IU’s regional development efforts spotlighted at national summit
Indiana University’s efforts to leverage its resources, expertise and regional partnerships to enhance Indiana’s economy and quality of life took center stage at the annual University Economic Development Association (UEDA) Summit, hosted this month by IU South Bend.
Before nearly 200 national experts representing higher education, business and government, IU President Pamela Whitten and IU South Bend Chancellor Susan Elrod both led discussions about the vital role that university and community partners play in driving prosperity and positive change in the communities they serve.
“Even though we are a university with significant national and international connections, we are part of Indiana,” Whitten said. “We identify goals that impact the culture, economy and needs of the state. We are doing amazing things that are based on the relationships we have with leaders across the state.”
During a keynote discussion with Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Rosenberg, which was moderated by IU Vice President for University Relations Michael Huber, Whitten highlighted efforts across IU’s campuses to address the workforce development and innovation needs of leading-edge businesses across the state, including new degree programs and other initiatives to develop talent pipelines into highly technical industries and new spaces, such as IU South Bend’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where students can explore ideas for new startups and other business ideas.
“We are an industry uniquely poised to unleash the potential that can change an area,” Whitten said. “The students are invested in their communities and want to see them succeed. That is really the secret sauce moving forward.”
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President Whitten presents IU's budget request to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education
IU President Pamela Whitten presented her second IU biennial budget request presentation to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (CHE) last week on October 10. President Whitten started by highlighting the tremendous progress the university has made in the first year and a half of implementing the IU 2030 Strategic Plan, with 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 gave the Commission an update on the IU Indianapolis campus, which is now in its first year of operation. Finally, she provided some context for IU’s FY2025-2027 budget request, approved by the IU Board of Trustees last month on September 13, and the critical role the state can play in helping the university achieve some ambitious goals. IU’s request included:
- Continued support of the work of the CHE’s outcomes-based funding formula
- Updates to current line items include inflationary adjustments
- Increased funding for the Indiana Geological and Water Survey to account for new legislative duties due to the creation of the Center for Water and the Center for Energy
- Increased funding for the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute to support expanded cancer research
- 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.
The Indiana Commission for Higher Education will now consider all seven state educational institutions’ requests as it crafts its overall higher education funding request to the next Governor and Indiana General Assembly for the FY2025-2027 budget. The Commission will vote on their final recommendation at a special meeting held on November 6. CHE’s final request, along with the seven public institutions’ individual requests, will be next be considered by the Indiana State Budget Committee on November 13.
Read the IU biennial budget request
Watch the IU biennial budget request
State Update
Indiana University continues to leverage its intellectual and creative resources to address the educational and workforce development needs of the Hoosier state. The newest State Update spotlights how IU’s partnerships with Indiana high schools are giving students a head start on a college career and the confidence and readiness for long-term success.
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Federal Update
The latest Federal Update highlights amajor federal grant to Indiana University Bloomington to provide more low-income Indiana students with access to college prep and other support programs and an IU public health researcher who is helping lead IU’s and Indiana’s efforts to prevent deaths from opioid overdoses.
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Economic Engagement Update
Driving the development of Indiana’s life sciences sector
Drawing on decades of Indiana University’s leadership in health sciences and medicine and the expertise of top-tier faculty on its core research campuses in Bloomington and Indianapolis, as well as the nation’s largest medical school, IU has launched the Convergent Bioscience and Technology Institute and the Institute for Human Health and Wellbeing.
IU President Pamela Whitten recently sat down with Indiana University research leaders Russell Mumper and Phaedra Corso to discuss how the new institutes, which are located within the new IU Science and Technology Corridor at IU Indianapolis, will advance the growth of Indiana’s biotech and healthcare industries, foster industry partnerships, and drive community health improvements, economic growth and workforce development.
Watch the interview
IU faculty startup MBX Biosciences announces $163.2 million U.S. IPO
MBX Biosciences, an Indiana University faculty-created startup that develops peptide therapies for the treatment of endocrine and metabolic diseases, raised $163.2 million in its U.S. initial public offering.
The company’s peptides are based on chemistry developed by a research team led by Richard DiMarchi, scientific cofounder of MBX Biosciences and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences and Linda and Jack Gill Chair at the Gill Institute for Biomolecular Sciences at IU Bloomington.
Read more about MBX and DiMarchi
IU launches new Sustaining Hoosier Communities initiative in Daviess County with 20 new projects
Daviess County leaders and residents and Indiana University faculty and students are off to a swift start in their new partnership, launching 20 community-identified projects this fall as part of the IU Center for Rural Engagement’s Sustaining Hoosier Communities initiative.
Sustaining Hoosier Communities partners local communities with IU faculty, students and staff to improve and enrich the health, prosperity and vitality of the region.
Daviess County is approximately 40 miles southwest of the IU Bloomington campus. It is part of the regional home to NSA Crane, the third largest naval installation in the world, and WestGate@Crane Technology Park.
The community has launched several initiatives through SHC this fall, including placemaking design and installations in Elnora, Montgomery and Washington, Black heritage oral history recordings, business development strategies for the I-69 corridor and a cross-dock and transload facility, planning for increased childcare options and new recreational opportunities.
Learn more about the Daviess County initiative
IU in the News
US News rankings spotlight student success and research, Kelley School of Business
Indiana University has seen strong growth in key priority areas of student success and opportunity and transformative research and creativity, according to the 2025 U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges rankings. The university’s undergraduate business program at the Kelley School of Business ranked ninth nationally and No. 1 in Indiana, in addition to having seven specialty programs in the top 10.
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New O’Neill School leadership center equips students and professionals for public service
The Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University established a new center that will serve students on the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses, train current and future leaders across the state, and bridge the gap between research and real-world application. The center was made possible through a $30 million gift in 2019 from the school’s namesake, the late Paul H. O’Neill, an IU alumnus and former secretary of the U.S. Treasury.
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Reimagined Kelley Full-Time +Flex MBA Program gives students choice of where to study in second year
Continuing a legacy of providing the best experience possible for students pursuing a graduate education at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, the school has evolved its traditional two-year MBA program to provide students with new opportunities and choices about how they want to complete their degree.
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Newly discovered genetic marker could pave the way for future Alzheimer's disease therapeutics
Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have identified a new genetic marker that could play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
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