Indiana State University is a place of grand opportunity potential.  Today, as an organization, it and we face challenges to our fundamental purpose and function, but it is important that we don’t confuse our underlying purpose and function with the challenges we face. Indiana State University is NOT its problems, and distinguishing ISU from the challenges we face affords us a perspective from which we can lay claim, unabashedly, to our own greatness.  But, while recognizing the challenges we face, it becomes incumbent to us as an organization to move toward successfully overcoming those challenges.

It is for this purpose that, in December of last year, the University President’s Council approved a plan to develop and engage a sweeping program of employee training designed to trigger a cultural change from its current state to one of a culture of caring, a culture of training and a culture of success.  From this purpose, the I-CARE program has been established and we are currently in process of piloting the curriculum and delivery vehicle for the training itself.  As a matter of fact, in the back of the room are registration sheets for three upcoming training opportunities we would like to invite you to become a part of. As unit directors and supervisors, each of you plays an integral role in the University’s function and play a unique role in the university.  Please consider taking advantage of both the training the I-CARE program can offer you as an individual, and bringing us your thoughts on how we might be able to improve the program itself as we officially launch it later this summer.

Each of the training opportunities consists of three individual training sessions.

Part One of the I-CARE training deals with how we serve our various constituencies, and those constituencies exist in large number here at ISU, from the residents of the region and the state, to the vendors with whom we work, to our students and their families, and indeed, to one another as employees.  How we serve our constituencies is a reflection of our collective organizational and individual values.  As we recognize our shared values, we can better serve those who come to us for support as well as serving ourselves as employees.  I am taken aback on a daily basis at the depth of passion so many people here at Indiana State have for the school and their job.  By unifying our passion, by acting as a collective force of individuals, we will surely reach our goal of outstanding service to our constituents.  That service consists of three domains, including how we embrace the concept of service, how we manage the individual face-to-face and collective dealings with constituents, and how we attend to constantly evaluating and improving the various processes that are a part of our existence and operations.

Part Two of the training deals with how we manage our relationships with one another, how we manage our relationships with representatives of our various constituencies, and how manage our relationship with the institution itself.  As we become more skilled in relationship management, we begin to cultivate a culture to which our constituents themselves will become more deeply attached, and it is the quality and degree of constituent attachment that will enhance enrollment and persistence on the part of our students and that sends a clear message to the state and region around us that we are a caring institution that is wholly committed to the success of our students.

The third component of training deals with promoting ISU as a school of choice.  I support and endorse ISU as a school of choice because I have lived what it has to offer.  While an undergraduate and graduate student here, I experienced ISU’s greatness and now, as an employee, I’ve had the opportunity to see first-hand what ISU is and what it can become.  I contend that it matters not whether we carry a rake or a textbook as an implement for our work, whether we wear a suit or coveralls as our uniform, whether we labor primarily with our hands or with our creative mind, each and every one of us play a critical and pivotal role in the recruiting and retention of our students and the quality of life each of our constituents, and each of us, experiences 

To goal of the I-CARE program is to assist all employees in becoming intentional in their work; to assist each of us in becoming positively empowered; to support our professional development in such a way ISU and those whom we serve benefit to the maximum degree our greatness can facilitate now, and well into the future.