TERRE HAUTE — ISU has far-reaching impact on the Wabash Valley



Terre Haute often bills itself as the “Crossroads of America.”

Education, business and government leaders also want it known as the “Crossroads of Higher Education.”

“Terre Haute is a college town. It literally is,” said Indiana State University President Dan Bradley. “People just need to think about it that way.”

The community has four nationally recognized colleges and universities — Indiana State University, Ivy Tech Community College-Wabash Valley, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College.

Together, the institutions have a combined enrollment of more than 20,000 students and employ nearly 3,700 people, with a collective payroll of an estimated $146.8 million, according to information compiled by ISU from the various institutions.

While each has a unique role, they also have a history of working together to help the community and state. “We think that collectively we can do some things that none of us can do independently,” Bradley said.

With 10,534 students, about 1,700 employees and a downtown campus, ISU has a far-reaching impact on Terre Haute.

Its influence and contributions can be seen on many levels, Bradley said.

In addition to the obvious economic impact, employees are active in community organizations that include Riverscape, Trees Inc., youth sports and cultural groups. “We make it a nicer place to live,” Bradley said.

The university provides many recreational opportunities, both cultural and athletic. “There’s always something going on at this campus,” Bradley said. “We’re always happy to have the community involved.”

ISU has been an important part of the revitalization of downtown “and we expect that to continue,” Bradley said. “I’ve made it a goal of our housing renewal effort in the next few years to make sure that ends up having a positive impact on the business climate in downtown.”

One of ISU’s future goals is for enrollment to grow to 12,000 within five years, about a 15-percent increase. “We think it’s doable,” he said.

Earlier this month, the university announced its first fall enrollment increase in seven years. Headcount enrollment is 10,534, an increase of 77 students over last year. That represents an increase of less than 1 percent.

While the state is placing a high priority on improved graduation rates, “They also want more students coming to college,” Bradley said. “We feel we have a major role to play in that.”

The university is working on a strategic plan, which should be finalized and made public in October, to guide its future and direct its resources. A separate facilities plan also will be unveiled.

At the same time, the ISU Foundation is expected to announce the public phase of the first major capital campaign in the university’s history.

Strategic planning “has required us to focus on where we want to go and, just as importantly, how we want to get there,” Bradley said. The capital campaign will help finance some of those goals.

High-priority areas will receive extra funding over the next few years. ISU wants to strengthen and market programs it has identified as having regional and national significance, including teacher preparation, financial service and business programs, to name a few.

This year, progress also can be seen through some impressive new and renovated facilities.

A renovated University Hall on North Seventh Street serves as the new home of the College of Education. The former Laboratory School has undergone a $29.8 million renovation that includes a glass-enclosed atrium, state-of-the-art technology, a Leadership Hall, micro-teaching labs, a 445-seat auditorium and a comprehensive clinic that provides services to the public.

Previously, faculty offices, classrooms and programs were located in one of the Statesman Towers, originally built as residence halls.

Though the building has the latest technology, the project has preserved many historic aspects of the 1930s building, including arched inside doorways and original stairwells as well as restored Gilbert Wilson murals.

Northwest of Cunningham Library, ISU’s new $21.7 million Student Recreation Center quickly has become a hit with students.

The 109,420-square-foot, two-story building houses a three-court gymnasium, an aquatics facility, fitness center, elevated jogging/running track, healthy snack bar, a multi-activity court, locker facilities, offices and much more.

It is dedicated to student recreational use.

No state money was used to construct the facility; it is being funded through student fees and private contributions.

“This facility brings a new focus and new energy to campus,” Tom Ramey, vice president for student affairs, has said. ISU hopes the facility will help recruit new students.

Within the next year, ISU hopes to obtain state approval to move forward with a major renovation of the former federal building at Seventh and Cherry streets, which will serve as the new home of the College of Business. The state has approved $20 million in bonding authority; the state would provide $10 million, and ISU must raise the remainder.

The ISU Foundation is involved with two major pending projects:

Barnes and Noble plans to open a new bookstore between Fourth and Fifth streets south of Cherry Street. It’s a joint project with Vermillion Development Corp. and the ISU Foundation, which would have offices in the facility. Groundbreaking is expected later this year, said Gene Crume, president of the ISU Foundation.

A new baseball stadium will be built at the site of the existing Sycamore Field, to be funded by the ISU Foundation and private donors. The goal is to begin construction early this fall, Crume said.



Indiana State University

Size of campus

Approximately 200 acres.

Total payroll

$88.6 million (2008-09).

Employees

There are 1,730 full-time and permanent part-time employees.

When temporary and student workers are added in, the number increases to 3,200.

Enrollment

10,534 students.



Get to know Dr. Daniel J. Bradley

Daniel J. Bradley became Indiana State’s 11th president on July 31, 2008. Prior to that, he served as the president of Fairmont State University in Fairmont, W.Va., starting in 2001. He previously held a variety of positions at Montana Tech of the University of Montana, including vice chancellor for academic affairs and research, dean of engineering and head of the petroleum engineering department.

Born in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, Bradley immigrated with his parents to California when he was 7 years old.

A veteran of the U.S. Army, Bradley has a doctorate in physical chemistry from Michigan State University, a master’s degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa and a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology.

During graduate studies, he spent two years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory performing his research. After graduate school, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley in the Chemistry Department before joining the faculty at Montana Tech.

Bradley and his wife, Cheri, have three grown children.



Engineers give Valley a ‘jewel’ in its cap



For the 11th year in a row, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology has been ranked the No. 1 college in the country that offers a bachelor’s or master’s as its top engineering degree.

“That’s pretty cool,” says interim president Matt Branam, a Vigo County native who graduated from the college 30 years ago.

People view the east-side engineering college as “the jewel of the community,” he said.

The college and Terre Haute community have changed a lot since he graduated, he said.

Rose-Hulman is almost twice the size it was when he graduated in number of faculty, staff, students and infrastructure. “I wonder if people realize that,” he said.

The poor economy hasn’t stopped students from applying to and enrolling at Rose-Hulman. The college received a record 3,554 applications this year, and 466 freshmen enrolled, down just slightly from last year.

“The economy has had some impact, but not as much as we anticipated,” Branam said. “I think that registers a strong demand for high-quality education in engineering, math and science like we offer here at Rose Hulman.”

Total enrollment this year is 1,829 undergraduates and 103 graduate students.

The college plans to maintain that enrollment level for the foreseeable future, both because of facility issues and to control costs.

The top priority at Rose-Hulman this year is to find a new president. The most recent president, Gerald Jakubowski, resigned June 30 to take a job on the West Coast. “I don’t think we’ll have trouble attracting a high-quality president,” Branam said. A search committee has begun meeting, and the goal is to have someone in place around July 1.

Looking to the future, while it’s hard to improve upon a No. 1 national ranking, continued improvement is the goal, Branam said. “We feel that our tolerance for self-criticism and our appetite for self-improvement is the key to keeping us number one.”

The college continually evaluates the education that it provides as well as how it is delivered, he said. “Wherever the best is going to be, that’s where Rose-Hulman is going to be,” he said.

Branam said that even he was surprised by the economic impact that Rose-Hulman has on the community. It has 540 employees and a $29 million payroll.

While the number of manufacturing jobs has declined in Vigo County, education and health care have remained major employers and important contributors to the economy, Branam said. “That gives Terre Haute a decidedly different texture.”

He’s come to realize, more than ever, “Terre Haute is a college town … I don’t think that, generally, people in Terre Haute grasp that. I think people in Terre Haute — me included when I came back — still think of Terre Haute as a manufacturing town.

“I think it’s up to the town to decide exactly what that [college town] means and what is done with it,” Branam said.



Rose-Hulman

Location

200-acre campus east of Terre Haute. The college’s south campus includes 180 acres and houses Rose-Hulman Ventures in a certified technology park.

Average Class Size

20

Graduation Rate

80 percent

Career Placement

Nearly 100 percent annually; average starting salary in the $57,600 a year range; 20 percent of graduates go immediately to graduate school.

Faculty

172 with 99 percent having earned doctorate degrees; selected on ability to teach and areas of expertise.

Enrollment

1,829 undergraduate

103 graduate



Get to know Matt Branam

Matt Branam, a Rose-Hulman alumnus, joined Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology as president on July 1, 2009. Branam is a seasoned leader, experienced at providing vision, strategy, operations and financial management in support of mission. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to Rose-Hulman from serving as the first chief operating officer of the American Red Cross at the request of Elizabeth Dole. Branam’s experience also includes a distinguished 24-year career (1972-1996) with the United Parcel Service, where his local college job evolved through positions of increasing responsibility, culminating in the position of vice president of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Since 2000, his expertise in board relations, brand management and legal, labor and financial affairs has positioned Branam as a well-known executive coach and highly sought senior consultant for organizations such as the U.S. Postal Service and the National Academy of Public Administration. A native of Terre Haute, Branam graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1979 with bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.



St. Mary-of-the Woods brings long, rich history

St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, the country’s oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women, has a long, rich history but continues to plan for its future.

In January, the college will launch Woods Online, a new, fully online undergraduate degree program. Open to both women and men, it will give students all over the world the opportunity to earn a degree from The Woods completely online. “We’re trying to keep up with the way students learn,” said Dottie King, vice president for academic affairs.

In academics, the college has its first honors program this fall. In athletics, it has its first cross country team.

The Woods campus program has a strong international presence, with about 28 students from countries that include China, Japan, South Korea, Ireland and Kosovo. Total campus enrollment is about 300.

The college is wrapping up a program review that seeks to strengthen some programs with additional resources. Other programs face possible consolidation, reduction or elimination. The goals are to strengthen the college, make it more efficient and ensure it remains competitive.

With the program review nearing completion, the Woods is about to embark on a new institutional planning process to chart its future.

President David Behrs would like the Woods to become known as one of the best women’s colleges in the Midwest for math, science and business. The Woods has strong programs in those areas but could further develop a distinctive niche, he said.

Woods students work hard not only in the classroom but also in athletics, he said. The college has added golf and cross country teams to its roster, and it hopes to construct a new sports-and-recreation facility in the next few years, Behrs said.

The college expects a total full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment of about 900 this fall, or 1,600 headcount, which includes the campus, graduate and Woods External Degree programs.



Total budget

$14.9 million

Number of

employees

153 full-time faculty and staff; 439 total employed, including student workers.

Total Payroll

$7.6 million

Total Enrollment

1,677 (Fall 2009)

Undergraduate: 1,465 (campus: 313, WED: 1,122, Special Students: 30)

Graduate: 212



Get to know Dr. David G. Behrs

David G. Behrs, Ph.D., began his tenure as the 15th president of St. Mary-of-the-Woods College on July 1, 2007. Chosen by the College’s Board of Trustees and members of the Corporation of the Sisters of Providence on Jan. 20, 2007, Behrs is the first lay man to be president of SMWC and was appointed following an extensive national search that began in August 2006.

Behrs is a distinguished administrator and most recently served as both the associate provost for university initiatives and the vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at Dominican University of California. He has spent the last 27 years of his career in higher education, serving Lynchburg College, Marymount University, George Mason School of Law and Pennsylvania State University. He is also respected as an expert in enrollment management and has authored several articles that have appeared in “The Journal of College Admissions,” “Admissions Marketing Report” and the “National Association of Graduate Admission Professionals Journal.”

Behrs holds a Ph.D. in counseling and student development from American University, a master’s degree in counseling and student personnel from Shippensburg University, and a bachelor’s degree in history and social science from Elizabethtown College. Currently, he is active with the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Wabash Valley Alliance on Sustainability, Terre Haute Rotary Club, Vigo County Superintendent’s Advisory Council and The Economic Club of Indiana.

Behrs is an avid reader, runner and outdoorsman, and he loves to travel. A native of Binghamton, N.Y., Behrs has been married to his wife, Maureen, for 25 years, and they have two daughters, Beth, 23, and Emily, 17.



Ivy Tech continues to lead higher education evolution



Ivy Tech’s evolution as a community college has brought with it record enrollment growth and a major expansion of facilities.

Over the past 10 years, its enrollment has more than doubled to 6,500 students this fall, while facility expansion in Terre Haute and Greencastle has added 198,000 square feet of space. That includes the $13.5 million Center for Information Technology on the main campus in Terre Haute.

With more full-time students, Ivy Tech also has placed a major emphasis on expanding student services and activities. Three years ago, it hired a director of student life, and new clubs, activities and events have been added.

Ivy Tech offers workforce training, two-year associate’s degrees and expanded transfer opportunities to four-year colleges.

Many students are turning to Ivy Tech for post-secondary education because of its open-access mission and affordability (just under $100 per credit hour), said Jeff Pittman, chancellor at Ivy Tech’s Wabash Valley region.

He believes many unemployed and underemployed are turning to the community college system to obtain additional education.

“They know they need a better education to keep a job, find another one or get promoted,” he said.

Recent high school graduates also are helping fuel the enrollment boom. “They see us as an institution of first choice in a lot of instances” because of its low tuition and transferable programs, Pittman said.

The enrollment boom continued this fall, climbing 12 percent. Ivy Tech-Wabash Valley reported 6,500 students.

In the future, limited increases in state funding may slow the rate of growth, he said. “It’s going to start getting challenging for us,” he said.

One area expected to see growth is the Greencastle campus, which opened a new, $10 million, 32,000-square-foot facility this month. Enrollment currently is 500 at the Greencastle campus; Pittman expects it to be 1,000 in about a year. “We’ll fill the building,” he said.

The Greencastle campus will draw enrollment from Putnam County, eastern Hendricks County and the west side of Indianapolis, he said.

Other new or expanded facilities include the Center for Workforce Development in the Vigo County Industrial Park and learning centers in Rockville and Sullivan.

Ivy Tech also has added 13 new programs that address Wabash Valley workforce needs, and many are transferable. They include agriculture, elementary education, biotechnology, liberal arts, general studies and nursing (associate degree).



Get to know Dr. Jeff L. Pittman

Jeff L. Pittman is chancellor of Ivy Tech Community College, Wabash Valley Region. He is also vice-provost for Distance Education for the Ivy Tech statewide system. In addition to these roles, he has served the college as the executive dean at the Sellersburg Region, dean of Academic Affairs for the Bloomington campus, and department chair of Manufacturing Technology and Industrial Trades at the Columbus campus.

Pittman has earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business from Indiana University at Bloomington, a Master of Science Degree in Technology from Indiana State University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, Administration and Foundations from ISU. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Chapter from ISU and of Phi Theta Kappa, Alpha Rho Sigma Chapter.

Currently, Pittman serves on several community boards, including the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce; the Regional Workforce Board; the Terre Haute Economic Development Corp., where he previously has served as board chair and is currently on the Executive Committee; and the United Way, where he served as campaign chair in 2006. Pittman is currently the board chair of the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunications System, a technology consortium of Indiana’s public and private higher education institutions, k-12 education institutions, public libraries and public broadcasting stations.



Colleges have positive Impact on economy and quality of life



Steve Witt, president of the Terre Haute Economic Development Corp., said the colleges have a major impact on the community both economically and in quality of life.

The colleges are major employers and purchasers of goods and services. “There’s no question the presence of our [post-secondary] institutions has helped sustain our community during the recession,” Witt said. “Their presence ads diversity to our local economy and our employment opportunities. They are a tremendous asset as employers.”

In addition, the colleges are “a tremendous economic development asset,” with their resources and wealth of knowledge and talent, Witt said.

“There are few communities our size that can boast the higher education resources that we can,” he said. When recruiting new industries or responding to their queries, “We tout our higher education institutions,” he said.

He also points to specific initiatives in which the colleges are working together for the betterment of the community. Those include the Terre Haute Innovation Alliance and the Rural Health Innovation Collaborative.

Rod Henry, president of the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce, said the combined economic impact of the four colleges “is a phenomenal number.”

The colleges represent an employer that will not close or move across state lines, “but we don’t want to take them for granted,” Henry said.

Their vitality has an impact on the economy, as well, he said.

“I think it’s becoming more and more apparent how much of a college town we are,” Henry said. The community needs to build on that asset and grow that niche even more, he said.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.