College students headed back to school Monday in Indianapolis as IUPUI, a 53-year joint effort between Indiana University and Purdue University, enters its last year.     

But it’s not all doom and gloom, as both IU and Purdue plan to expand in the capital city with new campuses in fall 2024.    

Indiana University President Pamela Whitten said this summer has been “terrific and busy” moving ahead with IU’s strategic plans. Vision 2024, Whitten’s team leading IUPUI’s transition into IU Indianapolis, are “most of the way through the planning.”    

“Just over these next 10 months or so, we actually do the activities to formally sever the partnership and realign,” Whitten said. “As of July 1, we will officially be IU Indianapolis.”   

Purdue will start the new Purdue University in Indianapolis next year too.  

Listen: IUPUI split paves way for two new universities  

IU and Purdue made the dissolution of IUPUI official June 14 after 53 years. The universities plan to grow in Indianapolis, particularly in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Indiana University will retain 85 percent of the IUPUI student body — over 23,000 students — and will own and operate the current IUPUI campus after the split.   

Construction, research and more STEM opportunities in the works for IU  

This year, Whitten said she expects a “great deal” of participation and planning for a new research campus next year. Whitten said changes won’t happen overnight.  

“We’ll make sure that we grow at a pace that enables students to have a phenomenal experience,” Whitten said. “The bottom line is, the students are why we’re here. And we want their college experience at IU Indianapolis to just be phenomenal.”  

 The Indianapolis campus will see some construction this year, Whitten said. The university will break ground on lab and research buildings after receiving $60 million in state funding. A Science and Technology Corridor at Michigan and West Streets is in the works.   

Some academic changes are on the way for next fall.   

IU will take over IUPUI’s School of Science, Whitten said, so degree programs and curriculum will be updated and expanded. By next year the campus will also begin a program to directly admit eligible School of Science students into the IU School of Medicine.  

The university will double enrollment in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, she said, so new developments with the school are in the works in Indianapolis. IU will launch the Department of Computer Science and new fields in engineering.  

This summer a committee led by Vice Chancellor of Research for the Indianapolis campus Phaedra Corso prepared strategic research themes for IUI’s future, Whitten said. The committee will begin searches for research leaders and faculty this fall.   

“So there will be a lot of activity and participation this year as faculty and staff lead those efforts to bring in those new folks, to develop those new research arms, to create those new labs and spaces for us as well, to update and create new curriculum related to science and technology,” Whitten said.   

Outside of STEM,  she said the university will still grow programs within business, law, art, humanities, and law as a “comprehensive university.”     

“There’s so much there that’s wonderful that will continue, or even be kind of improved upon,” Whitten said.   

Search is on for chancellor and executive vice president for IU Indianapolis  

IU Indianapolis is in need of a leader.   

The university officially selected a search committee for IUI’s chancellor and executive vice president in August.  Isaacson, Miller, an executive search firm, will work with IU. Whitten said the university hopes to have finalists visit campus in November.  

Read more: President Whitten’s first year: Focus on students, discontent over union  

Whitten said the university has been direct in wanting to create the country’s best urban research university, so the leaders should be “strong, thoughtful and visionary and will work well with both internal stakeholders and external stakeholders.” That could be someone with an academic background or someone outside-of-the-box, she said.  

“This is a wonderful opportunity to be innovative and forward-thinking, in terms of what we’d like the university to become,” Whitten said. “We’re looking for a leader that has that same aspirational vision for IU Indianapolis.”    

Purdue University in Indianapolis’ leaders will be Professor David Umulis as chief academic officer and Dan Hasler will be chief operating officer, according to a release.   

Purdue plans to expand physical campus and science programs 

Purdue University in Indianapolis will take over IUPUI’s computer science, engineering and tech degree programs. Purdue spokesperson Tim Doty said in an email Indianapolis students will earn Purdue West Lafayette degrees.  

Purdue will update its physical campus in Indianapolis as IUPUI comes to an end.   

Purdue received $60 million from the state to fund an academic and student success building. Students will be able to use existing IUPUI engineering and technology buildings, and the university is planning to add another 28 acres to its campus. Doty said Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business Executive Education and some Purdue Innovates programs already found a home in the Bottleworks District.   

Doty said motorsports engineering, executive education, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity will be a focus for the university.   

Study programs aligned with the Purdue Computes initiative and the launch of the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School in West Lafayette will “take advantage of their urban-centric campus in Indianapolis and fuel job growth in the state of Indiana,” Doty said.   

Purdue will retain 15 percent of students. A Purdue spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed 74 employees who work for Indiana will be affected by the split.  

“We are aligning current IUPUI employees into the new model for Purdue University in Indianapolis as an extension of the West Lafayette campus,” Doty said. “We’re excited to teach our continuing Purdue students currently enrolled at IUPUI, take advantage of our proximity to downtown Indianapolis’ tech and business ecosystem, recruit students for 2024 and beyond, while building new programs and capacity.”  

The future of IU and Purdue’s relationship in Indianapolis  

IU and Purdue’s websites state very little will change for students this year, and current students’ degree paths will be honored so long as they continue to make academic progress.  

IU will continue to provide student services for Purdue and IU students in the future, Whitten said.   

Doty said Purdue’s partnership with IU will continue with future opportunities in engineering, biophysics and medicine. The universities recently partnered for the Pediatric Device Consortium.   

Whitten said IU and Purdue are excited about future collaboration.   

“I will be the first to talk trash on football Saturday or during a basketball game, but to be very honest, the state of Indiana is very, very lucky to have schools of the caliber of Purdue and Indiana University,” Whitten said.  

Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @aubreymwright. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.