Qiuyuan Chen: Indiana University – Peking University Staff Exchange Program

Qiuyuan Chen, from the Graduate School at Peking University in Beijing, China,
visited the IU campus in the month of January. She was part of
a staff exchange program between IU and PKU.

This January, 2012, the Indiana University Graduate School hosted a Chinese colleague through a staff exchange program between IU and the Graduate School at Peking University (PKU) in Beijing, China. Qiuyuan Chen spent the month meeting with her counterparts at the IU Graduate School, Office of the Registrar and other academic and administrative units.

The lake and water tower in Peking University.
The stone fish in the foreground is a remnant from
the Old Summer Palace just north of the campus.

“I think the biggest difference [between IU and PKU Graduate Schools] is the administrative system. IU is highly decentralized and we [PKU] are very centralized. For us, it’s an office-oriented system, but here it is position-oriented. I think it is easier for us to do teamwork and here literally there is only one person in charge of one field of work and people here are more specialized for that reason. For us, it’s easier to transfer from one office [position] to another,” Chen said.

“Some of the ordinary processes are similar,” she said, "and there are many common elements between our universities.”

For example, PKU and IU have about the same number of students and both universities have a strong focus on the arts, languages and humanities as well as the natural and social sciences. To give a localized comparison, if PKU is like IU, then TsingHua University, next door to PKU in Beijing, is like Purdue.

The PKU Graduate School is located in Red Building No. 2.
The PKU campus was originally in a hutong area in downtown
Beijing, but in the 1950s it moved to an old palace grounds in the
northwest part of Beijing. The Graduate School is located in one
of the traditional style buildings from that palace.

“We also seem to have similar problems,” Chen said. “Students have a lot of pressure surrounding their dissertations both here and in China, especially the doctoral students. I spoke with an IU graduate student who attended PKU for her undergraduate degree, and she said it can be difficult to get the desired job after finishing a PhD because doctoral students want the invested time and money in their education to be returned. Students in China have the same career pressures.”

“These days graduate educators in China are paying more attention to quality rather than just quantity,” Chen said.

“I believe that PKU and IU will discover they have a lot they can learn from one other. The exchange program is a good way to help us to communicate, and itself is a good example of graduate education internationalization as well.”

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Media Contact: Erika Lee, ebigalee@indiana.edu

IU President McRobbie outlines “principles of excellence” in annual State of the University address

IU President McRobbie delivered the State of the University address today (Sept. 28) on the IUPUI campus.

Sept. 28, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS -- Following a year of record-breaking progress, Indiana University will rededicate itself to the "principles of excellence" that have helped the university position itself as one of the state's most successful enterprises in spite of continuing financial challenges.

In his annual State of the University address, delivered today (Sept. 28) on the IUPUI campus, IU President Michael McRobbie outlined six core principles that will guide the university over the next decade leading up to the university's bicentenary in 2020: ensuring an excellent education; recruiting and retaining a great faculty; maximizing research; increasing international engagement; supporting the health sciences and health care; and strengthening the university's efforts in engagement and economic development.

McRobbie also reflected on the university's mission statement, approved by IU Trustees in 2005, and the vision that grew out of that statement: for IU to be one of the great research universities of the 21st century and the preeminent institution of higher education in Indiana.

For the complete text of McRobbie's State of the University address, go to http://www.indiana.edu/~pres/vision/state-of-university/index.shtml or watch an archived broadcast at http://broadcast.iu.edu.

See the original release:
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/15751.html

IU Represented at NASA Education Stakeholders' Summit

Assistant Dean for the University Graduate School, Dr. Yolanda Treviño, will be representing IU as a panelist and a regional specialist at the NASA Education Stakeholders' Summit, “An Innovative Solution To Support the STEM Workforce of Tomorrow,” Sept 13-15, 2010, in Chantilly, VA.

She is one of four speakers on the Institutional Solutions: Maximizing Access to Available Human and Fiscal Resources Panel. This panel will present perspectives from NASA, other Federal Agencies, Industry, Non-Profits and Academia on strategies to maximize access to human and fiscal resources to attract, retain and prepare STEM Talent from college to career. The other three panelists are from the National Science Foundation, MIT and Southern Florida.

She is a Regional Specialist for the Institute for Broadening Participation "Building the STEM Workforce: Pathways for Recruitment, Retention, and Career Development" project supports NASA's OSSI initiative. Through this project, IBP leads a series of recruitment and retention efforts with a national network of colleges and universities along with three additional organizations with similar projects. The OSSI initiative involves streamlining the application and selection process for NASA funded educational opportunities such as scholarships, internships, and fellowships, with an overall goal of strengthening the STEM workforce and increasing the number of students successfully pursuing degrees and careers in the sciences. For more information, visit: http://www.ibparticipation.org/projects.asp?sort=NASAREG

She is the director for the IU Midwest Crossroads Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (a National Science Foundation grant program which develops and implements innovative programs that promote the academic success of graduate students, with a special interest in activities designed to advance under-represented minority students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics degree programs); is responsible for diversity-building fellowships; and, serves as the ombudsperson for the Graduate and Professional Student Organization, the official graduate student government for IU.

College of Arts and Sciences dean resigns

Kirkwood Hall. Courtesy of Erika Lee, The University Graduate School.

Bennett Bertenthal, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, announced his resignation Tuesday.

IU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre said Bertenthal’s decision was announced to IU faculty at noon by e-mail from Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson.

Hanson’s e-mail stated Bertenthal has decided to step down as dean and return to a full-time role as a faculty member, devoting himself to teaching and research. Bertenthal started his position as dean in 2007.

In an e-mail sent out to the faculty and staff of the College of Arts and Sciences, Bertenthal said the direction of the events are moving in ways that are less compatible with his goals for the College.

“As a dean, my steadfast vision has been to advance cutting-edge research, scholarship and creative activities to provide students with a broad-based liberal education and to serve the state, the nation and the world,” he said in the e-mail.

Within the current administration, Bertenthal said there are significant differences
of opinion regarding how he should proceed and many bear directly on fundamental issues confronting the College of Arts and Sciences.

“These differences of opinion, some of which are quite strong,” Bertenthal said, “are not unusual among knowledgeable and dedicated administrators, but they can create disruptions and disharmonies which could be costly to the College and the University.”

Bertenthal said in the interests of beginning the transition as soon as possible, the University has requested he step down as dean at the beginning of spring break.

Friday will be Bertenthal’s last day as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

“I am very pleased to have the opportunity to return to full-time teaching and research as a James H. Rudy Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences,” Bertenthal said. “This too, is a privilege because I will be working in one of the most outstanding psychology departments in the nation.”

MacIntyre said David Zaret will be the interim dean until a new dean can be chosen.

Zaret served as interim dean for the College once before in 2006, before Bertenthal was hired. Zaret has been a member of the IU faculty since 1977 and served as executive associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1999 to 2005.

(By Jake Wright | IDS Reports: 3/9/2010)