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Date Posted:23:09:43 06/17/06 Sat Author: Reality Check Subject: IPFW
I don't know much about IPFW. So, besides location, what would they bring to the Mid-Con? What would they need to improve upon? What sports are they competitive in? What sports do they struggle in?
I am biased, but can try to give you an overview. I think that IPFW brings alot to the Mid-Con. They are competitive in most sports (especially Volleyball) and have been improving across the board. Their athletic GPA exceeded 3.0 for the second year. The athletic budget has increased each year of Division I. (5.1 M last year and 5.4 M this year). The weakest team sports are womens softball and womens basketball. Although men's basketball only won 10 games last year, this was Coach Fife's first season and the team was a hodgepodge of leftover players and who Dane could find at the last minute. I am confident that Men's Basketball will improve dramatically over the next few years. (3-1 against the Dakota schools)
In addition, major building is going on at IPFW. Currently, a 19 M Music Building is being constructed. Following that will be a medical research building and then the new Student Services Building. All of these buildings have been approved by the Indiana legislature.
The Student Services Building will dramatically impact athletics with a fieldhouse containing an NCAA regulation indoor track with seating. The scheduled opening is Fall of 2009. To my knowledge, no Mid-Con school currently has an indoor track facility and finding a site for the indoor championship is always a problem. Although IPFW opened its first dorms in 2004, there is already a long waiting list and additional dorm construction has been approved for Fall 2007 opening. Hopefully, this gives you a decent overview of athletics at IPFW. Certainly, you can look at the athletic website to get into specifics about each team.
Fort Wayne would be a great market with no other Division 1 school withing 75 miles.
Quark- I did look throught the IPFW page. Looks like a good school with a lot of future. I admit I have been critical of IPFW joining the Mid-Con-- but, based on what I don't know. Ignorance probably.I don't think most people understand how a school can be both a Purdue and Indiana branch. Perhaps you can explain this.I guess the initials will be a constant source of questions- like IUPUI is.Too bad IPFW can't come up with a name to give you a better identity.Not being critical, but that must be an issue when folks outside of FW refer to the school. Hope you get into the Mid-Con. They can use all of the help they can get.
Leatherface - You are right about the name confusing people. IPFW is a regional campus of both IU and Purdue, offering 190 undergraduate and graduate degrees(some are IU majors and some are Purdue majors). Actually, I think that the State of Indiana has the only regional university system where the branch campus awards degrees from the the main campus. Basically, you can come to IPFW earn your 4yr degree in say business (which is an IU major) and graduate with a degree issued by Indiana University. Likewise, a person could earn a degree in mechanical engineering (which is a Purdue major) and graduate with a degree issued by Purdue University. Actually, some faculty each year bring up the idea of separating from the main campuses and becoming Fort Wayne University. It has not been popular so far. Kids like to be able to get the Big Ten diploma with much smaller class sizes and for most much closer to home. Hope this explanation helps and thanks for your support.
Reality Check - Thanks for your interest in IPFW. I believe that there is a great deal of support from the student body and the Fort Wayne community. I was trying to think of how best to put numbers to this. Men's basketball, Men's Volleyball (2006 NCAA Final Four Participant), and Women's Volleyball are the most supported sports. The Men's Basketball team plays at the Memorial Coliseum, a great venue which can seat 13,000. Last year men's basketball averaged 3,393 in attendance. Attendance has increased every of our D1 status. This attendence figure would rank 2nd among Mid-Con schools for 2006. I would anticipate with over 6,000 undergraduate full-time students and a community of over 250,000 that this would continue to increase as long as IPFW put a quality team on the floor. Also, last year IPFW recieved its largest individual gift ever of $5 M ($1 M for our new indoor track facility and $4 M for athletic scholarships)
In this current process to join the Mid-Con, I have seen copies of many letters of support from local business leaders and government officials. I know that you had asked about the amount of support from student fees. I am not sure of the exact dollar amount but I know that athletics gets 60% of the student fee. I hope this information helps.
