Part 1. IPFW Profile

Click on a link to be taken to the entry below.

• About this Bulletin
• About the University
• Undergraduate Programs: Degrees, Certificates, Minors, and Transfers
• IPFW Office Directory
  • IPFW Bookstore Hours (fall/spring)
  • Helmke Library Hours (fall/spring)

The Bulletin provides information about the undergraduate programs, rules, courses, and faculty of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). Information about IPFW’s graduate programs appears in a separate publication, the IPFW Graduate Bulletin.

Information in the Bulletin will help students to make important choices about their education, and it will familiarize them with the many important services IPFW provides. Since the Bulletin is a primary resource for making decisions about an IPFW education, it is important for students to retain a personal copy throughout their tenure at the university.

Changes occur as needs arise. Changes in rules and procedures generally become effective at the time they are published. Also, new or changed academic program requirements may provide you with additional options. Because of this, you should review statements on IPFW services, policies, programs, and courses in each new edition of the Bulletin published while you are a student. When you enter a degree or certificate program, you will be required to fulfill the requirements published in the Bulletin (or its supplement or departmental regulation) current at the time of your most recent entry or re-entry into that program at IPFW. Only with the written acknowledgment of your academic advisor can you elect to fulfill the requirements in any subsequent Bulletin or supplement. Your academic advisor can assist you with this choice and ensure that such changes are officially recorded.

NOTE: The information in this Bulletin is subject to change without notice. Actions by federal and state governments and the boards of trustees, administration, and faculty of the universities may produce such changes.

Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) offers more academic and extracurricular opportunities than any other higher education institution in northeast Indiana. A joint campus of two internationally recognized Big Ten schools, IPFW grants both Indiana University and Purdue University degrees.

IPFW reflects the IU and Purdue commitments to excellence in teaching, research, and service. The university takes advantage of the latest technologies in order to enhance information exchange, classroom instruction, research, and communications. Indiana University and Purdue University carry traditions of distinction in humanities, the arts, health sciences, social sciences, engineering, technology, and computer science.

IPFW provides access to an excellent education through academic diversity, flexibility, and affordability. IPFW students have access to superior research, academic, and extracurricular pursuits. IPFW is committed to the continued educational, economic, and cultural development of its 11-county service area.

Nearly 12,000 students, ranging in age from 14 to 79, are enrolled in more than 190 academic programs. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as certificate options. Some 7,500 additional students pursue noncredit continuing education courses. While the diverse student body continues to grow, the average class size remains 22.

The university is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Various schools, divisions, and programs have earned additional accreditation through professional societies.

IPFW History The history of IPFW is a history of mergers. IPFW has steadily evolved since the initial merger of the IU and Purdue Fort Wayne regional campuses in 1964. A gift of additional land by a consortium of local donors has increased the size of the campus to 643 acres, including land on the east and west banks of the St. Joseph River. Physically, the university has grown from a single building into a multicampus community cornerstone offering an unparalleled range of educational and cultural opportunities.

Academic Programs Degree and certificate programs are offered through 11 colleges, schools, or divisions. Arts and Sciences, Health Sciences, and Visual and Performing Arts contain departments offering both IU and Purdue degree programs. Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science and Organizational Leadership and Supervision offer only Purdue degree programs; Business and Management Sciences, Education, General Studies, Labor Studies, and Public and Environmental Affairs, only Indiana. Academic Counseling and Career Services serves lower-division students who have not chosen a degree program. The Division of Continuing Studies offers credit and noncredit programs throughout northeast Indiana in cooperation with degree-granting schools and divisions. Other entities, such as the Indiana University School of Medicine, offer programs at IPFW with varying degrees of campus affiliation. Many individual schools and programs are accredited by professional program associations.

IPFW stresses a constructive relationship between teaching and research. Most IPFW faculty members devote 25 percent of their effort to research. Some receive support from internally funded summer fellowships and grants-in-aid. Other support is available through the Purdue and IU systems. External grants and contracts regularly account for more than $1 million a year. These activities reflect the research missions of Indiana and Purdue universities; however, projects tend to involve individuals or small groups of researchers rather than large staffs and facilities, and special emphasis is placed on studies directly related to regional needs and interests. Faculty are encouraged to involve undergraduate students in research projects.

Learning Assessment IPFW is committed to providing quality education for our students. Several assessment and evaluation processes have been implemented that help us determine the effectiveness of our academic programs and service units as a whole.

Assessment is important to you because it gives you an opportunity to tell us how well we are doing. For example, you may be asked periodically to give us your feedback about the quality of academic services through a questionnaire. We may also ask you to participate by submitting anonymous examples of your course work and participating in focus groups. These activities help us determine the extent to which IPFW is contributing to your preparation for a career and life.

Core Mission The core mission of IPFW is to provide quality postsecondary education in northeast Indiana by focusing on student learning, while fostering intellectual exploration and attainment, and serving the region.

IPFW Goals Long-range goals of the university include continued improvement of academic programs, expanded faculty development programs, enhanced library collections and services, increased university and external support for research, increased academic and fiscal autonomy, attraction and retention of a more heterogeneous student body, expansion of graduate programs that serve regional needs, active support for regional economic development programs, and greater integration with the economic and cultural communities of the region.

The fifth-largest university in Indiana, IPFW has grown without sacrificing its commitment to faculty-student interaction. Quality of teaching will continue to be a major criterion for faculty compensation and promotion-and-tenure decisions and will be recognized through awards for distinguished teaching. To attract and retain outstanding teachers, IPFW will continue its effort to provide competitive levels of faculty compensation.

IPFW will also sustain and enhance support of faculty research and will expand opportunities for students to participate in research projects. The university will promote the use of technology as a feature of university education across the curriculum.

IPFW is committed to preparing students of northeast Indiana for productive lives in a multicultural, changing world. Special attention is given to bringing university education to nontraditional students. The campus will expand efforts to increase matriculation and retention of minority students, and in a related effort, to hire and retain minority faculty.

The campus will continue to build programs of academic support for all students, including those programs intended for students of outstanding ability. Because diversity of student body and staff is an essential component of the university experience, IPFW also intends to attract a somewhat larger number of students from outside the region. To this end, and to accommodate verifiable local demand, a student housing complex with apartment-style floor plans opened in August 2004.

IPFW plays an important role in the cultural and economic life of northeast Indiana. Faculty community service is and will continue to be encouraged. The university maintains and expects to strengthen relationships with community arts organizations and seeks additional opportunities to serve as a vital resource for business, industry, public and private education, and government in northeast Indiana. Retraining of the workforce and response to changes in the economy will be important priorities in years to come, as will efforts to improve services for an increasingly diverse student body. The campus seeks to organize its efforts and relationships with IU and Purdue in ways that will enhance its ability to anticipate and respond to regional needs. The continued development of the campus, with community support engendered by this development, will allow IPFW to meet the increasing demand for higher education in northeast Indiana.

IPFW Statements on Diversity In fall 1994, Chancellor Michael Wartell established the following campus statement on diversity:

Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne recognizes, affirms, and celebrates the diversity in its campus, local, state, and national communities. Each member of these communities represents varied and different cultures and attributes simultaneously, yet because of these differences, many have been systematically excluded from full, fair, and respected participation in higher education. Therefore, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne seeks to demonstrate through its curriculum, support systems, and policies that it values these differences, creating and maintaining a campus environment that welcomes diverse characteristics, backgrounds, and experiences and identifying such diversity as a vital source of the intellectual, social, and personal growth essential to a university education.

To implement the above statement, Chancellor Wartell appointed a campus Diversity Council. In fall 1995, the Diversity Council published the following definition of diversity:

The Diversity Council is committed to creating an environment that enhances learning by recognizing the inherent worth of all individuals at the university. It is our conviction that diversity stimulates creativity, promotes the exchange of ideas, and enriches campus life. Diversity involves the differences among individuals that reflect the cultures from which the university draws strength, including, but not necessarily limited to, differences of race, ethnicity, color, gender, sexual orientation, class, age, and disabilities, as well as political and religious affiliation, and socioeconomic status.

IPFW is accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Information about North Central accreditation is available from the vice chancellor for academic affairs (KT 170, 260-481-6805). You may also contact the North Central Association directly by writing to 30 North LaSalle St., Suite 2400, Chicago, IL 60602-2504; or by phone at 800-621-7440.

The following is an alphabetical list of all undergraduate degree, certificate, minor, and transfer programs available at IPFW.

• A degree is an award earned by satisfactorily completing a specified program of courses and adhering to the applicable academic regulations. Each degree includes one or more major fields of study. Completion of a degree program is acknowledged by receipt of a diploma. The two most common degrees earned by IPFW students are the associate degree (abbreviated A.A. for Associate of Arts and A.S. for Associate of Science) and the bachelor’s degree (abbreviated B.A. for Bachelor of Arts and B.S. for Bachelor of Science). Earning an associate degree requires at least two years of full-time study, with a longer period if enrolled only part time. Earning a bachelor’s degree takes about twice as long.
• A certificate is not a college degree, but is composed of a series of courses that focus on a specialized area of knowledge or specific skills. The university recognizes completion of the required courses and satisfaction of applicable academic regulations by awarding a certificate.
• A minor is a less comprehensive program of study which is chosen in conjunction with a major field of study. To earn a minor, the student must complete a degree program in a different subject area.
• A transfer program is a series of courses that will apply toward a degree to be awarded by another campus of IU or Purdue. Credits for these courses can be transferred to the other campus, but students are required to satisfy the admission and graduation requirements of the campus to which they transfer.