Eleven journalism interns on the IUP Strategic Visioning project team are conducting interviews with campus and community stakeholders this summer, continuing the work launched by journalism professor Michele Papakie and journalism students during Spring semester.
Everyone is asked to sign up to participate in one of several on-campus group interviews scheduled for June 18 and July 1, 11, and 17, 2013.
If you're not on campus, there are other ways to share your views; just check “contact me with alternative options” on the sign-up form.
In addition, the students will attend Picnics in the Oak Grove on June 26 and July 10 and 24, as well as IUP Day at Kennywood on Sunday, July 21. For these sessions, registration is not required.
The interns are seeking opinions from faculty, staff, and members of the local community to help create a shared vision of IUP's future, facilitating discussion around the following questions:
- What makes IUP distinctive?
- What would you like to see us celebrate at our sesquicentennial in 2025?
Papakie worked with students in her Public Relations/Presentation Making class in the spring to begin this process. They developed a blog and Twitter and Facebook pages, and began practicing their facilitation skills with students, faculty, and staff.
They have reached about a dozen faculty members as well as staff in numerous campus offices, including the Office of University Events, the Office of Finance and Budget, the Office of Communications, and the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex.
After data gathering, the next step will be to hold a universitywide event to discuss findings and how the Strategic Visioning Project will relate to the university's upcoming Middle States Commission on Higher Education Evaluation plan.