Early years

Indiana's state government in Corydon established Indiana University on January 20, 1820, as the "State Seminary."^[12] Construction began in 1822 at what is now called Seminary Square Park near the intersection of Second Street and College Avenue. Classes began on April 4, 1825.^[13] The first professor was Baynard Rush Hall, a Presbyterian minister who taught all of the classes in 1825–27. In the first year, he taught twelve students and was paid $250. Hall was a classicist who focused on Greek and Latin and believed that the study of classical philosophy and languages formed the basis of the best education.^[14] The first class graduated in 1830. From 1820 to 1889 a legal-political battle was fought between IU and Vincennes University as to which was the legitimate state university.^[15][16]

The Sample Gates, the main entrance to the Indiana University Bloomington Campus

In 1829, Andrew Wylie became the first president, serving until his death in 1851. The school's name was changed to "Indiana College" in 1829, and to "Indiana University" in 1838.^[17] Wylie and David Maxwell, president of the board of trustees, were devout Presbyterians. They spoke of the nonsectarian status of the school but generally hired fellow Presbyterians. Presidents and professors were expected to set a moral example for their charges. After six ministers in a row, the first non-clergyman to become president was the young biology professor David Starr Jordan, in 1885.^[18] Jordan followed Baptist theologian Lemuel Moss, who resigned after a scandal broke regarding his involvement with a female professor.

Jordan (president 1884–1891) improved the university's finances and public image, doubled its enrollment, and instituted an elective system along the lines of his alma mater, Cornell University.^[19] Jordan became president of Stanford University in June 1891.^[20]

The growth of the institution was slow. In 1851, IU had nearly a hundred students and seven professors. IU admitted its first woman student, Sarah Parke Morrison, in 1867, making IU the fourth public university to admit women on an equal basis with men. Morrison went on to become the first female professor at IU in 1873.

Mathematician Joseph Swain was IU's first Hoosier-born president, 1893 to 1902. He established Kirkwood Hall in 1894; a gymnasium for men in 1896, which later was named Assembly Hall; and Kirkwood Observatory in 1900. He began construction for Science Hall in 1901. During his presidency, student enrollment increased from 524 to 1,285.^[21][22]

Morrison Hall in June 1942

In 1883, IU awarded its first PhD and played its first intercollegiate sport (baseball), prefiguring the school's future status as a major research institution and a power in collegiate athletics. But another incident that year was of more immediate concern: the original campus in Seminary Square burned to the ground. The college was rebuilt between 1884 and 1908 at the far eastern edge of Bloomington. (Today, the city has expanded eastward, and the "new" campus is once again in the midst of the city.) One challenge was that Bloomington's limited water supply was inadequate for its population of 12,000 and could not handle university expansion. The university commissioned a study that led to building a reservoir for its use.^[23]

20th century

In 1902, IU enrolled 1203 undergraduates; all but 65 were Hoosiers. There were 82 graduate students including ten from out-of-state. The curriculum emphasized the classics, as befitted a gentleman, and stood in contrast to the service-oriented curriculum at Purdue University, which presented itself as of direct benefit to farmers, industrialists, and businessmen.^[24]

The first extension office of IU was opened in Indianapolis in 1916. In 1920/1921 the School of Music and the School of Commerce and Finance (what later became the Kelley School of Business) were opened. In the 1940s Indiana University opened extension campuses in Kokomo and Fort Wayne. The Kinsey Institute for sexual research was established in 1945.

During the Great Depression, Indiana University fared much better than most state schools thanks to the entrepreneurship of its young president Herman Wells. He collaborated with Frederick L. Hovde, the president of Purdue; together they approached the Indiana delegation to Congress, indicating their highest priorities. For Wells, it was to build a world-class music school, replacing dilapidated facilities. As a result of these efforts, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built one of the finest facilities in the country. He added matching funds from the state legislature and opened a full-scale fund-raising campaign among alumni and the business community. In 1942, Wells reported that "The past five years have been the greatest single period of expansion in the physical plant of the University in its entire history. In this period 15 new buildings have been constructed.^[25][26]

In 1960, the IU student body elected Thomas Atkins, an African-American from Elkhart, Indiana, to the position of president of the student body. A throng of white students protested the result by parading around campus waving Confederate flags and allegedly blamed Atkins' victory on a "bunch of beatniks." When the protesters approached the female dormitory on campus, they were met with "a barrage of cosmetic bottles, old shoes, and other objects."^[27]

Facilities and architecture

The Old Crescent
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Maxwell Hall
Location	Indiana University Campus, Bloomington, Indiana
Area	20 acres (8.1 ha)
Built	1884 (1884)
Architect	Multiple
Architectural style	Late Victorian, Gothic, Romanesque
NRHP reference No.	80000028[33]
Added to NRHP	September 8, 1980

Rose Well House, 2016

Many of the campus's buildings, especially the older central buildings, are made from Indiana Limestone quarried locally. The Works Progress Administration built much of the campus's core during the Great Depression. Many of the campus's buildings were built and most of its land acquired during the 1950s and 1960s when first soldiers attending under the GI Bill and then the baby boom swelled the university's enrollment from 5,403 in 1940 to 30,368 in 1970. Some buildings on campus underwent similar expansion. As additions were constructed by building onto the outside of existing buildings, exterior surfaces were incorporated into their new interiors, making this expansion visible in the affected buildings' architecture. The Chemistry and Biology buildings serve as examples, where two of the interior walls of the latter's library were clearly constructed as limestone exteriors. The Bryan House is the traditional on-campus home of the university president.

Nine of the oldest buildings are included in a national historic district known as The Old Crescent. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.^[33] They are the Collegiate Gothic style Student Service Building (1906–1908); Indiana University Museum (1905); Richardsonian Romanesque style Maxwell Building (1890, 1907–1908); Owen Hall (1885); Wylie Hall (1885); Kirkwood Hall (1895); Lindley Hall (1903); Gothic Revival style Rose Well House (1908); and Kirkwood Observatory (1900).^[34]

The Sample Gates serve as the entryway to Indiana University's campus and The Old Crescent. It is positioned between Franklin Hall and Bryan Hall.^[35] After several failed attempts to create an arched entrance to campus, in 1987, Edson Sample provided funding to build the archway based on the 1961 design proposed by Eggers & Higgins.^[36]

The Indiana University Cinema opened in January 2011 in the former University Theatre building, which was built in the 1930s.

The Bloomington campus also has a biology research greenhouse in the Biology Building that is open to the public, one of the highlights of which is a corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) named Wally.^[37][38] Also on campus, the Kirkwood Observatory is open to the public one day a week.

The 1979 movie Breaking Away was filmed on location in Bloomington and the IU campus. It also featured a reenactment of the annual Little 500 bicycle race. The IU campus also has trails that many utilize for biking and running. The trails in Bloomington and nearby areas total nearly 1,200 miles (1,900 km).

Indiana Memorial Union

The over 500,000-square-foot (46,000 m²) Indiana Memorial Union (IMU) is the second-largest student union in the world. In addition to stores and restaurants, it features an eight-story student activities tower (home to the Indiana University Student Association, Indiana Memorial Union Board, and a variety of other student organizations), a 189-room hotel, a 400-seat theatre, a 5,000-square-foot (460 m²) Alumni Hall, 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²) of meeting space, and a bowling alley. The IMU houses an outstanding collection of Indiana art including artists from Brown County, the Hoosier Group, Richmond Group and others. This collection is the largest public collection of art outside of a museum.

Athletic facilities

Sweetheart tree standing in the courtyard of the Chemistry building at Indiana University Bloomington

Indiana University's athletic facilities are located on campus and are grouped in between East 17th Street, Dunn Street and the IN-45/IN-46 bypass. In the 17,000-seat Assembly Hall (home to the IU NCAA basketball team), there are five NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship banners on display. Cook Hall, Memorial Stadium, Mellencamp Pavilion, the Gladstein Fieldhouse, the IU Tennis Center, the Billy Hayes Track and Bill Armstrong Stadium are all also located within the complex.

Indiana University Auditorium

Indiana University Auditorium (IU Auditorium), is a 3,200 seat performing arts venue located at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.^[39][40] It is situated in IU's Fine Arts Plaza alongside the Lilly Library and the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.^[41]

Construction on IU Auditorium began in 1939 as a part of the Federal Works Agency Projects.^[42] IU Auditorium officially opened its doors March 22, 1941.^[43]

IU Auditorium's Hall of Murals is the home of the Indiana Murals, created by American artist Thomas Hart Benton. 16 of the 22 total panels created are housed at the auditorium.^[44]

Today, IU Auditorium presents Broadway touring acts, popular musical artists, comedians, classical musicians and more.^[45]

Department of Chemistry

The Chemistry Department has had a history at Indiana University since the early days of the institution. Chemistry courses were first added to the curriculum in 1829 by Andrew Wylie, IU president at the time (1829–1851).^[46] The first degrees in chemistry were awarded in 1890. The graduate school at Indiana University was not formally established until 1904 but not soon after, a plan for graduate work in chemistry was underway. However, the first PhD in chemistry was not granted until 1921.^[47] In 1931, the construction of a new facility explicitly for chemistry began which led to major growth within the department. Some of the department's most acclaimed and prolific faculty came to the university during this time. A major staple to the department is the famous Sweetheart tree ^[48] that has stood outside the Chemistry Building since it was built in 1931. Even when a major addition to the building was made in the 1980s, architects decided to preserve the beloved tree and build around it. In the spring of 2018 the university announced the famous sweetheart tree was dying, and removal was scheduled to begin on April 11.

Herman B Wells Library

IU's Herman B Wells Library holds more than 4.6 million volumes.^[51] Before a ceremony in June 2005, when it was renamed for IU's former president and chancellor, this building was simply called the Main Library.^[52] The architectural firm Eggers & Higgins designed the largely windowless, limestone paneled library, whose construction began in 1966 and was completed in 1969.^[53] The building contains eleven floors in the East Tower (research collection) and five floors in the West Tower (the undergraduate core collection). In 2014 the first floors of both towers were renovated and reintroduced as the Learning Commons and Scholars' Commons. The library is also home to Indiana University Press and the University Graduate School. It is the former home of the Information and Library Science Department, which is now hosted by Luddy Hall.

An oft-repeated urban legend holds that the library is sinking because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building. An article in the Indiana Daily Student newspaper debunks this myth, stating, among other things, that the building rests on a 94 ft (28.6 m) thick limestone bedrock.^[54]

Branch libraries

In addition to IU's main library, the Bloomington Libraries support more than twenty additional libraries:^[55]

• Archives of African American Music & Culture
• Archives of Traditional Music
• Black Film Center/Archive
• Business/SPEA Information Commons (Library for the Kelley School of Business and the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs)
• The Science Library
• Education Library, located within the Wendell E. Wright School of Education
• LGBTQ+ Library
• Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Center for Disability Information and Referral (CeDIR) Library
• Indiana Prevention Resource Center Library
• Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive (IULMIA)
• Kinsey Institute Library
• Jerome Hall Law Library (Library for the Maurer School of Law)
• Life Sciences Library (Library for the Biology Department, Medical Sciences Program, and Nursing Program)
• Lilly Library (rare books and manuscripts)
• Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Library
• Optometry Library
• Ostrom Workshop Library
• Residential Programs and Services Libraries
• Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies
• University Archives and Records Management
• William & Gayle Cook Music Library
• Wylie House Museum

Black Film Center/Archive

The Black Film Center/Archive (BFC/A), located at Indiana University, was "established in 1981 as a repository of films and related materials by and about African Americans."^[56] Professor Phyllis R. Klotman founded the repository when it became apparent that rare and valuable films created by and about African Americans were being lost due to lack of preservation and inadequate resources.^[57]

The BFC/A has an extensive collection that includes films on various physical media, posters of numerous sizes for films distributed throughout the world, photographs and film stills, and manuscripts of filmmakers and scholars. Although the materials are not available for circulation or distribution, the archive has rooms for viewing films and utilizing materials.

Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive

The Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive (IULMIA) is one of the largest repositories for educational film and video in the United States.^[58] Founded in 2009, IULMIA contains over 100,000 items spanning over 80 years of audiovisual history.^[59][60] Highlights of its holdings include a collection of over 200 film cameras and projectors, more than 80,000 commercials from the Clio Awards, and approximately 50,000 educational films that Indiana University circulated to classrooms nationwide during the 20th century.^[60][61][62]

In 2012, the Moving Image Archive was accepted as a member of the International Federation of Film Archives.^[63]

Lilly Library

Lilly Library

The Lilly Library is one of the largest rare book and manuscript libraries in the United States. Founded in 1960 with the collection of Josiah K. Lilly Jr., of Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, the library now contains approximately 400,000 rare books, 6.5 million manuscripts, and 100,000 pieces of sheet music.^[64] The library's holdings are particularly strong in British and American history and literature, religious texts, Latin Americana, medicine and science, food and drink, children's literature, fine printing and binding, popular music, medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, and early printing. Notable items in the library's collections include the New Testament of the Gutenberg Bible, a first edition copy of the Book of Mormon, the first printed collection of Shakespeare's works, a pair of the Spock's ears worn by Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Audubon's Birds of America, one of 25 extant copies of the "First Printing of the Declaration of Independence" (also known as the "Dunlap Broadside") that was printed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, George Washington's letter accepting the presidency of the United States, Abraham Lincoln's desk from his law office, a leaf from the famous, Abraham Lincoln "Sum Book" c. 1824–1826, Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son, the manuscripts of Robert Burns's "Auld Lang Syne", the Boxer Codex, annotated production scripts for Star Trek, J. M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World, and J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, and typescripts of many of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. The library also owns the papers of Hollywood directors Orson Welles and John Ford, the poets Sylvia Plath and Ezra Pound, and authors Edith Wharton, Max Eastman and Upton Sinclair. The library is also home to four Academy Awards, donated by alumni. In 2006, the library received a collection of 30,000 mechanical puzzles from Jerry Slocum. The collection will be on permanent display. Special permission is not required to use the collections, and the library has several exhibition galleries that are open to the public.

Within the Lilly Library is the Ruth E. Adomeit collection of miniature books, one of the world's largest.^[65] Among the collection are rare miniature books such as "From Morn Till Eve", a miniature book that presents biblical quotations in a devotional form, with one phrase for each morning and evening of a month. The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) had listed that, "the only known copy as being in the collection of famed miniature book collector Ruth E. Adomeit",^[66] which is now in the Lilly Library.

Fine Arts Library

IU's first Fine Arts Library was established in the late 1930s as part of the Departmental office on the second floor, east wing of the University Library which was then in Franklin Hall. In 1941, two important events occurred: art historian Henry Radford Hope became chairman of the Fine Arts Department in the Fall and the Fine Arts Center was created by remodeling Mitchell Hall Annex. The Fine Arts Library moved into IU Art Museum designed by I.M. Pei in August 1981. This location was closed for renovations to the museum in spring 2017. Most fine arts materials are currently located on the 9th floor of the Herman B Wells Library with the remaining items being located towards the back of the 10th floor.^[67]

William and Gayle Cook Music Library

The William and Gayle Cook Music Library, recognized as one of the largest academic music libraries in the world, serves the Jacobs School of Music and the Bloomington Campus of Indiana University. It occupies a four-floor, 55,000 square-foot facility in a wing of the Bess Meshulam Simon Music Library and Recital Center, dedicated in November 1995. The collection comprises over 700,000 cataloged items on 56,733 linear feet of shelves.

The Cook Music Library holds many special collections, including audio and print collections. One notable collection contains items from Leonard Bernstein's compositional studio, including items such as clothing, furniture, recordings, books, and awards.^[68]

Residence hall libraries

Residence hall library programs began in the 1930s at Harvard University. By 1978, there were twenty-one institutions with residential library systems.^[69] Today, Indiana University has only one of two residential library programs that still operates. Additionally, Indiana University has continued to expand its residential library system, adding the most recent branch in 2017. As of 2018 there were fourteen library branches: Briscoe, Campus View Apartments, Collins LLC, Eigenmann, Forest, Foster, McNutt, Read, Spruce, Teter, Union Street Center, Wells Quad, Wilkie, and Wright.^[70] The libraries are open daily while classes are in session. Previously, half of the branches offered only DVDs and CDs. In 2018, the decision was made to have all library branches offer books in addition to movies and games. The libraries hire graduate students in Indiana University's Master of Library Science program to act as center supervisors, who lead a staff of seven student assistants in staffing the libraries each evening. New material is added to the libraries each week, and any student or staff member of Indiana University can check out material using their Crimson Card.

Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

IU Art Museum

The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, formerly known as the Indiana University Art Museum,^[71] was established in 1941 and has occupied a building designed by the world-renowned architecture firm I.M. Pei and Partners since 1982. The museum houses a collection of over 40,000 objects and includes works by Claude Monet, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Jackson Pollock. The museum has particular strengths in the art of Africa, Oceania, the Americas, Ancient Greece and Rome, and European Modernism. It also holds a substantial collection of works on paper (prints, drawings, and photographs). The museum routinely has been ranked among the best university art museums in the United States.^[72]

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

The IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (formerly the Mathers Museum of World Cultures and the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology) consist of an estimated 5 million archaeological artifacts, 30,000 ethnographic objects, 20,000 photographs, and supporting library and archive. The collections represent cultures from each of the world's inhabited continents. These materials have been collected and curated to serve the museum's primary mission as a teaching museum within a university setting. The ethnology collections' strengths include traditional musical instruments, photographs of Native Americans and the Bloomington community, Inupiaq and Yupik Eskimo materials, and Pawnee material culture, among others. The archaeology collections piece together the material remains of cultures from the earliest occupations of North American through to the modern period.

Grunwald Gallery of Art

The Grunwald Gallery of Art, a contemporary art museum hosted by the university.^[73] The gallery was established in 1983 as the School of Fina Arts Gallery (SoFA Gallery) in what was formerly University's art museum space when that museum relocated to a new building.^[74] The museum exhibits experimental works by emerging and established artists as well as works by faculty and students within the Department of Studio Art. It is located at 1201 East 7th Street. It was named in honor of Indiana University alumnus John A. Grunwald in 2011.^[75] He was born in Hungary in 1935, survived the Holocaust, emigrated to the United States in 1950, and graduated with a degree in economics in 1956 from Indiana University where he met his wife Rita.^[73] In 2017, the art museum hosted an exhibition on the history of tattoo artistry in Indiana.^[76]

Indiana Memorial Union

The Indiana Memorial Union, in addition to hosting many events, holds the largest public collection of art outside a museum. The artwork within the building ranges from priceless sculptures to paintings.

Admissions

Undergraduate

Undergraduate admissions statistics
2021 entering class[77]Change vs. 2016
Admit rate	85.0 ( +6.3)
Yield rate	24.0 ( −4.1)
Test scores middle 50%
SAT Total	1170–1370 (among 39% of FTFs)
ACT Composite	26–32 (among 23% of FTFs)

The 2022 annual ranking of U.S. News & World Report categorizes Indiana University Bloomington as "more selective."^[78] For the class of 2025 (enrolled fall 2021), Indiana received 46,548 applications and accepted 39,543 (85.0%). Of those accepted, 9,482 enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 24.0%.^[77] Indiana's freshman retention rate is 90.3%, with 80.9% going on to graduate within six years.^[77]

Of the 39% of the incoming freshman class who submitted SAT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite scores were 1170-1370.^[77] Of the 23% of enrolled freshmen in 2021 who submitted ACT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite score was between 26 and 32.^[77]

Indiana University Bloomington is a college-sponsor of the National Merit Scholarship Program and sponsored 56 Merit Scholarship awards in 2020. In the 2020–2021 academic year, 68 freshman students were National Merit Scholars.^[79]

Fall first-time freshman statistics^{[77][80][81][82][83][84]}

Statistic	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016
Applicants	46,548	44,129	42,902	44,169	41,939	34,646
Admits	39,543	35,469	33,425	33,970	31,878	27,272
Admit rate	85.0	80.4	77.9	76.9	76.0	78.7
Enrolled	9,482	7,928	8,291	8,097	8,001	7,673
Yield rate	24.0	22.4	24.8	23.8	25.1	28.1
ACT composite* (out of 36)	26–32 (23%†)	24–31 (53%†)	24–31 (57%†)	24–31 (60%†)	25–31 (67%†)	24–30 (67%†)
SAT composite* (out of 1600)	1170–1370 (39%†)	1130–1340 (77%†)	1160–1350 (76%†)	1150–1360 (75%†)	1140–1350 (67%†)	—
* middle 50% range † percentage of first-time freshmen who chose to submit

Rankings and reputation

Indiana University is one of 62 members of the Association of American Universities, an organization of leading North American research universities. It has been called a Public Ivy university.^[95]

As of 2022, IU Bloomington's Masters in Public Affairs program is ranked No. 1 in the nation by U.S. News.^[96] IU is also ranked No. 1 in Environmental Policy and Management, Nonprofit Management, and Public Finance and Budgeting.^[97] The Kelley School of Business at IU, known for being a top-tier business school, was ranked in 2016 as the #1 public undergraduate business program by Bloomberg Businessweek.^[98]

The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked IU Bloomington 101–150 in the world and 49–60 nationally in 2017. Additionally, it ranked Indiana University-Bloomington 16th in the world for Business Administration, 7th in the world for Communication, 5th in the world for Public Administration, and 2nd in the world for Library and Information Science. U.S. News ranks IU 26th out of the top public universities in the United States.^[99] Forbes ranks IU 20th out of Public Universities.^[100]

Schools and Colleges

Morrison Hall

The Office of the Provost oversees the academic programs, research, and policies of 16 schools on the Indiana University Bloomington campus. Together, these units offer more than 550 individual degree programs and majors.^[101]

College of Arts and Sciences

The Student Building, home of the Departments of Anthropology and Geography

The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest of the university's academic divisions and home to more than 40 percent of its undergraduates. Also, the college offers many electives and general education courses for students enrolled in most other schools on campus. There are more than 50 academic departments in the college, encompassing a broad range of disciplines from the traditional (such as anthropology, art, biology, chemistry, classics, English, history, mathematics, philosophy, physics, political science, and psychology) to more modern and specialized areas, including Jewish studies, comparative literature, history and philosophy of science, and international studies. Through the college, IU also offers instruction in over 50 foreign languages, one of the largest language study offerings at any American university. IU is the only university in the nation that offers a degree in Hungarian (although it was done through the Individualized Major Program) and is the first university in the United States to offer a doctorate in Gender Studies.^[102] The Department of Geography has highly recognized programs in climate and environmental change, GIS, human-environment interaction, and human geography. Indiana University is also home to the nation's only degree-granting Department of Central Eurasian Studies. The university's catalog at one time boasted that a student could study any language from Akan to Zulu. The college is the parent division for fifteen individual research institutes and is the only academic division within the university to house autonomous schools (The School of Art + Design, The School of Global and International Studies, and the Media School) within it. The college is also home to the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, the first formally established academic department in folklore at any United States university and the only such department to integrate these two practices into one field. IU also features a world-class cyclotron operated by the Department of Physics. The college also houses IU's Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance which offers a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre, a BFA in Contemporary Dance, a Master of Fine Arts in Acting, Directing, Playwriting or Design/Technology, and a BFA in Musical Theatre. In 2009, a professor of political science (Elinor Ostrom) became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences since its inception in 1969.

Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design

The School of Art, Architecture + Design houses fourteen different areas in art, architecture, design, and merchandising.

Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies

The SGIS is an international affairs school composed of over 500 students from four academic departments and twenty-one institutes and centers. It also runs the Indiana University Summer Language Workshop (SWSEEL).

The Media School

The Media School's Franklin Hall.

The Media School was established on July 1, 2014, bringing together the journalism, communications, and film studies programs at IU.^[103] The school falls under the College of Arts and Sciences, and as of September 2023 is headed by Dean David Tolchinsky.^[104] Faculty members teach in the areas of communication science, cinema and media studies, media arts and production, and journalism. The Media School offers undergraduate degrees in journalism, media, cinematic arts, and game design. Programs are customizable and contain several options for concentrations and specializations. The school also offers graduate degrees in media and media arts and sciences. A number of minors and certificates are available.  

The school is primarily located in Franklin Hall. Franklin is home to many media production facilities, including game design labs, audio/video production equipment checkout, computer labs, and several studios for both visual and audio productions. The Radio-Television Building is an additional part of the school. It holds a film-cutting room, a production lab, and Studio 5, a 2,800-square-foot soundstage equipped with customizable sets and professional lighting and sound technology.

IU Bloomington placed 13th for communication in the 2022 Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects.^[105]

The Media School is home to the Michael I. Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism,^[106] and the Black Film Center & Archive, Center for Documentary Research and Practice. Student media organizations include the Indiana Daily Student, the Student Cinema Guild, WIUX Pure Student Radio, IU Student Television, and the Public Relations Student Society of America.

Hutton Honors College

Hutton Honors College

Main article: Hutton Honors College

Jacobs School of Music

The Jacobs School of Music

Main article: Jacobs School of Music

Founded at the beginning of the 20th century by Charles Campbell, the Jacobs School of Music focuses on voice, opera, orchestral conducting, and jazz studies. It was ranked No. 1 in the country tied with Juilliard and Eastman School of Music by U.S. News & World Report in 2009.^[107] U.S. News has not since published a music school ranking. The Hollywood Reporter ranked the Jacobs School of Music #4 in 2016.^[108] Music School Central ranked Jacobs #1 in the nation in 2014.^[109]

With more than 1,600 students, the school is one of the largest of its kind in the US and among the largest in the world. The school's facilities, including five buildings in the heart of campus, comprise recital halls, more than 170 practice rooms, choral and instrumental rehearsal rooms, and more than 100 offices and studios. Its faculty has included such notable people as Eileen Farrell, David Effron, János Starker, André Watts, Menahem Pressler, Carol Ann Weaver, Linda Strommen, Abbey Simon, Jorge Bolet, Ray Cramer, David Baker, William Bell, Harvey Phillips, Carol Vaness, Sylvia McNair, Howard Klug, violinist Joshua Bell, conductor Leonard Slatkin, and composer Sven-David Sandström. Notable alumni include Edgar Meyer and soprano Angela Brown. Many alumni have gone on to win Grammys and other music awards.

Maurer School of Law

The main building of the Maurer School of Law

Main article: Indiana University Maurer School of Law

The Maurer School of Law, founded in 1842, is one of the oldest schools on the Bloomington campus. It features a law library recently ranked first in the nation and is situated on the southwest corner of campus. In 2000, then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist presided over a mock trial of King Henry VIII in the school's moot courtroom. In the 2016 U.S. News & World Report rankings, the school was ranked tied for 25th in the nation among law schools.^[118] Notable alumni from the School of Law include songwriter Hoagy Carmichael, and vice-chairman of the 9/11 Commission and former congressman Lee H. Hamilton. On December 4, 2008, the school of law was renamed the Michael Maurer School of Law.^[119]

School of Education

School of Education

Main article: Indiana University School of Education

The School of Education, formerly a part of the College of Arts and Science, has been independent since 1923. One of the largest schools of education in the United States, it was ranked 25th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its 2016 rankings.^[118] It offers a range of degrees in professional education: a BS in teacher education leading to a teaching license, MS., education specialist (EdS) and doctoral (EdD, PhD) degrees.

Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering

Main article: Indiana University School of Informatics

Lindley Hall, former home of the Department of Computer Science

In 1999, the Indiana University School of Informatics was established as an environment for research professors and students to develop new uses for information technology to solve specific problems in areas as diverse as biology, fine arts, and economics.^[120] This was the first school of Informatics established in the United States. Informatics is also interested in "how people transform technology, and how technology transforms us."^[121] In 2005 the Department of Computer Science moved from the College of Arts and Sciences to the School of Informatics, prompting the school to expand its name to "School of Informatics and Computing".^[122] This move merged several faculty, bringing the total core faculty to over 100. In 2015, Indiana University submitted a proposal to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education for the establishment of an Engineering program.^[123] Purdue University attempted to block the proposal, but the commission shot them down, passing the proposal unanimously.^[124] Following approval, in 2016 the new Department of Intelligent Systems Engineering was established as a part of the School of Informatics and Computing, and its name was again changed, this time to the "School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering," commonly referred to as SICE.^[125] Shortly after, IU approved the construction of a $39.8 million new facility to house the rechristened school, named Luddy Hall, after alumnus, Fred Luddy.^[126] Luddy Hall opened its doors in January 2018. Informatics also has strong ties with the Media School, Jacobs School of Music, and the Cognitive Science program.

The School is one of a handful that offers degrees in Human–Computer Interaction.^[127] The School offers master's degrees in Human–Computer Interaction Design, Music Informatics, Bioinformatics, Chemical Informatics, Security Informatics, Intelligent Systems Engineering, Computer Science, and PhD degrees in Computer Science, Informatics, and Intelligent Systems Engineering. Specialization areas for the PhD in Computer Science include artificial intelligence, databases, distributed systems, formal methods, high-performance computing, programming languages, and security. The Informatics PhD program offers tracks in bioinformatics, cheminformatics, complex systems, human–computer interaction design, logic and mathematical foundations of informatics, music informatics, security informatics, and social informatics.

The School has four departments, namely, Informatics, Intelligent Systems Engineering, Computer Science, and Information and Library Science. The IU Department of Information and Library Science (ILS) was ranked by U.S. News & World Report in 2016 as the 8th best program in the nation.^[118] It has also been ranked number 1 in scholarly productivity by a 2006 study published in the journal Library & Information Science Research.^[128] ILS is housed on the ground floor of the Wells Library's Western Tower. In April 2012, what was formerly known as the School of Library and Information Science and IU's School of Informatics and Computing began a discussion on a possible merger of the two schools. Indiana University Board of Trustees approved the merger on October 22, 2012. In July 2013, the IU School of Informatics and School of Library and Information and Science merged into a single school: the IU School of Informatics and Computing.^[129]

School of Public Health-Bloomington

Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington

Main article: Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington

Established in 2012^[133] the school and programs have grown to encompass a broad spectrum of academic interests and professional fields. The school was founded in 1946 as the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. It transitioned into the School of Public Health-Bloomington and was renamed in September 2012.^[134][135] It was accredited by the Council on Education in Public Health in June 2015.^[136]

The school has nearly 3,000 students and 24,000 living alumni, with undergraduate and advanced degree programs offered through five academic departments: Applied Health Science, Environmental Health, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Kinesiology, and Recreation, Park, & Tourism Studies.^[137] The Division of Campus Recreational Sports within the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington provides sport and fitness opportunities for the IU community and the public.^[138]

The school has numerous centers, institutes, and specialized laboratories, including the Center for Sexual Health Promotion, the Indiana Prevention Resource Center, the National Center on Accessibility, the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention, among others.^[139]

The school's resources include more than 12,000 square feet (1,100 m²) of research and teaching laboratories, and nearly 275,000 square feet (25,500 m²) of indoor and outdoor sport and fitness facilities, including recreation centers, aquatics centers, and acreage that includes Bradford Woods.

School of Optometry

The main building of the School of Optometry

The Indiana University School of Optometry was founded in 1951. The school became a degree-granting institution of its own in 1975. Located at the southwest border of campus the Doctor of Optometry (OD) program admits on average 70–80 students per year.

The school operates a 22,000-square-foot (2,000 m²) community eye care clinic in Bloomington and a clinic in Indianapolis. In addition to providing optometric education, the facility also houses the Borish Center for Ophthalmic Research, officially dedicated in October 1995. The Borish Center provides opportunities for undergraduate, professional, and graduate students to participate directly in vision research.

Enrollment statistics

Primary sources

• Wells, Herman B. Being Lucky: Reminiscences and Reflections (1980) excerpt and text search