For Indiana University East the past year has brought many celebrations and accomplishments including breaking ground for a new building, record-breaking enrollment, opening Room 912, and adding new academic programs.  Here’s a look at the most memorable moments from 2014 for IU East.

Most recently, IU East congratulated its director of the Campus Library Frances Yates. Yates was one of 10 librarians to receive the prestigious Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award in recognition of outstanding community service. The award recognizes those who demonstrate the critical role librarians play in transforming lives and communities through education and lifelong learning. Yates was selected from a pool of 1,000 nominees. The award is administered through the American Library Association.

The month of November was host to several campus events including the 2014 Homecoming week, November 10-15. Throughout the week IU East welcomed the campus, community and alumni to participate in Homecoming traditions and activities,  including the Student Events and Activities Center Groundbreaking Ceremony, celebrating the addition of the campus’ fifth building. The facility will promote student success through a comprehensive offering of programming in health and wellness, physical education, athletics, student activities and special events. The center is scheduled for completion in 2016.

During Homecoming week, IU East also celebrated the completion of the renovation to its central outdoors space area with a Quad Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. The renovation was designed to provide a more amiable space for campus gatherings and events. This includes improved drainage in the center of campus; added landscaping with a rain garden and new perimeter trees, lit pergola, and replacement of inner sidewalks. Several sculpture pads were installed for future artwork.

IU East honored three individuals for their service to the university and within the community during the Chancellor’s Medallion Dinner, one of the many events held as a part of Homecoming week. The Chancellor’s Medallion honors individuals who have rendered distinguished service to IU East. Honorees included IU East Professor Emeritus Ashton Veramallay, Ph.D., IU East Professor Emerita Jane Vincent, Ed.D. R.N., and James Helms, Chancellor Emeritus of Ivy Tech Community College Southeast.

This year IU East established an Alumni Hall of Fame in recognition and celebration of outstanding alumni of IU East. Jeff Cappa and Kate Hogg were inducted to the Alumni Hall of Fame during the Chancellor’s Medallion Dinner. Inductees into the Alumni Hall of Fame are alumni who have typified the IU East tradition of excellence and brought credit to the campus through their personal accomplishments, professional achievement and leadership and humanitarian service and citizenship.

For the third September in a row, IU East was named as a Military Friendly® School by Victory Media Inc., the premier media entity for military personnel transitioning into civilian life. The list provides service members transparent, data-driven ratings about post-military education and career opportunities. The 2015 Military Friendly Schools® list honors the top 15 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America’s military service members, veterans, and spouses as students and ensure their success on campus.

At the start of the fall semester, IU East once again announced a record-breaking enrollment with 4,573 students enrolled for classes. This was the seventh consecutive fall the campus has experienced historic enrollment growth. Since fall 2007, IU East’s headcount enrollment has doubled.

The IU East School of Nursing received approval to offer a third concentration for its Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) program in September 2014. The Family Nurse Practitioner concentration will be available beginning the 2015 spring semester. The program provides registered nurses with advanced practice knowledge, through concentrations in nursing education, nursing administration and now family nurse practitioner.

IU East and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) celebrated a successful first-year partnership in August 2014. The WTA and IU East partnership is an exclusive educational agreement for players. IU East’s online degree completion programs offer the high quality of an Indiana University degree to students throughout Indiana, nationally and internationally. IU East offers 10 options for students to complete their bachelor’s degree online.

The IU East Danielson Learning Center celebrated its 15th anniversary in August 2014. The Danielson Center has been a part of the Henry County community since it opened in 1999 in New Castle. Through collaboration, IU East helps to maintain and broaden the scope and quality of Henry County’s employment opportunities and improve the quality of life in the region.

This past summer, the City of Richmond, Richmond Art Museum and IU East received an Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Awards were announced in July. Richmond was one of two cities in the state of Indiana to receive an Our Town grant in 2014. The $50,000 grant will help fund a two-year project that will be used to strengthen the community through the arts by establishing a cultural trail throughout Wayne County, home to some of the oldest cultural institutions in Indiana, and will focus on the county’s deep arts and cultural heritage.

On June 12, 2014, Wayne Bank and Trust Co. and the IU East Center for Leadership Development hosted the first annual ATHENA Leadership Award® Dinner. Mary Jo Clark was the recipient of the award, which honors an exemplary leader who has achieved excellence in their business or profession, served the community in a meaningful way and, most importantly, actively assisted women to achieve their full leadership potential.

The university welcomed its largest graduating class to the Alumni Association in May 2014. During the 43rd Commencement Ceremony, IU East conferred 621 baccalaureate and master’s degrees, the most awarded in the campus’ history.

In May, the IU East School of Education was ranked as one of the top public universities producing the most effective teachers in Indiana.  The State Board of Education evaluated first, second, and third-year teachers based on four performance standards: highly effective, effective, improvement necessary, and ineffective. The 2012-2013 school year was the first year for statewide teacher evaluation and this was the first collection of baseline aggregate results. The university had one of the highest percentages of educators who ranked highly effective or effective, although IU East had a smaller pool of graduates included in the study compared to other public and private institutions of higher education. Of the 14 IU East graduates evaluated, 50 percent of its graduates were ranked highly effective and 43 percent were ranked effective.

IU East received final approval from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools for a Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics (M.A.T.) in February 2014, is IU East’s sixth graduate program to be added to its academic portfolio since June 2007. IU East’s graduate programs include the Master of Science in Education, Master of Science in Management, Master of Social Work, Master of Science in Nursing, and most recently, the Master of Arts in English.

In January 2014, IU East and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences opened Room 912, located in the center of uptown Richmond at 912 E. Main Street. Room 912 is comprised of an art gallery, classroom, and studio space. IU East classes and events have been hosted there, as well as Richmond Art Museum classes.

IU East’s community-focused projects were shared in the President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge Inaugural Report published by the U.S. Department of Education. The report highlighted participating institutions’ activities as part of President Barack Obama’s national initiative that began in 2011 with the goal of providing or expanding opportunities for students to participate in community service with a component of interfaith engagement. IU East is one of 11 universities or colleges in the state of Indiana to participate in the inaugural program. The university joined the program when it began in August 2011 as an initiative to build understanding among diverse communities and contribute to the common good.

IU East received the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce Achievement of Excellence, Non Profit, Growth and Expansion award in January 2014. The award recognized IU East’s continuous enrollment growth since fall 2007; the campus’ development of a Master of Science in Management program; and the campus’ plan for a new Student Events and Activities Center and its successful fundraising campaign.

In Red Wolves athletics, Tyler Fangman and Mallory Livingston were named to NAIA All-America teams.

Fangman was named to the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball All-America honorable mention list, announced in March 2014. Fangman was one of 68 players on the All-America teams. Fangman is IU East’s fourth men’s basketball All-American in the program’s seven NAIA seasons.

Livingston was named to the Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball All-America third team. Selections were announced in December 2014. Livingston was one of 94 players on the All-America list. The top 42 players made the first, second and third teams. Livingston is the fourth IU East volleyball player to earn All-America honors.

The men’s track and field team received the 2013-14 NAIA Buffalo Funds Five Star Champions of Character Team Award in May and announced during the NAIA Track and Field Hall of Fame Luncheon in Gulf Shores, Ala. The NAIA presents Five Star Champions of Character Team Awards for each of the NAIA’s 23 championship sports.

Seth Prince and Dylan Cope advanced to the NAIA Cross Country National Championships, held in November 2014 at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kan. Prince finished 210th and Cope finished 224th. Prince, a senior, ran the 10th-fastest time in school history in his final IU East cross country race. He holds five of the top 10 times in school history. This year’s championship was Prince’s second consecutive trip to the national meet. He is the only IU East men’s cross country runner to qualify twice. This was Cope’s first year to advance to the national meet. Cope, a sophomore, is also a record holder; he has two of the top 10 times in school history. IU East has sent runners to the national meet in five of the program’s seven seasons. Prince, Cope and freshman Adam Klipstine made the men’s all-conference team. Freshman Grace Yeaton made the women’s all-KIAC team to cap a season in which she ran the two fastest women’s 5K cross country times in IU East history.

IU East is one of 168 colleges and universities recognized with an NAIA Champions of Character Five Star Award for the 2013-14 school year. IU East earned a “Silver” designation on the NAIA’s new three-tiered Champions of Character recognition system, receiving the maximum possible scores in student-athlete outreach, servant leadership opportunities and academic performance. IU East also received the maximum possible score for Champions of Character participation by Chancellor Kathryn Cruz-Uribe. The Champions of Character Scorecard measures each institution’s commitment to the NAIA Champions of Character program. Institutions earned points in character training, conduct in competition, academic focus, character recognition and character promotion. Institutions also earned points based on exceptional student-athlete grade point averages and by having minimal to no ejections during competition throughout the course of the academic year. IU East has been named a Champions of Character institution after each of its seven years of NAIA membership.

The women’s basketball program began its inaugural NAIA season (Read Season Preview). The women’s first game was November 1 at Taylor University. The Red Wolves opened the season with a loss, but the special day of firsts far outweighs the score board. (Read Day of Firsts). The women’s basketball team currently owns an 8-6 record.