President Whitten congratulates IU alumnus Chris Lowery, new Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education
Indiana University President Pamela Whitten congratulated Chris Lowery upon being named yesterday, March 10, as Indiana’s seventh Commissioner for Higher Education. Lowery, an alumnus of IU’s Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, replaces outgoing Commissioner Teresa Lubbers, who announced her departure in late 2021 and served in the role for nearly 13 years.
Lowery currently serves as senior vice president of workforce, careers and adult strategy at Ivy Tech Community College, where he leads the college’s workforce and career initiatives and organization.
“As a dedicated alum, Chris is a valued member of our Hoosier community and will bring a deep understanding of IU’s commitment to students to his new role,” Whitten said.
Lubbers, Indiana’s sixth higher education commissioner since its founding in 1951, will conclude her service at the end of this month, and Lowery will assume his new role in mid-April.
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IU recaps the end of the 2022 Short Session
The 2022 short session of the Indiana General Assembly came to an early conclusion Wednesday, nearly six calendar days before their statutory Monday, March 14th deadline. Only 177 of the 849 bills filed in the beginning of the session passed both chambers and head to Governor Holcomb’s desk. Of the 432 House bills filed, 19% passed. Of the 417 Senate bills, 23% passed.
While much of the headlines in the final day of session centered around tax cuts (HB 1002), constitutional carry (HB 1296), and charity bail organizations (HB 1300), there were many bills Indiana University supported that made it through the entire legislative process. Important wins for IU include: providing flexibility for nursing schools in Indiana (HB 1003), codifying free speech protections at state educational institutions (HB 1190), making key changes to the Indiana Geological and Water Survey’s advisory council and structure (SB 278), providing Indiana Economic Development Corporation new tools and incentives such as the Film and Media Tax Credit (SB 361), more directly engaging the legislature in the higher education funding process (SB 366) and aligning new state-level foreign gift reporting to existing federal law requirements (SB 388).
Legislators will now be turning their attention to interim study committees and the upcoming primary and general elections. All 100 House seats are up for election, along with 25 seats in the Senate.
IU News
Fighting for a healthier Indiana
A new package of stories spotlights the impact that IU, as Indiana's health leader, is having through its efforts to develop revolutionary therapies to treat cancer and other deadly diseases, build partnerships across all 92 of the state's counties and educate tomorrow's health leaders at campuses and centers across the state, including the state-of-the-art Regional Academic Health Center.
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IU Ventures ranks among most active venture firms in Indiana, Great Lakes region
IU's early-stage venture and angel investment arm, IU Ventures, has once again been recognized as one of Indiana’s most active professional investors. A list of those firms appears in the 2021 Indiana Venture Report from Elevate Ventures, a year-end assessment of venture investment activity in the Hoosier state. IU Ventures, which has a growing portfolio that includes 23 active Indiana companies, also ranks among the most active venture capital firms in the Great Lakes region of the U.S., according to PitchBook’s 2021 Annual Global League Tables rankings.
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IU president to host 5th annual Launch(ed) Women in Technology Conference
IU President Pamela Whitten will host the fifth annual Launch(ed) Women in Technology conference, which aims to inspire middle school girls to pursue their interest in STEAM fields: science, technology, engineering, art and math. The conference will be held March 23 at Hub & Spoke in Fishers.
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