From the Desk of the Chancellor, Dec. 6, 2010

Chancellor Charles R. Bantz View print-quality image

This month we mark the departure of three long-serving campus leaders who have contributed greatly to the success of IUPUI: Scott Evenbeck, Roger Schmenner, and Susan Sutton.

Scott was the founding dean of University College when it was established in 1997. He retires after 28 years on the IUPUI faculty to become the founding president of the City University of New York’s New Community College. Scott is a national thought leader of what it takes for students at urban universities to be successful. Dating back to his earliest leadership roles in undergraduate education at IUPUI, Scott was famous for collecting students’ stories, inspired by Robert Coles’ “The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination” and Mike Rose’s “Lives on the Boundary.” Scott once said: “We learn from stories in life. Stories of others’ struggles and successes can help people increase their expectations for themselves. . . It can give you ideas about where you can go. We want our students to share those kinds of stories and inspire each other. Sharing these stories is another form of collaborative learning.” A social psychologist by training, Scott has never stopped listening and using what he learned to make a difference in students’ lives.

Roger joined the faculty of the Kelley School of Business in 1987 and started racking up teaching awards from day one through his retirement this fall. A graduate of Princeton and Yale, who served on the faculties of Duke, Harvard, and Yale before coming to IUPUI, Roger used his background in economics to study how industry location and other factors affect manufacturing productivity. His research resulted in his signature theory of “swift even flow.” In addition to serving as executive associate dean of the Kelley School of Business at IUPUI from 1998-2007, Roger has served as a consultant to more than 80 corporations, government agencies, and other organizations. With his latest book nearly complete, he retires from IUPUI and three years’ service as my chief of staff, to take a visiting appointment at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge (England).

Susan Sutton began her career as assistant professor of anthropology in the School of Liberal Arts in 1978. She was instrumental in the development of a minor in cultural diversity, concentration in urban studies, and program in museum studies, as well as one of the school’s first study abroad programs. In addition to recruiting, advising, and admitting international students, providing visa services for international scholars, and coordinating IUPUI’s study abroad activities, Susan was the architect of the campuswide infrastructure for strategic international partnerships. This has allowed IUPUI to develop broad and sustained cross-disciplinary collaborations with such partners as Moi University in Kenya and Sun Yat-Sen University in China. Her work was a major contributor to IUPUI’s receiving the prestigious Andrew Heiskell Award for International Partnerships in 2009. Susan will be on leave this spring but will return during the summer to complete her service to IUPUI by leading a group of students to Greece. The next phase of Susan’s career will be as Senior Advisor for International Initiatives at her alma mater—Bryn Mawr College.

My deepest thanks to these wonderful examples of the stellar faculty IUPUI has attracted through the years. Their leadership and commitment have helped built IUPUI into a model urban university.

Comments? Write chancllr@iupui.edu.