2003 to 2015
Charles Bantz became the fourth chancellor of IUPUI in 2003, guiding the IUPUI campus through a period of growth and unprecedented student success. A champion of urban-serving universities, Bantz strategically focused IUPUI’s teaching, research, and engagement in support of Indiana’s economic clusters.
Under his leadership, IUPUI launched the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, the first school of its kind in the world, and the IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health. He also led the creation of more than 25 twenty-first-century degree programs to enable students to be competitive in the job market.
During Bantz’s chancellorship, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded increased by 66 percent. There also was a 61 percent increase in external research awards, including significant support for humanities and social sciences as well as medicine, engineering, and science. He and his wife, Sandra Petronio, a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at IUPUI, founded the Center for Translating Research Into Practice and endowed the Bantz-Petronio Translating Research Into Practice Faculty Award.
He also presided over unprecedented physical changes to the campus, including the opening of the Campus Center and the addition of nearly 1 million square feet of research and academic space.
Bantz earned a bachelor’s degree in English education and a master’s degree in speech communication from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. in communication from Ohio State University.