October 4, 2002

Indiana State University, Vincennes
offer dual admission

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Prospective college students considering a two-year school for the first phase of their higher education can ensure a smooth transition to a four-year school under a plan announced Friday by the presidents of Indiana State and Vincennes universities.

Beginning with applications for the fall 2003 term, students may apply for dual admission to both VU and Indiana State.

“Dual admission is a big step forward,” Vincennes University President Bryan Blanchard said. “Some of the more student friendly institutions in the country have been experimenting with dual admission.”

VU and Indiana State have a long and productive history of cooperation, Indiana State President Lloyd W. Benjamin III noted.

“Vincennes University has been an excellent partner in the articulation of programs. Dual admission further cements that relationship and opens up a larger pipeline for those students who want to make the transition from one university to another,” Benjamin said.

“Two-plus-two articulations and dual admissions between VU and

Indiana State have a long history,” said Steven Pontius, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Indiana State. “What we’re doing is simply taking the traditional two-plus-two program and enabling students to be better advised.” Indiana State will have a full-time representative on the Vincennes University campus to facilitate student transfers, Pontius said.

Indiana State and Vincennes currently offer about 30 transfer programs in a variety of fields. Faculty from the two universities will meet regularly to ensure those programs meet expectations and that students are well served, said Dale Dowden, interim Provost and vice president for instructional services at VU.

“The articulation agreements that we enjoy with Indiana State are among the best that we have,” Dowden said, noting VU transfer students perform as well academically at Indiana State as they did at Vincennes. “That speaks to the work the faculties have done to ensure the courses are comparable,” he said.

VU and Indiana State officials met recently to finalize the dual admission plan and stressed that students will be encouraged to obtain an associate degree at VU before transferring. 

“We will not recruit them until they are 50 hours into their academic program. We would prefer they graduate before transferring to ISU,” said Tom Sawyer, interim executive director of Indiana State’s Division of Lifelong Learning.

“Dual admission allows the student a seamless transfer. Once they complete their associate degree they come to ISU. They are our students and they don’t have to worry about readmitting themselves,” Sawyer said.

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Note: Photos, video and audio from the recent meeting concerning dual admissions, along with video “B-roll” of both the Indiana State and Vincennes University campuses, are available by contacting ISU Public Affairs at (812) 237-3773.

Contact:
Tom Sawyer, interim executive director, Division of Lifelong Learning, Indiana State University, (812) 237-2186; Phillip Pierpont, assistant provost for academic affairs, Vincennes University, (812) 888-4336

Writer:
Dave Taylor, ISU Public Affairs
(812) 237-3743 or devtaylo@isugw.indstate.edu

ISU Public Affairs:
(812) 237-3773 or http://isunews.indstate.edu