Listening, Learning, and Leading at IU Indianapolis

Learning about the people of IU Indianapolis is the best part of my role as chancellor. Every week, I meet with faculty, staff, and students in both small and large groups with the goal of listening to learn. Last week was no different, featuring meetings with faculty from the School of Liberal Arts, faculty from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, a small group meeting with staff members at our newly launched Jaguar Table Talk sessions at Tea’s Me Cafe, a meeting with students involved in an interdisciplinary capstone course, a discussion with students at the Unity Lunch organized by Undergraduate Student Government (USG), and a meeting at IU Columbus with the athletic director and coaches.

Some of my key takeaways:

• Faculty and staff care deeply about our students, both inside and outside the classroom: At IU Columbus, for instance, every coach spoke of their commitment to developing our students as human beings, first and foremost, with well-rounded academic and athletic training to support them while in school and beyond. 
• Innovative ideas abound on our campus: Thanks to dedicated faculty, IU Indianapolis is privileged to have the Ray Bradbury collection, valued at over $7.5 million, housed on campus in the School of Liberal Arts. Can we offer a learning experience around the science fiction world that Ray Bradbury imagined in his comics during the Indiana Comic Con annual convention that brings around 70,000 people to our city? Thank you to our faculty in the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy for this idea.
• Innovation is multidisciplinary: Students from Biology and Kinetic Design collaborated to create animation videos explaining the role of wildlife in strengthening biodiversity in urban communities. The videos are easy to understand and engage the viewer, ensuring the message resonates.
• Lessons from history offer guideposts for the times we live in: Thank you to the speakers at the Annual Frederick Douglass Symposium, organized by faculty from the School of Liberal Arts, for leading a discussion on the 1890s and the lessons of that period for today.
• At IU Indianapolis, we believe in treating everyone with respect: It was truly uplifting to listen to our students engage in the discussion about respecting differing viewpoints. They talked about inviting people to speak to us whose ideas, beliefs, and maybe values differ greatly from our own. They emphasized the role of respect in all our conversations – I would like to commend our students Elizabeth Kile, Jennifer Quintano, Tiba Altower, and Anish Bhawal for a great conversation during the USG Unity lunch.

There is much I learn every week from these meetings. As much as we have challenges, these listening sessions always leave me with hope as I listen to the bold aspirations and dreams of our faculty, staff, and students. Working together, we can and will make a difference.

Go Jags!

Latha Ramchand
Chancellor