History

IU Columbus History

A growing, dynamic campus, IU Columbus serves students across south central Indiana and the state, and employs more than 250 full-time faculty and staff, adjunct faculty and part-time staff. Students attending IU Columbus are mainly from Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings, Johnson, Ripley, and Shelby counties, although other counties are also represented in the student population. We also have an international student population due to the presence of international and global industry in the region. It has also begun to attract students from outside the state of Indiana.

IU Columbus participates in intercollegiate athletics as a member of the River States Conference in the NAIA. Our sports include men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's and women's track & field, and competitive cheer and dance.

With an average class size of 15 students, we offer undergraduate degree programs including business, biology, communication studies, criminal justice, elementary education, English, general studies, nursing, psychology, and sociology, and master's degree programs in business administration (M.B.A.), and mental health counseling.

 Beginning as the Columbus Center of IUPUI, then transitioning to IUPUC, and now to IU Columbus, the campus opened its offices and classrooms on August 17, 1970 as an "extension" of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).  Through 1971, it offered classes at various locations throughout Columbus. Later that year, all classes were moved to the university's current location at 4601 Central Avenue in Columbus, home of the former Civilian Personnel Building at Bakalar Municipal Airport (now known as the Columbus Municipal Airport).

• In 1984, the Indiana General Assembly appropriated $2.5 million for the construction of science and technology labs and a new exterior for the IUPUC building. The Indiana University Trustees approved a $3.55 million expansion and renovation at IUPUC. The renovation was completed in 1985, resulting in an expansion of more than 60 percent compared to the pre-renovation square footage.
• An additional 11 acres of land was deeded to the Indiana University Board of Trustees by the City of Columbus in 1987.
• In 1994, IUPUI Chancellor Gerald Bepko formally announced that IUPUI Columbus would henceforth be known as Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus, commonly known as IUPUC.
• In 2024, IUPUC became IU Columbus.

Leadership History