IU South Bend’s new chancellor, Dr. Brian Pappas, held the first meeting in his “Community Conversation” series with the members of the Academic Cabinet for input about the proposed priorities for 2025-26 in Academic Affairs. He and a few members of the cabinet have set up an initiative for groups of faculty, staff and students to work together and communicate on which priorities should be addressed first. 

The members of the cabinet put out whiteboards with the priorities that the members of the cabinet, faculty, staff and students haven’t completed or have not started this year. They wanted people that were participating to put colored dots on their opinion of the priorities that should not be delayed (Red), could be delayed (Blue), should be a priority (Green) or raised questions (Yellow). Each person in the group could only place one dot in each priority’s row. They also had a packet of the proposed priorities for 2025-26 to get more details when choosing which one needs more priority or could be delayed. 

After each activity, they let the people in the event ask questions or discuss which priorities they favored and why. This helped the members of the cabinet and the chancellor to see which priority should be their point of focus. They are planning to do these events every month to get more input from others and hear their opinions on these matters. Updates about the dates and times for each Community Conversation can be found on the Daily Titan.