Indiana & Great Lakes

An established source of educational innovation and professional development in Indiana, the Center for Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL) at the University of Indianapolis commits itself to addressing the unique needs of rural areas through their Rural Early College Network and the Indiana Collaborative for Rural Education. Janet Boyle serves as the Director of Rural Early College Network (RECN) at CELL and RSC Hub contact.

Originally founded through a generous donation from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. in 2001, CELL quickly grew and has sustained efforts to improve STEM curricula, create school-to-community career pathways, and host professional development seminars for schools and educators across Indiana. In 2022, CELL launched a Rural Teacher Corp, with assistance from RSC’s Catalyst Grant Initiative.

Former Director of Rural Education at CELL and previous RSC Hub contact, Dr. Jeremy Eltz, attributes the Center’s continued longevity to its ability to “forecast down the road” and to “convene people while also being good thought partners.” A determination to support the state’s numerous rural districts has also been central to the program’s efforts. Eltz explains how CELL’s previous director “realized rural schools have needs we aren’t addressing and started looking at different rural organizations to see what more we could do.”

Through the Rural Early College Network (RECN), CELL is expanding early college programs at schools to help students reach post-secondary institutions and complete degrees. More than sponsoring dual credit classes, Eltz explains that RECN encompasses “a whole ecosystem” of partners and actions focused on a diverse array of rural students:

“Concurrent enrollment is just one piece. To be a part of the early college program, you have to have leadership teams in place made up of school administrators, counselors, and teachers; student advising; and college field trips as well as parent advisory groups, the involvement of local partners, and a clear connection between college and the workforce.”

That connection to the community, for Eltz, is critical. The success of these efforts arises “through the partnerships that would be formed, the community networking and buy-in from parents and local employers. That’s the approach we take; we try to get as large a stakeholder group as we can into the model to sustain the effort. That’s been the approach CELL has always taken.”