Throughout year two of the IUB 2030 strategic plan, individuals and groups across the Indiana University Bloomington campus continued driving substantial progress on initiatives spanning the three strategic plan pillars: Student Success and Opportunity, Transformative Research and Creativity, and Service to the State and Beyond.

The second year of IUB 2030 has centered initiatives that prioritize academic excellence and cutting-edge programs; provide broad and meaningful support for students during their time on campus; and expand career and professional development resources to help students thrive after graduation. Interdisciplinary teams of faculty have collaborated within transformational research areas to grow research and creative output as they pursue external funding for new projects and make a positive impact in the world. A renewed focus on nurturing relationships with local community partners is creating a culture that fully embraces innovative and entrepreneurial thinking and recognizing excellence within the campus community.

Learn more about several key IUB 2030 priorities that have seen significant momentum over the past year:

Integrated experience for first-year students

Lamar Hylton, vice provost for student life, and Vasti Torres, vice provost for undergraduate education, are leading an effort to transform the way IU Bloomington welcomes new students and engages with them throughout their first year. Initiatives include reimagined welcome weeks, improvements to the residential experience, and more robust integration between curricular and co-curricular learning.

General education, first-year seminar

The Bloomington Faculty Council’s Long-Range Planning Committee and Undergraduate Education continue the work they began in the fall to revise the general education curriculum. A new first-year seminar will be introduced at scale in fall 2025, and discussions are underway to incorporate it as part of the general education curriculum.

Recruitment of new students

IU Bloomington has had a record 73,000+ undergraduate applications so far this year, up 36% over two years ago. The campus also reached record enrollment this year, with 48,424 students in the fall. This enrollment growth — a 24% increase over the past decade — underscores, along with increasing selectivity, the growing demand for an IU Bloomington education.

Summer pilot for new students

IU Bloomington is launching the Transition to College Summer Program this summer. This new pilot initiative is designed to support up to 200 students as they begin their academic journey ahead of the fall semester. The program is open to any incoming first-year or transfer student.

Developed by the Office of School Partnerships and Precollege Programs in collaboration with the Office of Admissions, the Transition to College Summer Program offers students an early residential move-in and the opportunity to complete a required course. Participants also take a first-year seminar and receive comprehensive tutoring and mentoring support from upper-level students to model successful academic behaviors.

The pilot is designed to help students transition to IU Bloomington by combining academic preparation with social and campus navigational support. This pilot aims to better understand the needs of new students and build sustainable structures for a broader program that can serve all students who wish to begin their IU experience in the summer.

Experiential learning

The experiential learning team in Undergraduate Education — led by Paige Andersson, senior assistant vice provost for experiential learning — has taken several steps this spring to drive progress on expanding opportunities for students.

Among the recent developments:

• A tracking system was created based on a framework for IU Bloomington to categorize experiential learning activities and communicate them more clearly to students. The system will also show students their accomplishments on an experiential learning record, which is currently in development.
• The experiential learning activities co-curricular application went live this winter, and the Experiential Learning Subcommittee of the Campus Curriculum Committee began reviewing the first submissions this spring.
• The framework and application are detailed on redesigned webpages for experiential learning, and additional resources and student spotlights will follow in the coming months.
• The Educational Policies Committee began discussing the possibility of experiential learning as a graduation requirement for undergraduates.
• The experiential learning team in Undergraduate Education has consulted with over 50 faculty and staff on current or future experiential learning activities.

Crimson Course Transformation

To bolster student academic success, IU Bloomington has committed $750,000 over the past three years toward Crimson Course Transformation projects. The initiative, which was developed to strengthen pedagogy in high-enrollment and challenging lower-division courses, is an important part of improving student retention and timely graduation.

IU Bloomington has seen a 3% decrease in drop, withdrawal and fail rates in targeted courses during the last academic year — the lowest rates in over a decade. At the same time, overall retention rates continue to rise, reaching over 91% fall-to-fall — a near high over the last decade.

Graduate and professional career development

Carissa Ciampaglia was hired by the Graduate School Bloomington as graduate ombudsperson in January. In this newly created position, she will provide resource navigation and coaching to address challenges graduate students may face.

Career services for graduate and professional students continue to expand. Events, workshops, group support and one-to-one career coaching are helping graduate students explore career pathways and make actionable plans for their careers.

Two new online resources for career exploration are launching this spring on the Graduate School’s website: Beyond Graduate School and Beyond the Professoriate

In January, IU Bloomington announced that minimum stipends for graduate students will increase beginning July 1, ensuring the campus remains competitive with peer institutions and can recruit top students.

New engineering degrees

IU Bloomington recently announced a $75 million commitment over the next five years to launch five new degree programs in human-centered engineering. The new programs — part of the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering — are computer engineering, robotics, bioengineering, nanoengineering and microelectronics, and electrical engineering, with some programs launching as early as next year.

New undergraduate academic offerings

The following new undergraduate degrees have been developed and received final approval:

• Bachelor of Science in music business in the Jacobs School of Music and the Kelley School of Business.
• Bachelor of Science in music production in the Jacobs School of Music.
• Bachelor of Science in Public Health in sexual and reproductive health in the School of Public Health-Bloomington.

New graduate academic offerings

The following new graduate degrees have been developed and received final approval:

• An online Master of Science in education in evidence-based practices in educational psychology in the School of Education.
• Education Specialist in Higher Education Administration in the School of Education.
• Master of Public Policy in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
• Master of Design Leadership in the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.
• Master of Geographic Information Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences.
• Master of Science in economics and data science in the College and the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering.
• Master of Legal Studies in the Maurer School of Law.
• Master of Science in nutrition in the School of Public Health-Bloomington.

An additional four Accelerated Master’s Program pathways have been added since December.

Support for active learning classrooms

Outgoing School of Education Dean Stacy Morrone led a working group that produced a comprehensive study of IU Bloomington’s classroom needs, with a focus on ensuring that all students and faculty have the highest-quality learning and teaching spaces. As a result, $10 million over the next five years has been committed to support active learning classrooms, including new construction, renovations, leading technology upgrades, process improvement and a new comprehensive classroom master plan.

This initiative builds on Project Inspire — a $13 million commitment toward renovating biology, chemistry and music labs and learning spaces. Several additional projects are in the planning stages as part of Project Inspire.

Transfer student experience

A working group focused on the transfer student experience met throughout the year to research how to best support new transfer students and enhance their pathways. A report with recommendations was submitted to campus leadership for consideration.

Recent outcomes of the group’s work include:

• Launching a partnership with Verto Education that enables students to study abroad during their first year and then transfer to IU Bloomington while staying on track for graduation. Nearly 150 prospective students have submitted applications through Verto.
• Establishing a new transfer admission office within the Ernie Pyle Welcome Center to provide tailored services for prospective transfer students.
• Launching EdVisorly, a mobile app for transfer students who attend community college. IU Bloomington received over 800 prospects through the platform during the first quarter after it launched.
• Hiring a transfer admissions counselor for nonresident transfer recruitment efforts.
• Expanding enrollment for the Hoosier Link program, a collaboration with Ivy Tech.

Transformational research areas

Four transformational research areas were identified as part of the IU Bloomington strategic plan: aging, environmental health, artificial intelligence and quantum technology.

The aging and environmental health areas launched in fall 2023, establishing the Aging Research Network and the Environmental Research Network. Both groups have held multiple interdisciplinary events, including workshops leading to draft proposals and pilot research projects with plans to seek external funding. Searches are also ongoing as part of the Faculty 100 hiring initiative to recruit five new faculty in each area.

Work is underway to seek IU Bloomington’s accreditation as an Age-Friendly University. A co-design commons kicked off in December, creating a space for older adults in the community to co-design research studies.

Steering committees were formed this year in artificial intelligence and quantum technology, and meetings have begun to strategize on building research strength, external grant-seeking and connections between the two groups.

Faculty awards

A group took a fresh look at the awards landscape this year to strengthen the infrastructure supporting faculty awards and cultivate a culture of recognition on campus.

Among the recent changes to awards processes:

• University Honors and Awards will implement a self-nomination process for the Distinguished Teaching Awards next year; details will go live on the honors and awards website The application materials were streamlined, and eligibility requirements include six years of service instead of five.
• The Faculty Academy on Excellence in Teaching has invited all recipients of the President’s Distinguished Teaching Awards who are not FACET members to join through a streamlined process.

Innovation and entrepreneurship

IU Innovates has continued to see substantial growth in the numbers of active founders and startups it supports, including nearly 170 student members.

Over the past year, it has significantly expanded its offerings, including events, community-building activities and individualized coaching.

Pitch Week debuted this spring, featuring a week of workshops, office hours, sprint sessions and practice runs to support the numerous pitch competitions around IU.

Highlights of Pitch Week included:

• Seven pitch-themed events took place over four days.
• IU Innovates startup teams won over $50,000 in prize money throughout the week.
• Twenty-five of the 55 teams in the finals for the Clapp IDEA Competition were from IU Innovates.
• Participation from 10 of the 15 Connect Challenge finalists and three of the five Cheng-Wu Innovation Challenge finalists.

Engagement with community partners

Rachael Jones McAfee was hired as the executive director for community engagement at IU Bloomington. In the newly created role, she is strengthening key relationships with local stakeholders and identifying collaborative opportunities between community partners and the Bloomington campus across different sectors.

A campus leadership team focused on community engagement is in development. Strategic efforts to partner with local entities on workforce attraction and retention are underway.

Carnegie classification for community engagement

A steering committee submitted IU Bloomington’s application seeking 2026 reclassification for the Carnegie Foundation’s Elective Classification for Community Engagement in April. IU Bloomington received the voluntary classification in 2010 and 2020.

A wide-ranging self-study to assess the campus’s commitment to, investment in and accomplishment at higher education community engagement was conducted as part of the application process.

Staff engagement

New staff engagement initiatives have been developed and updates to existing programs have been underway this year to recruit, retain and engage IU Bloomington’s talented staff members.

The first new employee welcome session took place in April with over 120 attendees and 26 resource fair participants. These events will take place quarterly, providing an official welcome, an overview of what it means to work at IU and a detailed exploration of the lesser-known benefits of being a staff member.

The nomination process for the staff merit awards was streamlined, resulting in a 160% increase in nominations in 2024. Additionally, the number of awards was expanded from six to eight, and the award amount increased from $1,000 to $2,000.

Changes were also made to the long-service and retirees recognition program, with retirees now recognized at the departmental level during the calendar year in which they reach the milestone.

Stay up to date

Progress updates for these and other IUB 2030 initiatives can be found on the IUB 2030 website.

Caroline Dwyer Gilley is a strategy and innovation specialist in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President.