School Tours Continue to Impress

You may notice that my update is early this week. We adjusted the schedule because of the upcoming Board of Trustees meeting at week’s end.

My campus school and college tours continued on Friday and yesterday when I had the pleasure of visiting the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the School of Liberal Arts, and the School of Nursing. These schools truly represent the breadth and depth of our comprehensive curricula and research expertise.

At O’Neill, I met with dedicated faculty and students who are actively addressing pressing global issues, ranging from environmental sustainability to complex public policy challenges. This is especially interesting because many O’Neill faculty not only focus on global issues in the classroom, but they also hail from numerous countries from around the world, bringing expertise and uniquely credible authority to their teaching. Even in my short visit, I met a faculty member from Sweden and another from Germany. The wide-ranging expertise O’Neill faculty bring is also impressive with research interests in data visualization, criminal justice, gun violence, the evolution of nonprofit organizations, and executive training, to name just a few. The experiences these colleagues bring to the classroom and to their research strengthen our entire university and allow our students to glimpse of the possibilities that their own futures might hold.

At the School of Liberal Arts, I was greeted by a group of enthusiastic students, who shared their majors with me as well as their future plans for some of the soon-to-be graduates. It excited me to hear about the master’s student who had chosen the thesis option, which was not required but would be more challenging. I learned about the Law in Liberal Arts program, approved by the American Bar Association, which combines a bachelor's degree with a certificate in Paralegal Studies and is a stepping stone to a career in law. I met pre-med students who were double majoring in Liberal Arts and School of Science programs. All of these students impressed me with their drive and determination, and they also showed me the incredible variety of paths students can follow to take them further in building an education tailored to their interests and goals.

Finally, yesterday morning at the School of Nursing, I met with the leadership team, learned about the robust clinical opportunities for our students, and the strength of our research portfolio in critical areas. I was deeply impressed when the team shared with me that the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing was started here at the Indiana University Training School for Nurses (known today as our IU School of Nursing) in 1922, and it currently has more than 100,000 members from all over the world. To help train next-generation nurses, the School of Nursing has undertaken a major construction project designed to increase instructional capacity in support of the school’s planned enrollment growth. Renovations will result in more space for skill building with the addition of simulation rooms and practice exam rooms, among other improvements. Changes will also add new informal learning and group study spaces. I cannot wait to return to the School of Nursing to see how faculty, staff, and students are putting these the new spaces to good use.

These visits underscored the importance of providing the education, the experiences, and the spaces that empower our students with the skills necessary for leadership in our rapidly evolving world. I am immensely proud of the work happening at all three of these schools and am excited to see the continued impact they will have on our IU Indianapolis campus community and beyond.

Go Jags!

Latha Ramchand
Chancellor