History

The University of Indianapolis was founded as Indiana Central University in 1902. It was popularly known as Indiana Central College from 1921 to 1975, when use of the word “University” was resumed. In 1986 the name was changed to University of Indianapolis.

On October 6, 1902, the Board of Trustees signed the articles of incorporation and the secretary of state issued the charter for the institution as a corporation the next day. Academic instruction began September 26, 1905, after the first building, now called Good Hall, was completed. When the University opened its doors, it had three divisions: 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 academy graduated its last class in 1926, and the normal school was discontinued in 1938. The liberal arts college was restructured in 1983 to include the undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences; the undergraduate schools of Business, Education, and Nursing; and the Graduate School. In the 1990s, further restructuring placed the graduate programs under the authority of the academic units: the College of Arts and Sciences, the schools of Business, Education, and Nursing, the programs of Graduate Business and Occupational Therapy, and the Krannert School of Physical Therapy. In 1999, the department of Occupational Therapy became a school, and the graduate business programs became a division within the School of Business. An undergraduate program approved for the Krannert School of Physical Therapy increased the number of undergraduate schools to five. Another restructuring in 1998 resulted in the creation of a sixth undergraduate school, the School for Adult Learning; in 2001, the School of Psychological Sciences was formed. In 2002, the Center for Aging & Community and the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning were added.

The University has been church-affiliated since its inception in 1902, when it was founded by the St. Joseph and White River conferences of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The Indiana Conference joined the venture the next year. From 1946 to 1968, following the merger of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical Church, it was an Evangelical United Brethren institution. Since 1968, when the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist churches merged, it has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

The University of Indianapolis has had eight presidents: J. T. Roberts (1905–1908), L. D. Bonebrake (1909 –1915), I. J. Good (1915 –1944), I. Lynd Esch (1945 –1970), Gene E. Sease (1970 –1988), G. Benjamin Lantz, Jr. (1988 –1998), Jerry M. Israel (1998 –2005), and Beverley J. Pitts (2005 – ).