IUPUI Names Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Life

Norleen Pomerantz

A college administrator with more than three decades of experience in serving student needs is the new executive officer for student affairs at IUPUI, officials announced Wednesday (July 28, 2010).

Norleen Kester Pomerantz, Ph.D., newly retired vice president for student affairs at Radford University in Radford, Va., has been appointed as the interim vice chancellor for student life at IUPUI.

Pomerantz will assume her new position on August 3, 2010, filling the office vacated by former Vice Chancellor Karen Whitney, who left earlier this month to become president of Clarion University in Pennsylvania. Pomerantz will continue in the interim role until a national search is successfully conducted to select a permanent vice chancellor in late spring 2011.

As interim, Pomerantz will be the chief administrator for various student service units at IUPUI, including the Office of Student Involvement; Housing and Residential Life; Counseling and Psychological Services; the Campus Center; Intramural and Recreational Sports; and Student Rights, Responsibilities, and conduct.

“The Division of Student Life plays such an important role in our students’ academic progress, it is essential that we fill the interim vice chancellor’s position with an experienced leader who has managed a complex portfolio of student services,” said IUPUI Chancellor Charles R. Bantz. “Dr. Pomerantz’s background, energy, and commitment to students will guide IUPUI student life, continuing to improve student success, even as the search is under way for a permanent vice chancellor.”

Pomerantz was one of three finalists identified through the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Interim Administrator Program. Her more than 30 years of experience in higher education include positions at the vice presidential
level at both Radford University and Northern Kentucky University.

She retired from Radford, a campus of about 9,000 students, in June after having served as vice president for student affairs for 11 years.

As vice president at Radford University, Pomerantz was the chief administrator of a multi-unit division that included admissions, financial aid and registrar, student conduct, student media, residential life, health services, counseling services, multicultural and international student services, disability student services, and others. She also administered intercollegiate athletics at Radford from 1999 to 2006.

Pomerantz earned her doctorate from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati; a master’s degree from the University of Arizona; and a bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C.

Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Academic Planning and Evaluation Trudy Banta is chair of the IUPUI search committee for a permanent vice chancellor for the Division of Student Life. The committee will utilize the services of the William Spelman executive search firm, which also is currently assisting the campus in the search for an assistant vice chancellor for student life.

  Jason Spratt contributed to this article.