Welcome. In keeping with tradition, I am pleased to update you on the State of our Campus.
I expect next year this honor will belong to our new chancellor, David Reingold. And I warmly welcome David back to the IU family and look forward to his leadership, alongside President Whitten.
Three years ago, when I returned to IU Bloomington, I saw an incredible opportunity to build on our campus’s historic strengths and traditions that shaped my own experience as a student and alum.
I recognized our potential to make an even more lasting impact—on the world and in the lives of our students: creating the flagship of the future, a Bloomington of Tomorrow.
Now I want to say clearly up front: I know it’s an unprecedented time for higher education broadly. I know there is great uncertainty, and many in this room and on campuses feel under attack. From research funding to classroom instruction, how we move forward may need to be very different in some ways from how we have done in the past. And that’s not easy.
And I know we have had challenges and differences here over the last three years, which have also not been easy.
But as Hoosiers, we have proven our resilience. And we will again. Today I am assured we are stronger and better prepared for the challenges ahead in creating the Bloomington of tomorrow.
In challenging times, we are making great progress:
- By improving student experiences
- By growing research and creative output
- By launching new interdisciplinary degrees and collaborations
- By transforming learning spaces and labs
- By bringing in top talent
- By ensuring sustainable funding for continued growth
- By increasing our connections with the city of Bloomington, Monroe County, our region, state, and world
- By elevating IU’s visibility and growing new interest
- and (slowly) creating a culture that fully embraces innovation, collaboration and pursuing the incredible opportunities before us.
Sincerely, thank you for all you do for Indiana University. Faculty Council, deans, chairs, student leaders, staff leaders, faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors—all those in our community.
We are thrilled you are sharing your talents in this most special of places. Your efforts are vital and valued and make us who we are.
And as we move boldly toward the Bloomington of tomorrow, you will play a critical part. If you’re not already empowered, I challenge you today, in this moment, to find your way to lead us forward.
Academic Excellence
At the core of creating the Bloomington of tomorrow is our relentless pursuit of academic excellence.
For the future, this means not only holding fast to the strengths of our current programs but actively evolving them to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.
Through faculty leadership, we’ve made significant strides in updating existing programs and developing new academic programs that respond to the needs of students and society.
New degrees:
- In 2024 alone, we introduced three new undergraduate degrees and eight graduate degrees, spanning seven different schools and the College.
- Among the new undergraduate programs are music business, developed collaboratively by the Jacobs and Kelley Schools; and public health with a focus on reproductive health.
- At the graduate level, we introduced an online master’s in education in evidence-based practices, a new master’s in public policy, as well as a new degree in economics and data science, offered jointly by the College and Luddy.
Engineering announcement
- Today, I’m excited to announce a pivotal milestone for IU’s academic future.
- Building on our longtime leadership in humanistic disciplines—we are committing $75 million over the next five years to launch new degree programs in human-centered engineering.
- As part of the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, these new degree programs will include cutting edge areas like Computer Engineering, Robotics, Bioengineering, Nanoengineering and Microelectronics, and Electrical Engineering, with some programs to launch as early as next year.
- This is a crucial step in shaping the future of technology and innovation at IU, ushering in the future of human-centered engineering, as only IU can.
- The rollout plan includes hiring at least 10 new faculty members in the next year, connected with our Faculty 100 initiative.
- Thanks to Luddy dean Joanna Millunchick and faculty leaders at the Luddy School for pursuing these ambitious new efforts. It is a tremendous opportunity for Bloomington.
Tech competencies:
- As we move forward, the integration of new technologies and competencies, including AI and virtual realities, is becoming increasingly vital to our success.
- Colleagues at the Kelley School are leading the way. Long known for our top-ranked online degree programs (Kelley Direct is ranked #1 in the country for the fourth year straight!), Kelley has launched courses on AI and new technologies, integrated directly into the curricula.
- A special thanks to one of our newest deans, Pat Hopkins, and our entire Kelley faculty and team, for their visionary leadership, and may it inspire others.
- At this event last year, we announced the launch of the Kinetic Imagery and Extended Reality – or KIX lab – as a part of the Media School. I’m excited to share the lab is taking shape this spring in Studio 6 at the Radio-TV building, and we hope to announce the two founding faculty hires in the coming weeks.
Experiential learning / DC:
- Across campus, our curriculum continues to evolve, with focus on flexibility and real-world relevance. This includes experiential learning (EL) opportunities.
- Led by Paige Andersson and César Félix-Brasdefer, our EL team is helping ensure students have not only the knowledge but the skills and practical experience to thrive.
- IU Bloomington’s long-standing commitment to EL spans many of our schools, including Education, Social Work, O’Neill, Public Health, Luddy, the College, and Kelley. These schools have been leaders in areas like internships, short-term study abroad, undergraduate research, and project-based learning for many years.
- You may have seen the news recently that IU has purchased a new facility in Washington, D.C.
- We have long had a strong presence of programs and graduates in D.C., particularly through HLS, O’Neill, and political science in the College. This new opportunity, which will be open IU-wide, gives us a coordinating hub to galvanize these efforts and discover new ones.
- A special thanks to John Ciorciari, dean of HLS, for the innovative new program that school created in D.C. this year, and I know many more to come.
- In addition, we have great opportunities through our existing programs in other U.S. cities, including Los Angeles as a hub for Jacobs and the Media School, and New York for Kelley and other programs.
First-year seminar:
- Our work with faculty on the general education curriculum is equally forward-thinking—thanks to the BFC’s long-range planning committee and Undergraduate Education for their leadership in that continued effort.
- In line with IUB 2030, we’re introducing a new first-year seminar at scale this coming fall, that we hope will eventually become part of gen ed.
- We are also piloting a new early start program this summer for incoming freshmen and transfer students.
The Crimson Course transformation:
- With improvements in student success, I would also highlight the Crimson Course Transformation projects, aimed at strengthening pedagogy in high-enrollment and challenging lower-division courses—crucial to improving retention and timely graduation.
- Over the past three years, we’ve committed $750K towards this initiative, and the results have been impressive.
- We’ve seen a significant reduction in drop, withdrawal, and fail rates: a 3% decrease in targeted courses during the last academic year—to the lowest rates we have seen in over a decade.
- And our overall retention rates continue to rise, reaching over 91% fall-to-fall, a near high over the last decade, despite many more students at IU Bloomington.
Faculty hiring, development, and awards:
- To reach the Bloomington of tomorrow clearly depends on the development and success of our faculty.
- Our faculty members are the foundation of this institution and all that we accomplish. In the past three years, we’ve welcomed over a thousand new academic appointees overall, making considerable progress in recruiting and retaining world-class scholars—and helping them thrive.
- Along with our regular faculty hiring, the Faculty 100 initiative and targeted searches in technology and life sciences have brought in some of the brightest minds across the globe to drive interdisciplinary excellence.
- By the end of the semester, we hope to have added nearly 60 new faculty members, as well as several dual-career hires, as part of Faculty 100, with nearly half of the new faculty joining the College.
- Recent hires such as Ankit Shah in artificial intelligence, Hyungsik Lim in neurosciences, and Brian Kelly in sociology are already making invaluable contributions to both teaching and research.
- We’re also continuing to enhance support for faculty through mentorship, programming, writing groups, and leadership development, with a focus on fostering collaboration across disciplines. Thanks to Vice Provosts Brea Perry and Carrie Docherty and their teams for leading these activities.
- We celebrate our outstanding faculty members who continue to win accolades nationally and globally.
- Most recently, Karen Bush, Amar Flood, Sidney Shaw, Filippo Menczer, and Cindy Hmelo-Silver were honored as AAAS Fellows.
- Eduardo Brondizio was awarded the 2025 Tyler Prize for the Environment—the world’s most prestigious environmental honor, and Chris Lubienski was elected to the National Academy of Education.
School highlights:
- I also want to recognize our schools for outstanding achievements this year.
- The Irwin Miller Architecture Program at the Eskenazi School earned its initial accreditation. A special thank you to Founding Dean Peg Faimon, Program Director T. Kelly Wilson, and the entire team behind this success.
- I also congratulate the Jacobs School on their one-of-a-kind collaboration this year with the Metropolitan Opera, which included a world-premiere opera at IU. Thanks to Dean Abra Bush, Jacobs faculty, and students involved in every step.
- And congratulations to our School of Optometry and dean Suresh Viswanathan, which secured a $1 million+ donation of nearly 27,000 eyeglasses frames, which will benefit low-income and uninsured patients in local communities.
Student Success
When I returned to IU Bloomington, along with the caliber of our faculty and academics, I was struck once again by the remarkable students here—and by our responsibility to ensure their experience goes far beyond the degree they earn.
Over the last three years, we’ve made clear progress in improving the student experience.
Recruitment:
- When it comes to recruiting new students, thanks to our Office of Enrollment Management and Admissions team, led by David Johnson and Sacha Thieme, for their exceptional work in driving impressive growth in applications and interest in IU.
- This year so far, we have had more than 73,000 undergraduate applications, an all-time record and up 36% over just two years ago.
- And we are delivering those students to campus. IU Bloomington reached record enrollment this year with 48,424 students in the fall.
- This enrollment growth—a 24% increase over the past decade—alongside increasing selectivity underscores the growing demand for an IU Bloomington education.
Cohesive first-year student experience:
- Led by Vice Provosts Lamar Hylton and Vasti Torres, we are transforming how we welcome and engage students to campus, from revamped welcome weeks, an improved residential experience, and fuller integration between curricular and co-curricular learning.
Advising and wellness:
- This year we’ve purposefully added several new academic advisors (a nearly $3 million commitment) across schools and reimagined advising services to provide better student support, which is already making a big difference.
- We’ve also prioritized wellness and belonging for students through dedicated services like TimelyCare—as well as the renovation of the Student Recreational Sports Center and the opening of the Wellness House by our Office of Student Life.
Stellic:
- To make all our students’ lives easier and their future planning more meaningful, we’re implementing Stellic, a new technology platform, initially launching this coming fall.
- Stellic will be a game-changer for students, offering personalized, data-driven degree planning and visualization of their academic journeys.
Open education resources:
- We have also focused on affordability.
- I’m proud of IU’s efforts to ease the financial burden on students through open education initiatives, which have saved IU students over $1.3 million in textbook costs, as well as over $600,000 in e-books, in the past two years in partnership with the IU Bookstore.
- Special thanks to the IU Libraries and dean Diane Dallis-Comentale for improving accessibility for all students.
Graduate students:
- For our graduate students, we’ve focused on enhancing career development and support, including once again raising minimum stipends and expanding professional development.
- This year we’ve created the position of Graduate Ombudsperson to provide resource navigation and coaching to address challenges graduate students may face. Thanks to Carissa Ciampaglia for taking on this role.
- We also welcomed Brandi Smith as Director of Graduate Career Coaching. Brandi’s role is critical in offering personalized career support, from one-to-one coaching to group workshops, helping graduate students explore career pathways and make actionable plans for their future careers.
- I’m grateful for Graduate School Dean David Daleke’s leadership in driving these important initiatives forward.
Active Learning Classrooms commitment:
- Two years ago, we committed to improving our learning spaces across campus through Project Inspire, a multi-year effort focused on renovating instructional spaces.
- To date, we have committed $13 million toward renovating biology, chemistry, and music lab and other learning spaces, with several additional projects in the planning stages.
- Last fall, I asked Stacy Morrone, outgoing dean of the School of Education, to lead a study of our classroom needs comprehensively and make recommendations to ensure all students and faculty have the highest quality learning and teaching spaces.
- Today I am thrilled to announce we are providing $10 million over the next five years toward an additional multi-year classroom renovation effort.
- This $10 million commitment will support new construction, renovations, leading technology upgrades, process improvement, and a new comprehensive classroom master plan.
- One of the key recommendations is to advance our use of active learning strategies. This approach aligns with growing evidence in the power of student-centered environments to enhance learning outcomes.
- Today we are also setting an ambitious goal to have 50% of our classrooms be approved as active-learning spaces by 2030.
- Along with renovations, I am also committing $1M over the next five years to support our faculty in implementing active learning, including a course design institute, learning community, workshops, and consultation.
- Thanks to Stacy, the dedicated working group, UITS, VPUE, and others for their leadership.
Research and Innovation
Alongside teaching and student success, we continue to strengthen our research, creative activity, and innovation at IU. Despite a challenging environment nationally, we’re making steady progress in discovery across IUB.
Four high-priority research areas:
- We’ve focused on four high-priority research areas: aging, environmental health, artificial intelligence, and quantum physics.
- Hundreds of faculty members across campus in these areas have been active with workshops, pilot projects, and proposals designed to secure external funding and spark new collaboration and discoveries.
- These truly interdisciplinary collaborations are not only enhancing our understanding of critical issues but also shaping the future of research in these areas and at IU, and I am grateful to all involved.
IU Innovates:
- IU Innovates continues to see substantial growth across IU, with a marked increase in the number of active founders and startups it supports.
- This includes new community-building activities, individualized coaching, and a record 140 student members.
- Thanks to IU Innovates’ executive director Julie Heath, our founders, fellows, and supporters. These efforts embody our commitment to transforming ideas into action, and solutions that benefit society.
Faculty discoveries:
- Faculty across the university continue into new intellectual and creative terrain, developing novel solutions.
- New patents recently awarded for discoveries at IU include:
- A team led by Alexander Gumennik creating a groundbreaking 3D biosynthetic tissue for smart fibers and fabrics.
- A group led by Feng Guo developing an open-chamber acoustic device that enhances drug screening.
- And John Patton and Asha Ann Philip developing a groundbreaking rotavirus-norovirus vaccine.
Research space rollout:
- For all our researchers, having the high-quality research space, and using it well, is critical.
- New and enhanced facilities, part of our earlier $45 million commitment to lab infrastructure, are now being developed to support our most ambitious projects.
- Today I am excited to announce a new framework for research space allocation. Special thanks to Associate Dean Caroline Chick Jarrold from the College and Executive Associate Dean Todd Royer from O’Neillfor leading this effort throughout this year.
- Our new framework treats research space as a common good—and its core principles prioritize flexibility, transparency, and aligning space with the evolving needs of our research community. We must use our space well.
- We will also emphasize modular space designs in new construction and renovations, integrate space data into faculty reporting to track utilization, and create new ways to address space allocation in interdisciplinary buildings.
- A key component of this framework is interdisciplinary research neighborhoods—spaces for creative “collision,” a strategy already implemented with Faculty 100 hiring.
Research milestone:
I’m excited that new research proposals and expenditures were up overall last year at IU Bloomington—and are up again this year to date—showing more great promise.
- Some highlights:
- Justin Kumar, from biology, received over $3 million from the National Eye Institute and Arizona State for his work on the Drosophila retina.
- Christina Boyles, from Luddy, received $1 million from the Mellon Foundation to study disaster response in Puerto Rico.
- W. Michael Snow from physics, secured over $1 million from the Department of Education for physics research and education.
- And Xingchen Ye from chemistry, secured over $1 million grant from DARPA to study hydrocarbon fuel generation.
Commitment to research and creative activity:
- I know there remains a lot of concern and attention in the field and the media, but please know our research, scientific exploration, and creative activity at IU Bloomington continue to be crucial to the state and the world’s future—and will remain core to our mission.
- As challenging as it may seem, this is not the time for us to slow down on research. We must remain vigorous in ensuring we can continue to innovate and push boundaries.
- With AAU and Big Ten peers, we are actively engaging with federal and state stakeholders to advocate for research and the necessary resources to sustain our work.
- At the same time, we must actively pursue new funding sources and creative ways of ensuring we can continue to pursue discovery and innovation.
- Change also brings new opportunities for us to take advantage of, helping us define the Bloomington of tomorrow.
Community Engagement and Service
One of the greatest opportunities we have in creating the Bloomington of tomorrow is extending our impact beyond the university.
Our role in the community—whether here in Bloomington, across Indiana, or around the world—is crucial to who we are as an institution.
Over the past year, we’ve worked hard to strengthen community partnerships, from outreach programs to service initiatives. I am especially grateful to Rachael Jones McAfee, new executive director of community engagement, who, along with our University Relations and alumni teams, is helping to supercharge our local and regional community connections.
I also want to thank wonderful leaders in our city, county government, and community, who are truly committed to ensuring Bloomington is a thriving community for years to come.
From Mayor Kerry Thomson and her team; Ravi Bhatt, John Fernandez and the Trades District team; Dan Peterson and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education; Tina Peterson and the Regional Opportunity Initiatives team, Denzil Ross and IU Health, Pete Yonkman andleaders at Cook, Randy Rogers at United Way, Novo Nordisk and many other Bloomington businesses and non-profits, I am grateful for your collaboration.
Bloomington’s Trades District:
- A key development this year in our community engagement is the $16 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its College and Community Collaboration initiative.
- This funding is accelerating the transformation of Bloomington’s Trades District into a dynamic hub for innovation and economic growth.
- Along with The Mill, IU Bloomington is fostering the growth of startups, enhancing entrepreneurial opportunities, and strengthening key regional partnerships.
Center for Rural Engagement (CRE):
- Building on its success of more than 400 completed projects in 123 Indiana communities, our Center for Rural Engagement continues to expand hands-on opportunities for IU students and advance initiatives in health, resilience, and economic development. Thanks to the leadership of Executive Director Denny Spinner for CRE’s excellent work.
Rural Indiana Faculty Tour:
- CRE is also helping to lead a new initiative starting this August I’m excited to highlight, where IU Bloomington faculty will embark on a new transformative tour through rural Indiana.
- To be offered annually, this tour will allow faculty to engage with rural communities across Indiana and expand understanding in research, service, and creative activities—a tremendous opportunity.
Staff & Operations
As we continue to build our community connections, it’s equally important to recognize efforts that strengthen our Bloomington campus—our staff and operations.
Our commitment to staff development continues to grow, and several new initiatives are underway to attract, retain, and engage our talented team members, including brand-new New Employee Welcome Events on the Bloomington campus—the very first held yesterday with great attendance.
Ensuring Our Future
On the operations side, we continue to find ways to excel through a challenging landscape.
Budget redesign:
- One critical opportunity is the ongoing redesign of the IU and IU Bloomington budget models. These efforts align our financial resources with our mission, values, and strategic priorities.
- After the current feedback phase, we will move to a prototype model this summer, which will run alongside our current budget model during the next academic year, before a fall 2026 launch. I encourage you to stay closely involved.
Alumni and donor impact:
- Our alumni and donors, too, have an immense role to play in shaping the Bloomington of Tomorrow. Last year, donors gave more than $163 million to Bloomington, from all 50 states and 55 countries.
- Long time supporters like Patrick and Nussara Decker, whose $2.5 million gift will support a new Music Business Chair; John and Wendy Kindig whose recent $300,000 gift extends their scholarships and fellowships for life sciences students; and Carol and Charles DeMaio whose $1.8 million gift to the Eskenazi Museum of Art will bring scholarly exhibitions to life.
- I’m also excited to share we’re well on pace to surpass our ambitious fundraising goals for this year as well—with many schools already exceeding their goals. Thank you to foundation Vice President Betsy Feeny, our deans and development teams, and everyone making this vital work possible.
Marketing and Communications Strategy
And to grow interest and acclaim for IU, we can all join in telling our stories.
IU Bloomington Gateway website:
- As an extension of our IU brand strategy and the Bring on Tomorrow campaign, I’m excited to announce today we’re creating a new approach for telling our story as a Bloomington campus, which will include new marketing and communications efforts and a redesign of the main IU Bloomington Gateway website for next spring.
Closing
In adding it all up, as I have shared with you today, I truly believe IU Bloomington is on track for a tomorrow that few other universities can match.
Through change and uncertainty, if there’s something we’ve always excelled at, it’s discovery. It’s carved in limestone right outside: Question Critically, Think Logically, Act Creatively.
And again we will discover—a Bloomington of tomorrow we must fearlessly create together.
Relentlessly pursuing academic excellence, an unparalleled student experience, life-changing innovation, and a community coming together to create positive change—that’s the Bloomington of tomorrow.
I ask then, “What will you help us discover?”
Thank you for your service to IU Bloomington. And as always, Go Hoosiers!
