TERRE HAUTE — These are exciting times for Ivy Tech Community College. We recently announced another milestone — the largest enrollment in the College’s history, with 119,773 students enrolled on the first day of classes this semester. It’s worth noting that this comes on top of four consecutive semesters of record enrollment numbers. This semester’s student population, for example, represents a 32.9 percent increase over the first day of classes last Spring, and an increase of more than 50 percent over the first day of Spring 2008 classes.
Given that Ivy Tech is the engine that will drive Indiana’s economic recovery, this is good news not just for the College, but for Indiana as a whole. A thriving community college means that Indiana will have a workforce ready for the opportunities on the horizon.
There’s another statistic, however, that we feel is even more compelling: of the nearly 120,000 students enrolled this semester, 88,520 — nearly three-quarters — were enrolled last semester. This retention of students is an increasingly important focus for Ivy Tech. While we are encouraged by continued enrollment growth, what truly motivates us is student success, and student progress toward completion.
As we strive to develop a workforce capable of keeping twenty-first century employers competitive, this is the primary standard by which we will measure ourselves as an organization. We are striving not just for a growing population of students, but a community of learners that leaves Ivy Tech with the skills they need to succeed in their careers.
This intent focus on student success also reveals the true meaning behind our new vision statement: Changing Lives and Making Indiana Great. We’re striving for a culture that improves the skills, employability, and earnings potential of each of our students. Collectively, this will lead to a statewide workforce that improves Indiana’s ability to compete for jobs in today’s global economy.
As Indiana’s fastest-growing college, we have a responsibility to align our goals with those of the state, and to set an example for those we serve. We believe our vision statement is ambitious — and we believe it must be for Ivy Tech to be true to this responsibility. By setting the bar high, we ensure that our students will aim high for themselves, and that as a state, we will succeed like never before.
Through this focus on student success and our commitment to accelerate greatness, by setting ambitious organizational goals, we are demonstrating that growth is just a small part of the Ivy Tech story. Each of our nearly 120,000 students reflects the potential we have to Change Lives and Make Indiana Great.
Nothing is more important to Ivy Tech’s future than our commitment to each one of the men and women in our classrooms throughout the state. We stand ready to help build a stronger, thriving Indiana, one community at a time.
Flashpoint
FLASHPOINT: Continued success of Ivy Tech key to Indiana’s economic growth
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FLASHPOINT: Graduation rates are up; great news for Indiana
As Hoosiers celebrate the conclusion of a truly remarkable Super Bowl experience, there is even more good news that should fill us with pride.
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FLASHPOINT: Tech trail leading us into a dense, digital forest
It seems the Southwest Parke schools are the latest to play the laptop lottery game.
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FLASHPOINT: Republicans enable war on middle class, unions
About six years ago at the pinnacle of the Bush/GOP Dictatorship, I began telling you that the wealthy and Corporate America were laying the ground work to politically, financially and physically take over America.
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FLASHPOINT: Howey ignores truth to advance his agenda
Brian Howey’s Jan. 8 column about the U.S. Senate race proves once again that he will not allow the facts or journalistic ethics to get in the way of attacking Richard Mourdock and promoting his chosen candidate, Dick Lugar.
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FLASHPOINT: Putting fairness first
This time of year, with chords of Auld Lang Syne still ringing in our ears, it’s not uncommon or unnatural to think of days gone by as being more desirable than the era we live in today.
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FLASHPOINT: What really motivates right-to-work proposal?
You may have heard about the upcoming “right-to-work” legislation before our lawmakers in the next session of “law making.”
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FLASHPOINT: The right-to-work debate: ‘Devil at Our Doorstep’
As the 2012 Indiana Legislative Assembly convenes, January will represent a tipping point for all Hoosiers’ individual freedoms as politicians and Big Labor draw battle lines to determine if Indiana will become the 23rd right-to-work state.
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FLASHPOINT: State’s House Democrats will offer alternative for job creation
As the leaders of single-party control in state government outline their agendas for the 2012 session of the Indiana General Assembly, it is easy to be cynical about their intentions in the months to come.
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FLASHPOINT: Community colleges must lead way in reshaping higher education
In the 1970s, I began what was three decades in the automotive industry. ... Today, in my position as president of Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, I see higher education confronted with some of these same challenges.
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FLASHPOINT: There’s little right about ‘right to work’ proposal
The danger contained in these three simple words – “Right to Work” — is that they sound so innocent.
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FLASHPOINT: The next big movement? Reform Congress
We are living through one of the most remarkable times in recent history.
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FLASHPOINT: Christmas trees and crony capitalism
I’ve been involved in selling fresh Christmas trees for as long as I can remember.
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FLASHPOINT: Salute to Rooney and all veterans
When I awoke to the news that CBS’s “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney had passed away I was truly saddened.
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FLASHPOINT: Corporate welfare for Menards?
As near as I can figure from a recent story in the newspaper, our government representatives, state and local, are scrambling to find money to give to Menards because of a distribution center they are thinking about building on the city’s North Side.
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FLASHPOINT: State Archives needs permanent, safe home
The records in the Indiana State Archives are priceless, one-of-a-kind treasures not to be found anywhere else.
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Flashpoint: State Archives needs permanent, safe home
The records in the Indiana State Archives are priceless, one-of-a-kind treasures not to be found anywhere else.
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FLASHPOINT: Attracting foreign investment involves more than business climate
A week before I left Indiana to lead my fifth international trade mission, I met with students at Speedway High School who had visited Japan two years ago. They were sharing their advice on Japanese protocol.
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FLASHPOINT: Scoring the Indiana Chamber
It is a question asked routinely — almost reflexively — during the last days of a General Assembly: “Will the Chamber score this?”
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FLASHPOINT: The growing power of lobbyists
Back in 1982, Mississippi’s powerful U.S. Sen. John C. Stennis faced a tough re-election fight. Advisers told him he had an ace up his sleeve: as chairman of the Armed Service Committee, he could raise bundles of campaign cash from defense contractors. But Stennis balked. “Would that be proper?” he asked. “I hold life and death over these companies.”
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FLASHPOINT: Fiscal hawks: Speak out on state’s largest publicly funded project
Indiana has a number of fiscal hawks among our elected officials who talk tough about ending subsidies and cutting wasteful projects.
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FLASHPOINT: A great company will soon disappear from community
This is in reference to the Tribune-Star story of Aug. 6 concerning the Terre Haute Sherwin-Williams plant’s intention to close by end of the year:
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FLASHPOINT: Collegiate relations committee proposal addresses neighborhood ills
With the beginning of the school year, it is apparent that Terre Haute is a college town in many respects, especially for those who live in the Farrington’s Grove neighborhood, south of downtown.
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FLASHPOINT: Indiana learning from a founding Hoosier family
The Delph family excursion through southern Indiana over the Labor Day weekend was as memorable as it was enjoyable. Lilly turned 5 and got to spend her birthday at Holiday World riding rides and eating sweets. Abby got to drive Dad around on the pretend cars foretelling our new world order. Emma, Anna and Evelyn further cemented their status as rollercoaster girls dragging Mom and Dad on the Voyage, arguably the most brutal ride of all for parents.
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Social media makes news more intimate, more disturbing In decade after 9/11
When a student recently asked what was “the hardest story” I had to cover during my 26 years working at CNN, the question caught me off guard.
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FLASHPOINT: Better access to quality health care can happen
Over 50 million Americans live in areas where there are simply not enough health care providers to meet their basic needs.
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FLASHPOINT: Seeking understanding from insanity of war
On the evening of Sept. 11, 2001, my family and I gathered to watch the unending news reports and the searing images of our homeland under attack.
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How to listen to a politician
As summer draws to a close and next year’s political campaigns get down to brass tacks, you’re going to be hearing a lot more from politicians seeking your vote.
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FLASHPOINT: Congress must help keep American dream within our reach
Since the 2010 mid-term elections, House Speaker John Boehner and his blindly dedicated Republican followers have not introduced a single bill for job creation.
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FLASHPOINT: Howey’s Aug. 21 column was inaccurate
Elected officials accept public debate.
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FLASHPOINT: Measles outbreak demonstrates the need for up-to-date vaccinations
Real incidents that engage national, state and local health professionals can be far more fascinating than television investigative dramas and are clearly more important.
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FLASHPOINT: Graduation rates are up; great news for Indiana
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