From Forensics to Fine Arts: What Makes IU Indy Stand Out

Last week, I continued my Listen and Learn tours with visits to two schools, starting with the School of Science.

If you like solving puzzles and maybe even mysteries, the program for forensic sciences offered at IU Indy is the place for you. When you consider careers in forensics, you realize why more than 85% of graduates of our forensics programs have a job offer at the time of graduation. Offering degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels in every area of science that one expects of an R1 university, the School of Science at IU Indianapolis also offers every student the opportunity to do research starting their freshman year. Whether it is the First-Year Science Apprenticeship program offered by the Department of Biology, the 1st Year Research Immersion Program (1RIP) offered to all students, or the Life-Health Sciences Internship Program offered to upperclassmen, students have the opportunity to engage in research from freshman through their senior year.

The work of our faculty, who work across disciplines, bringing a multidisciplinary lens to solving problems related to depression, sleep disorders, and cardiometabolic disease, is supported by federal grants. Check out the work happening at the Cardiometabolic Lab (CBM), where our faculty and students from different areas study risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases that then lead to the development of solutions to prevent the same. More specifically, they work to identify psychosocial risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases and their underlying biological and behavioral mechanisms. From physics, chemistry, and biology to psychology and beyond, our students learn from faculty who collaborate across departments to address the disease burdens of our society. 

My next stop was the Herron School of Art and Design. If you have been to Newfields recently, you probably visited the new exhibit, Resplendent Dreams: Reawakening the Rococo. This exhibit includes pieces of art influenced by the Rococo period, which developed around the 1700s. You may not know, however, that one of the artists, Robert Horvath, is an associate professor at IU Indy's Herron School of Art and Design. The Herron School, which began as a private school and later became part of what was then IUPUI, is a unique and special asset at IU Indy. 

To say that the Herron School is integrated into our community is an understatement. Did you know that the state flag of Indiana was designed by Paul Hadley, a Herron faculty member, in 1916? Or that Roger E. Gohl, a student at the John Herron Art Institute in 1962, designed the city flag of Indianapolis? Whether it is the work of our faculty as they engage the community in creating awareness of toxic sites in our city (check out this article in Public Humanities (2025) for more on this project), or creating art around ways to end COVID, the work of our faculty at Herron is deeply rooted in the premise and promise that our community is our classroom. We Are City is another art and design project created by our faculty from Indy and Columbus that describes the city we all love to live in, Indy!

When you talk to industry leaders and ask about the skills they want in their employees, effective communication skills are always in the top three! We can all learn to better communicate through design - I know I can - so I checked out the programs in design, including visual communication design for communication offered at Herron, and am tempted to become a student all over again. We also offer programs in music technology for technology enthusiasts interested in a career in the music industry, and art therapy continues to grow as a promising area for both careers and research.

We all know that our challenges call for a multidisciplinary mindset and a collaborative spirit. What IU Indy offers is that unique space where the sciences blend with the arts in an exciting way. At the same time, what is special is the focus we bring to everything we do – it’s about service, and it’s about serving our community, city, state, and region.  Nothing less.

From science to art – we have it all. Importantly, we have the people who know how to integrate and weave these together in ways that improve learning, engage the learner, and serve the community. To say I learned a great deal during these visits would be an understatement.

Go Jags!

Latha Ramchand
Chancellor