial Aid Admissions Contacts

u.select / Degree Planner Statewide Transfer Tool to Provide Information on: >Courses >Programs >Course Equivalencies >Degree Audit

CTL Core Transfer Library - currently has 82 courses listed (public schools only) - other courses may be added soon - private schools are currently in process of joining

Core Transfer Library (CTL) Courses are listed by: Course title Institution Alpha listing of all courses

Current Plans / Activities >Redirect projects to meet current state and federal mandates >Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEA) >High school academic diploma >Dual Credit >Collaboration between publicly funded and private institutions >CTL >Pilot institutions: Valparaiso and Indiana Wesleyan University >Expand transfer program to include more private >Collaboration with surrounding states

Current Plans / Activities u.select implementation Struggles: >meeting deadlines >individual IT/resource constraints for each school >variety of SIS interfaces

Future Activities and Proposed Solutions >Expand and enhance web site >Increased involvement of Independent Colleges of Indiana (ICI) >Collaboration with u.select Illinois >Initiated interface discussion with 4 major SIS vendors