Campus: IUPUI

In 2016, IUPUI launched a bold, multifaceted initiative to make their campus “a more inspiring destination for faculty, staff, students, and visitors.” According to their website, this project seeks to answer the question, “How can we make IUPUI a more welcoming campus?” The initiative is tied to the greater goals outlined in IUPUI’s broader strategic plan, titled Our Commitment to Indiana and Beyond. This plan was created to outline the future goals of IUPUI in anticipation of the campus’s 50th anniversary in 2019, IU’s bicentennial in 2020, and the completion of the vision Indiana Vision 2025: A Plan for Hoosier Prosperity in 2025, which called for “Indiana to become a global leader in innovation and economic opportunity, a place where enterprises and citizens prosper.”

These objectives are to be carried out by the Welcoming Campus Innovation Fund, a $1 million fund which will provide internal grants of up to $25,000 (with a match of the proposing unit) to implement suggested projects that tie into the Welcoming Campus Initiative. Some of the projects funded in 2018 included creating an interactive campus timeline, participating in intercollegiate robotics competitions, creating the Social Justice Achievers (SJA) ambassador and mentoring program, installing signs along the historic campus greenways, forming a Public Health Corps welcoming campus program, and creating a professional development series for LGBTQ+ graduate students. With the Welcoming Campus Initiative, IUPUI hopes to pursue this trend of academic excellence and student and faculty achievement to create a friendlier, more inclusive campus overall.