EXECCONNECT: Chancellor Latha Ramchand
It’s been one year since Latha Ramchand was tapped as the inaugural chancellor of Indiana University Indianapolis. Poised, thoughtful and business-minded, she’sdetermined to elevate the institution in its bold new era.
When asked by BizVoiceregarding the pressure and opportunity that comes along with the first leader of IU Indianapolis, Chancellor Ramchand responded with the decline in Indiana’s high school students attending college. She sees this challenge as an opportunity to, “...find out the reasons why they [high school students] are not deciding to go to college.” There is an untold story on the price of a degree and how valuable this can be for a long-term career.
The interview wrapped up with the success IU Indianapolis has seen as a premier urban research university with the IU Launch Accelerator for Biosciences (IU LAB), Convergent Bioscience and Technology Institute, and Institute for Human Health and Wellbeing. Chancellor Ramchand has a vision of IU Indianapolis being “the destination of first choice” for high school students across Indiana.
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President Whitten presents IU's budget request to Senate Appropriations Committee
President Whitten presented her second IU biennial budget request to the Indiana Senate Appropriations Commitee on March 11.
Whitten started by highlighting the tremendous progress the university has made in two years of implementing the IU 2030 Strategic Plan, providing specific examples of achievements in IU’s three pillars: Student Success and Opportunity, Transformative Research and Creativity, and Service to Our State and Beyond. She then gave the committee a brief update on the IU Indianapolis campus, which is now in its first full year of operation. Finally, she provided some context for IU’s FY 2025-2027 budget request, approved last fall by the IU Board of Trustees, and the critical role the state can play in helping the university achieve some ambitious goals.
IU’s request included:
- Updates to current line items, including inflationary adjustments
- Funding requests for two new special state line items
- The state’s matching investment of $1.3 million per year for IU Innovates
- The state’s matching investment for staffing needs for IU Public Safety
- Support for IU’s capital project requests
- President Whitten thanked the Indiana Commission for Higher Education for recommending the funding of IU’s Priority 1 capital project, the Science Learning Initiative Phase II: IU Bloomington Biology Building renovation and utility upgrades, using fee replacement
The Indiana Senate will pass its version of the biennial budget by the third reading deadline on April 15. After that date, the House and Senate will have to rectify their differences and pass a conference committee report (the final budget bill) before the General Assembly adjourns sine die (no later than midnight on April 29). The April revenue forecast to the Indiana State Budget Committee will drive the final top line numbers for the biennial budget.
Read the IU biennial budget request
Watch the IU biennial budget request
State Update
The IU State Relations team has reviewed every bill that has been introduced at the Statehouse and determined if and how the bill could impact the university. This Statehouse Update provides a summary of bills the team is tracking that have had activity up to this point during the tenth week of session.
Read the State Update
Federal Update
This week’s Federal Update covers Congressional and Executive Branch activities of interest in Washington, D.C.
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Economic Engagement Update
Startup supports addiction recovery through VR therapy using ‘future-self avatars’
An undergraduate student, a psychiatric researcher with over 20 years’ experience and the founder of a digital arts company are working together to bring a powerful virtual-reality-based addiction therapy to a broader audience with support from Indiana University.
Izzy Branam, a junior psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington, is the CEO of Relate XR, a startup that combines psychology with VR technology to treat substance use disorders by introducing individuals in recovery to their “future selves.” The technology is based on research developed by Brandon Oberlin, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine and an assistant professor of psychology at the IU School of Science, both at IU Indianapolis.
The company’s third partner and co-founder is IU alumnus Andrew Nelson, the founder of a virtual reality development company based in Indianapolis. Nelson worked extensively with Oberlin in prototyping the technology and software development on the project.
Connecting them are the people, programs and offices that fall under the umbrella of IU Innovates, a university initiative that serves as a front door to resources that support entrepreneurship, innovation and commercialization at IU.
Read more about Relate XR and IU Innovates
Immigration fuels Indiana’s strong population growth in 2024 — its largest annual increase since 2008
Indiana added 44,144 residents in 2024 to reach a total population of 6.92 million, the state’s largest annual increase since 2008, according to analysis from the Indiana Business Research Center at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
“While the size of Indiana’s growth in 2024 was similar to 2008, the drivers of change in these years were drastically different,” said Matt Kinghorn, senior demographer at the Indiana Business Research Center.
“Back in 2008, natural increase — or the difference between births and deaths — accounted for 77% of Indiana’s growth. In 2024, by contrast, a net international migration of 30,852 residents accounted for 70% of the state’s growth.”
Indiana had nearly 9,160 more births than deaths in 2024. This is the state’s highest level of natural increase since 2020 but remains well below the pre-pandemic norm, Kinghorn said. Indiana had an average natural increase of roughly 21,140 residents per year from 2010 to 2019. Indiana also had a net inflow of 4,268 domestic migrants last year.
Read more about Indiana’s population growth
IU in the News
David Reingold will return to IU Bloomington campus to serve as chancellor
Former faculty member and executive associate dean David Reingold will return to the Indiana University Bloomington campus as executive vice president and chancellor, the first to serve in the role for nearly two decades. As chief executive officer of IU Bloomington, Reingold will champion the unique needs of IU’s growing flagship campus. As chancellor, he will be responsible for finance and administration, community engagement, enrollment management, student life and the campus’s research and creative activities. Reingold will also oversee the Office of the Provost, which will continue to manage the academic functions of the IU Bloomington campus.
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New Greene County Food as Medicine program combats chronic illness and food insecurity
The roots of the 2025 Greene County Food as Medicine program can be traced back to its participation in the I-HOPE food-as-medicine initiative, a collaboration between the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, the Center for Rural Engagement, and Sustainable Food Systems Science. Spearheaded by Julia Valliant of the IU Food and Agrarian Systems and The Ostrom Workshop, the program harnesses a food-as-medicine approach to bolster local food systems and improve health outcomes across the Indiana Uplands region.
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Mainstay Kinesiology professor’s nationwide award highlights excellence of IU Sport Marketing and Management Program
With a career spanning more than 25 years, Paul M. Pedersen, Ph.D. has made an indelible impact on the nationally acclaimed Indiana University School of Public Health (SPH-B) Sport Marketing and Management Program, particularly in the key discipline of sport communication, during his long tenure with the Department of Kinesiology. It comes as no surprise to the SPH-B community that the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) would bestow upon Dr. Pedersen the 2025 Distinguished Research Award. The Sport Marketing and Management Program is ranked among the top five out of 800-plus programs nationwide, with more than 70 graduates from the doctoral program. Dr. Byon says that Dr. Pedersen’s commitment to excellence has elevated the program tremendously, and this most recent accolade will serve to draw in more prospective students and graduate-level applications.
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Groundbreaking norovirus vaccine secures U.S. patent for global impact
Indiana University Bloomington researchers, in collaboration with GIVAX, Inc., have developed a groundbreaking rotavirus-norovirus combination vaccine to combat norovirus, a highly contagious virus responsible for about 100,000 childhood deaths globally each year. Led by IU biology professor John Patton, the team genetically manipulated rotavirus vaccine strains to drive the production of norovirus protein to trigger an antibody response from the immune system. This inexpensive oral combination vaccine could make a huge difference for children in developing countries.
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