Indiana University and Purdue University announced in August 2022 that IUPUI would split into Indiana University Indianapolis (IUI) and an extension of Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. This transition left many students wondering what the proposed IUI would look like. One of Indiana University’s more concrete announcements planning for the future involves the creation of a new science and technology corridor. A component of the corridor proposal includes the possibility for more integration between IUI and corporate partners. While the excitement and nervousness of the transition has slowed as the school year has progressed, the editorial board thought it worthwhile to discuss our predictions for what IUI could look like in the future.
Disclaimer: we are not a part of the transition board and our predictions are not definitive. This article is a piece of speculative fiction that visualizes some concepts that we believe may have the potential to become a reality at IUI in the future.
2024
The 2024-2025 school year is our first official year as IUI. However, besides the dropping of Purdue degrees, little has actually changed about the campus, culture, and academics here at IUI. Former Purdue schools are now an extension of their West Lafayette campus.
The Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering has adapted to include computer science and is working on an engineering curriculum to make up for the loss of equivalent Purdue schools. IUI and IU-Bloomington (IUB) have also partnered to allow IUB students to utilize IUI’s downtown internship opportunities and IUI student’s to utilize IUB’s study abroad opportunities. Alexander Krohannon, a lecturer and program director of the Biomedical Informatics program at the Luddy School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI has also been a student in the MS and PhD programs here.
“The addition of the computer science program will allow for more collaboration between faculty members and create new and more diverse education opportunities for the students,” Krohannon said.
IU Health has plans to open a 44 acre,1.6 billion dollar hospital next to IU Health Methodist. University Hospital is also being handed over to IU in 2026. Some speculate it could be turned into a research center. The IU Nursing school also recently received a large financial boost from IU Health so facilities will likely be upgraded to accommodate increased enrollment.
2030
Over the past six years, there have been some major changes to IUI. Firstly, IU Health’s new hospital has been built. Along with this, the IU nursing school has taken their donation to good use and built a new nursing building. With this new expansion on the IUI campus, IUI student numbers have jumped by 15%. IUPUI had 27,690 students in 2021; 19,197 were undergraduates and 8,493 were grad students. Now in 2030, IUI is boasting 31,843 students. 11,145 (35%) of those students are graduate students in the nursing school, medical school, or dental school. The other 20,698 (65%) are undergraduates. With the influx of funds, IUI was able to remove parking lots next to the Campus Center and build another undergraduate building. They also increased the number of parking spaces in Barnhill Garage and finally gave Cavanaugh Hall some windows.
The student life at IUI has also changed. With more students here, student housing has improved. Although IUI is seeing an increase in student life, it still retains its original spirit in catering to commuting and local students. IUI still remains an accessible institution. The purpose of the university has always been to assist the community, and these fundamental characteristics have stayed put. IUPUI has consistently been praised for serving a greater number of in-state students than any other IU campus. This is most easily tied to its location in the capital city and population center, in addition to its status as a commuter campus. IUI continues serving its immediate community, while also welcoming an increased number of out-of-state students with its renovated campus, housing, and social events.
IUI students have also been blessed with some great sports teams in recent years. With all of the new funding, NIFS was able to get an upgrade in 2026 and, now in 2030, it has just finished its state-of-the-art new facility with locker rooms for all sports teams and upgraded weight rooms for athletes only. Now, regular customers of NIFS and IUI athletes are separated while working out at NIFS. With new facilities came high level recruits, which has resulted in IUI dominating the Horizon League in mens/womens soccer, men's cross country, women's basketball, and mens/womens diving.
2040
Continued funding into the IUI campus and hospitals, thanks to IU and IU Health, has helped IUI expand tremendously. Student population has soared by another 15% from their 2030 numbers. IUI has just opened its own media school; while being in downtown Indianapolis, students can cover local sports games or take photos at the Indianapolis farmers market. Many students succeed at internships at the Brickyard 500 doing PR, writing, video, photos and much more for them. For students at all IUI schools, the opportunities to apply skills learned through coursework to the real world are endless. IUI has also built their own basketball arena to house the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Both teams outgrew the Jungle due to their success, so the school had no choice but to build in the grass lot next to NIFS. By 2040, most buildings have been redone or have plans to be updated. IUI has even talked about finally having a football team. The IUI of 2040 is full of medical breakthroughs, campus culture, and professional opportunities.
While this is a highly optimistic outlook at what IUI could look like in 10-20 years, the reality is that the potential funding coming from IU, and as well as the IU Health expansion, is likely to greatly benefit IUI in the future. Change is coming to IUI and while these are only our predictions, students, faculty and staff should be excited for the future.
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