University of Indianapolis


The University of Indianapolis is a private United Methodist Church-affiliated university in Indianapolis, Indiana. It offers Associate, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees. It was founded in 1902 as Indiana Central University and was popularly known as Indiana Central College from 1921 until 1975. In 1986 the name was changed to University of Indianapolis.
The main campus is located on the south side of Indianapolis at 1400 East Hanna Avenue, just east of Shelby Street. The campus straddles the Carson Heights and University Heights neighborhoods of Indianapolis. UIndy's international sites include joint programs with Ningbo Institute of Technology and Zhejiang Yuexiu University of Foreign Languages, an articulation agreement with University of Nicosia in Cyprus. Previous international sites included the University's Campus in Athens, Greece and an extension site at Galen University in Belize.
The university's colors are crimson and gray. Its athletic teams, known as the Greyhounds, are members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference in the NCAA Division II.

History

In the early 20th century William L. Elder, an Indianapolis real estate developer, offered the Church of the United Brethren in Christ eight acres of real estate southeast of downtown Indianapolis to establish a college in exchange for help selling 446 parcels of land around the donated acreage. Indiana Central University was chartered in 1902, but instruction did not start until September 26, 1905, when the first building, Good Hall, was completed.
The school opened with three divisions and eight departments. The three divisions included the academy, which offered high school courses; the normal school, which provided a two-year program of teacher education; and the liberal arts college. The departments included the College of Liberal Arts, Teachers’ College, Conservatory of Music, School of Oratory, School of Commerce, Bible Institute, School of Arts, and the Academy, in which students completed their preparatory work and earned high school diplomas.
While established as Indiana Central University, the school was colloquially known as Indiana Central College from 1921 to 1975. The North Central Association of Schools and Colleges accredited the university in March 1947. Academic administration was restructured to group programs into colleges and schools, and the institution returned to using the Indiana Central University name from 1976 to 1986. The initials "ICU" can still be seen in brick on the front side of Krannert Memorial Library on campus. In 1986, the university adopted the name University of Indianapolis.

Presidents

Schools and colleges

The University of Indianapolis offers 82 undergraduate majors leading to either a bachelor's degree or an associate degree. Students may also enroll in several pre-professional programs, twenty-seven master's degree programs, and five doctoral degrees. The university is organized into the following schools and colleges:
For fall 2014, UIndy received 5,313 freshmen applications; 4,486 were admitted and 830 enrolled. For enrolled freshmen, the middle 50% range of SAT scores were 450 - 550 for critical reading, 460 - 560 for math, and 440 - 540 for writing. The middle 50% range of the ACT scores were 19 - 25 for composite, 19 - 26 for math, and 19 - 25 for English.

Student life

Enrollment statistics

, UIndy had about 5,550 students on its main campus, of which 1,500 were graduate students.
, the student body was 64 percent female and 36 percent male. The student body was 70% White/Non-Hispanic, 9% Black/African-American, 4% Hispanic/Latino, 1% Asian. 44 U.S. states and 68 countries are represented among students on campus. Nine percent of undergraduates and nearly seven percent of graduate students are international students. Overall, 25 percent international and minority enrollment. Over 90% of the students attending the University of Indianapolis come from within the state of Indiana. 57% of undergraduate students are in the 18 to 22 age bracket.

Media

The Reflector is the University of Indianapolis's student newspaper. The student-run serial publication has over 96 years of uninterrupted reporting on campus and today operates online. The first issue was published on November 15, 1922.
WICR is an 8,000 watt, Class B public radio station at the University of Indianapolis that broadcasts to listeners in the Indianapolis metropolitan area. It is a campus radio station. The station began broadcasting in 1962 with ten watts of power.
WIX is a student television station. Students produce news and entertainment programming for distribution on campus cable channel 5 and on the Comcast and Bright House Networks in Marion County, Indiana. The University of Indianapolis was named Indiana Association of School Broadcasters TV School of the Year in 2008.
Etchings Press is the UIndy's teaching press and publishing laboratory. Students produce Etchings Literary and Fine Arts Magazine bi-annually, which celebrated its 30th birthday in 2018. The students also judge the Whirling Prize each fall for books published in the past two years that respond to the contest theme and publish three books each spring through Etchings Press' Chapbook and Novella Prize.

Campus

Smith Mall

The most prominent physical feature of the campus was the central parking lot which was framed by a quadrangle of buildings. In 1998 the University of Indianapolis hired Odle McGuire Shook to re-purpose the 5.2 acres into green space and later named the area Smith Mall. The mall is made up of a circular sunken lawn, a recessed long canal, water gardens, and the partial arc of an amphitheater. 80 bald cypresses were planted as part of the project.

Academic buildings

The University of Indianapolis Police Department is a campus police force that oversees security. UIndy employs a full-time chief and full-time officers, all certified by the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy. Officers have full arrest powers and are licensed to carry firearms. They enforce all local and state laws, in addition to university regulations.

Athletics

The University of Indianapolis's athletic teams are known as the Greyhounds and participate in Division II of the NCAA. Most of the teams are members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The school's highest finish in the NACDA Directors' Cup was 4th in 2013-14. UIndy finished in the top 20 12 consecutive years through 2018, including seven top 10s in that span.
The mascot is a greyhound named "Ace." The university's song, called simply the "U of I Fight Song," was written in 1975 by James M. Stanton, at the time an Indiana Central senior. The lyrics were rewritten when the university changed its name in 1986. In 2006, the cheerleaders changed the "U of I" portions of the song to "UIndy" to reflect the preferred shortened name of the school.

Notable alumni