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IUP Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Timothy Moerland has announced the next step in the evolution of the University College.

Programs in the University College, several additional student support services, and the University Libraries will be joining together as the University College.

“This evolution reflects an ongoing process to provide clear and easily accessible wayfinding of all types for our students in one central location, combined with all the information and resources offered through the IUP Libraries,” he said.

“This newest iteration of the University College, a kind of ‘information commons,' reflects our commitment to becoming a truly student-centered university, which is the basis of our strategic plan,” he said. “The University College has always had wayfinding for students—academic, social, major, and career—at its center, and these changes help to meet that fundamental goal of helping students to find their way.

“I want to thank the many individuals who have been part of this planning process, including Yaw Asamoah, currently serving as interim director of University Libraries, who has agreed to serve as the dean of the University College.”

The University College now will include:

Academic Services will include four areas:

  • Advising Support Services (new)
  • Course Planning and Forecasting (new)
  • Orientation and Onboarding (transfer orientation, freshman orientation, parent orientation), Welcome Week (working with Student Affairs), and Placement Coordination (new)
  • Instructional Design Services, coming to the unit from the College of Education and Communications into Academic Services

Areas within Academic Services will work closely with a number of divisions and colleges, along with the Center for Teaching Excellence, IT Services, the Registrar, Enrollment Management, Institutional Research, and and the MA in Education, Training, and Instructional Technology program within the Professional Studies in Education Department.

Student Success (ASC@IUP) and its current programs and services—student advocate, supplemental instruction, tutoring programs, and peer mentoring—will be joined by the Hawks Q & A Center. This area will work closely with all of the colleges, the Office of International Education, Enrollment Management, D2A2, and the Labyrinth Center.

University Studies will include three programs currently in the University College: Exploratory Studies, grant-funded programs (ACT 101 Grant and Second-Chance Pell), and the First-Year Experience (exploratory). The degree programs in General Studies (both the bachelor's and associate's), currently housed in the College of Education and Communications, will move to this unit.

The structure of the University Libraries will remain, with offices and services of interlibrary loans; access services; media services; collections, acquisitions; cataloging; reference services; Special Collections; and web services.

“While no changes in office structure are planned at this time, we are continuing to look at how libraries continue to evolve in order to determine new ways for the University Libraries to serve our community,” Moerland said.

Organizational changes for the University College will take effect on July 1; programs and initiatives of the units and offices within the UC will begin work at that time in order to be ready for students when they arrive at IUP in late August.

It is the goal for all of the offices and services of the University College to be physically located in the Stapleton/Stabley Library buildings, including in the space in the basement of Stabley Library remodeled in 2019 for the University College.

“Our NextGen work is very much a work in progress, the result of taking a hard look at the way that we do our work, being honest about impediments to success, reviewing assessment data, and listening to our students,” Moerland said. “Thank you, all, for your continued good work as we move forward with this important initiative.”