IU Indianapolis chancellor driving big changes on downtown campus

Change can be hard. Systemic change, or massive change across a large organization with lots of stakeholders, can be particularly tough to manage. About three weeks ago, Latha Ramchand started her new job as incoming chancellor for Indiana University Indianapolis, which will be one of the products when IUPUI splits into two campuses on July 1.

Ramchand will preside over the transition, which is billed by IU as a transformation on the IU Indianapolis side. It wants to establish IU Indianapolis as one of the nation’s premier urban research universities, and to that end it’s planning two new research institutes on campus focusing on biosciences. It wants to double enrollment at its Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering. And Ramchand wants to strengthen the link between students, academic programs and leading Indiana companies, so graduates can build careers in Indiana.

On this week’s edition of the podcast, Ramchand discusses her upbringing and education in Mumbai, India, which predisposed her to the energy of urban institutions. She also discusses her goals as chancellor of IU Indianapolis, the importance of multichannel communication, the issues that can arise when trying to institute big changes and why she’s up to the task.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.