Indiana Wesleyan University has announced a restructuring of some of its academic programs in the College of Arts and Sciences on the Marion Campus in Marion, Indiana, located approximately 60 miles north of Indianapolis. The changes position IWU to better serve students in areas of increasing need and to reimagine or discontinue some existing programs.
Graduate degree programs will be expanded to meet the increased demand for masters prepared individuals in a variety of fields. Dr. Stacy Hammons, Provost, states, “We’ve created 3+2 and other attractive graduate programs in response to evolving student interests and opportunities.” New options will include a residential Master of Social Work, an online Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy, and an additional emphasis on Expressive Arts Therapy in the current Community and Mental Health Graduate programs.
For undergraduate students, IWU will be launching a new degree program in Multi-Media Storytelling, with an emphasis in Film, Broadcast Media, and Journalism. Under construction are new undergraduate programs in engineering and cybersecurity.
Additionally, some existing programs will be modified and/or eliminated due to changing enrollment trends. Programs being eliminated include: Physical Health Education, Church Music, and Adolescent Ministries. For students currently enrolled in these majors, the university will provide a pathway for completion. These changes will result in the elimination of nine faculty positions.
IWU-Marion Chancellor, Dr. Rod Reed, stated, “Making these decisions is difficult because of the love and concern we feel for each one whose position is being eliminated. They have been faithful, committed faculty members, and we are committed to supporting them as they pursue their next position.”
As an additional part of the restructure, the IWU Marion Campus will be eliminating the WIWU TV station and the Fortress radio station in order to focus on the growing audience accessing IWU media through online streaming. IWU will continue to stream university sporting events and community-based programming online and in cooperation with ESPN. Dr. David Wright, IWU President, explains, “We want to leverage the skills of our brilliant production staff to help meet the need of student learning and content delivery in emerging and innovative ways.”
Dr. David Wright also added, “The most effective organizations are those that prepare ahead for future challenges in order to continue to thrive. We are working hard to be proactive in addressing the changing needs of our students. I fully support these creative and wise changes that better equip us for the future.”
In response to the closure of the TV station, Randall E. King, Director of WIWU-TV, issued this personal statement:
“The following is my personal statement and does not represent the official viewpoint of Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, Indiana,
Earlier this week, Indiana Wesleyan University announced the closing of WIWU-TV at the end of 2019 as part of a package of faculty and program cuts on the IWU-Marion campus. My position as Director of WIWU-TV and my teaching faculty position in the Division of Communication & Theatre will also be discontinued.
WIWU-TV has been part of IWU’s academic program since I came in 2005. The TV station is a professional learning laboratory for our communication students yet also serves the entire university and Grant County community through local programming. In the financial analysis of the past year, IWU’s leaders apparently decided the costs associated with the TV and radio stations are not sustainable in this current economic environment. I want our viewers and the public to know I disagree with this decision.
Those who remain from our IWU-TV staff will be reassigned to media education support functions within the Division of Communication & Theatre. They will reportedly focus their time on live-streaming of IWU Athletic events and other community-based programming. Crossroads will end on December 31 when WIWU-TV goes off the air, just short of its 25th anniversary of broadcasting on channel 51.
I am grateful to IWU for the past 14 years and the opportunity to lead a professional television operation on an academic campus. It is a rare and wonderful thing. I will treasure so many experiences: 14 seasons of Crossroads, hundreds of stories about people in our community, Friday night high school football with our TV production truck, and covering numerous special events where our students met and served the people of Grant County.
Mostly, I appreciate the work of our talented TV staff and the students we’ve been able to train and engage in meaningful production. I believe WIWU-TV has made a difference in this community and represented Indiana Wesleyan University’s Christ-centered mission to engage our world and the Division of Communication & Theatre Division’s mission to give voice to stories. I will now focus my attention on the IWU students I have the privilege of teaching one more semester and making the final few months on WIWU-TV represent the highest qualities of local television production and community service we have established, as my wife and I wait to see what God has for us next.”
