E. Jane Luzar, Founding Dean of the Honors College, was honored with the IUPUI Chancellor’s Medallion by Chancellor Nasser H. Paydar during the Dean’s Recognition Reception on May 14, 2018. Under Dr. Luzar’s leadership, the Honors College has provided rigorous coursework, one-on-one advising, and outstanding opportunities for research, international study, service, and experiential learning to the university’s highest achievers.
Appointed founding dean of the Honors College in 2009, Dr. Luzar is an experienced educator with particular emphasis on administration, enrollment management, and curriculum development. In her role as founding dean, Dr. Luzar conceptualized and implemented significant academic and co-curricular programming, including the development of the IUPUI Office of Sustainability, the urban sustainability graduate major, the sustainability policy and management undergraduate major, the sustainability minor, and three international service learning courses in Swaziland, Kenya, and Costa Rica.
Dr. Luzar also serves as a professor of natural resource economics within the School of Liberal Arts’s Department of Economics and as a professor within the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She is the director of the Common Theme Project, which promotes campus unity, conversation, and collaboration on timely issues that connect IUPUI to central Indiana and the rest of the world. Under her leadership, the Common Theme Project was expanded to a campus-wide and community project.