Our history and heritage
1820: A legislative act is adopted establishing a state seminary. Indiana University Founders Day.
1822: Construction begins on Seminary Building.
1823: Baynard Rush Hall is hired as the first professor.
1825: Classes begin with an enrollment of 10 male Ï㽶ÊÓƵs.
1828: “State Seminary” becomes “Indiana College.”
1829: Andrew Wylie becomes the first IU president.
1830: The first class graduates.
1838: “Indiana College” becomes “Indiana University.”
The first IU African American graduates
The IU Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center is named in honor of IU’s first male and first female African American graduates, Marcellus Neal and Frances Marshall. At a time when it was rare for an African American man to go to college—and even rarer for an African American woman—Neal and Marshall were undaunted in their pursuit of an education. Neal graduated in 1895 with an A.B. in mathematics, and Marshall graduated in 1919 with an A.B. in English. Both went on to serve in respected careers as teachers and school administrators.
1842: The School of Law is established (now the IU Maurer School of Law).
1852: Alfred Ryors becomes the second IU president.
1853: William Mitchell Daily becomes the third IU president.
1854: The IU Alumni Association is founded.
1859: Theophilus A. Wylie serves six months as acting IU president. John Hiram Lathrop becomes the fourth IU president.
1860: Cyrus Nutt becomes the fifth IU president.
1867: IU becomes one of the first state universities to admit women. The Indiana Student (now the Indiana Daily Student) publishes its first issue.
1869: Sarah Parke Morrison becomes the first woman to graduate.
1875: Lemuel Moss becomes the sixth IU president.
1883: Charles Henry Gilbert becomes the first Ph.D. graduate.
1884: Elisha Ballantine is named acting IU president.
1885: David Starr Jordan becomes the seventh IU president.
1886: The IU men’s football team is founded.
1888: With the purchase of a chronoscope, future IU president William Lowe Bryan founds the oldest continuing psychology laboratory in the United States.
1891: John Merle Coulter becomes the eighth IU president.
1892: IU wins the Intercollegiate Baseball Championship series against DePauw University. The Arbutus campus yearbook is published for the first time.
1893: Joseph Swain becomes the ninth IU president. “Hail to Old I.U.,” IU’s official alma mater, is performed by the IU glee club for the first time.
1895: Marcellus Neal becomes IU’s first Black graduate, with an A.B. in mathematics.
1896: The IU men’s basketball team is founded.
A pioneer in education
Herman B Wells (1902–2000), Indiana University’s long-standing president (1938–1962) and chancellor (1962–2000), is credited with elevating the university’s stature in research, the arts, and international studies. One of the great leaders in higher education, Wells devoted his life to IU. Advancing the rights of African American Ï㽶ÊÓƵs, supporting groundbreaking research from the Kinsey Institute, protecting our campus green spaces, and establishing the Lilly Library are among his lasting achievements.
1902: William Lowe Bryan becomes the 10th IU president.
1903: The School of Medicine is established.
1904: The Graduate School is established.
1908: The School of Education is established. IU hosts “Gala Week,” the first homecoming event for alumni, which includes a circus and a banquet.
1912: “Indiana, Our Indiana”—the most popular IU fight song—is first performed by the IU Band in a football game against Northwestern University.
1914: The School for Nurses is established (now the School of Nursing).
1919: Frances Marshall becomes IU’s first Black female graduate, with an A.B. in English.
1920: The School of Commerce and Finance is established (now the IU Kelley School of Business).
An invention worth smiling about
IU dental scientist Joseph Muhler, IU chemist William Nebergall, and head of the IU chemistry department Harry Day filed a patent for a toothpaste that used stannous fluoride and a calcium pyrophosphate abrasive—the formulation that Procter & Gamble soon named Crest, which revolutionized dental care. Crest was first sold nationally in 1956.
1921: The School of Music is established (now the IU Jacobs School of Music).
1925: The stadium is dedicated and the “Old Oaken Bucket” makes its first appearance during the IU-Purdue football game.
1929: IU alumnus and composer Hoagy Carmichael publishes “Stardust” at the age of 30.
1931: Professor Rolla N. Harger invents the Drunk-O-Meter—the first successful machine for testing human blood-alcohol content.
1932: Coach Billy Thorn leads the wrestling team to the NCAA championship, the first NCAA team title for IU Athletics.
1936: The IU Foundation is established.
1937: Herman B Wells is named acting IU president.
1938: Herman B Wells becomes the 11th IU president. The IU men’s cross country team wins the NCAA championship.
1940: The IU men’s basketball and cross country teams win NCAA championships.
Prized journalist
IU journalism Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Ernie Pyle won the Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence in 1944 for his extraordinary work as a World War II correspondent. His writings illustrated the everyday struggles of ordinary soldiers, whom he traveled with on front lines in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France. Pyle was published in more than 400 daily newspapers nationwide. His columns were popular because they put a face on a dehumanizing war. Pyle died in 1945 by sniper fire on the island of Ie Shima.
1941: The IU Auditorium is completed. The IU Art Museum is established. One of the world’s first cyclotrons becomes operational at IU.
1942: The IU men’s cross country team wins the NCAA championship.
1944: IU bestows its first honorary doctorate on former Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Ernie Pyle, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence that year.
1945: IU wins the Big Ten football championship.
1946: IU zoologist Hermann J. Muller wins the Nobel Prize. The School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation is established (now the School of Public Health-Bloomington).
1947: IU Professor Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues establish the Institute for Sex Research (now the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction).
1948: IU Professor Alfred Kinsey and his co-researchers publish Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, which becomes a national bestseller. America’s first degree-granting folklore program is initiated.
1950: Indiana University Press is established.
1951: IU holds the first Little 500 bicycle race.
1953: IU Professor Alfred Kinsey and his co-researchers publish Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. The IU men’s basketball team wins the NCAA championship.
1956: Crest toothpaste, using a formula developed by three IU researchers, is first sold nationally.
1960: The Seventeenth Street Football Stadium (now the Indiana Memorial Stadium) is completed.
Banner years
1940. 1953. 1976. 1981. 1987. The IU Hoosiers men’s basketball team has won five NCAA championships, tying IU for third place in total championship banners—which hang in our beloved Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Many consider IU’s 1976 team to be the best ever in the history of college basketball. The team is still the last undefeated NCAA men’s basketball champion.
1961: The IU men’s swimming team wins the first of 20 consecutive Big Ten championships.
1962: Elvis Jacob Stahr Jr. becomes the 12th IU president. Herman B Wells is named university chancellor. IU alumnus James Watson wins the Nobel Prize, as he and two others are honored for discovering the structure of DNA.
1968: Herman B Wells serves as interim IU president. Joseph Lee Sutton becomes the 13th IU president. The IU men’s swimming team wins the NCAA championship.
1969: John W. Snyder is named acting chancellor through July. Byrum E. Carter becomes chancellor in August. The Third Library Building (now the Herman B Wells Library) is completed. The IU men’s swimming team wins the NCAA championship.
1970: IU celebrates its sesquicentennial. The IU men’s swimming team wins the NCAA championship.
An Oscar for Breaking Away
IU alumnus Steve Tesich won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away, the story of four Bloomington townies—called “cutters” after the local limestone-cutting trade—who enter the famous IU Little 500 bicycle race. To this day, IU Ï㽶ÊÓƵ teams race under the name Cutters to honor the film’s legacy.
1971: John W. Ryan becomes the 14th IU president. Assembly Hall (now Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall) and the Musical Arts Center are completed. The IU men’s swimming team wins the NCAA championship.
1972: The School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) is established. The IU men’s swimming team wins the NCAA championship. Team member Mark Spitz goes on to win seven gold medals at the Olympics. Coach Doc Counsilman leads both teams.
1973: The Black Culture Center (Neal-Marshall) and the Latino Cultural Center (La Casa) are established. The IU men’s swimming team wins the NCAA championship.
1976: The IU men’s basketball team wins the NCAA championship.
1979: Alumnus Steve Tesich wins an Oscar for his screenplay for the movie Breaking Away about the IU Little 500 race. The movie was filmed on campus.
1980: Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis becomes vice president for academic affairs and Bloomington chancellor.
Welcome to IU
Funded by Edson Sample, the IU Sample Gates were dedicated in 1987, serving as a welcoming entrance to the oldest part of the current IU campus known as the Old Crescent. They are made with Indiana limestone and are the most-photographed IU structure. Before the gates were built, Kirkwood Avenue extended into campus.
1981: School of Music Ï㽶ÊÓƵs present the first performance by a university company at the Metropolitan Opera House. Architect I. M. Pei completes the IU Art Museum. The IU men’s basketball team wins the NCAA championship.
1982: Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein is in residence as the first fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study. The IU women’s tennis team wins the AIAW championship. The IU men’s soccer team wins the NCAA championship.
1983: The IU men’s soccer team wins the NCAA championship
1987: Thomas Ehrlich becomes the 15th IU president. The Sample Gates are dedicated. The IU men’s basketball team wins the NCAA championship.
1988: The IU men’s soccer team wins the NCAA championship.
1991: The first IU Dance Marathon is held.
1994: Myles Brand becomes the 16th IU president. The School of Music graduate program ties for first place with Juilliard and Eastman in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Professor of English Yusef Komunyakaa wins the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. The IU softball team wins the Big Ten championship.
1998: The Asian Culture Center is established. The IU men’s soccer team wins the NCAA championship.
1999: University Chancellor Herman B Wells is named IU’s Man of the Century. The IU men’s soccer team wins the NCAA championship.
2000: The School of Informatics is founded and is the first school of its kind in the nation. University Chancellor Herman B Wells dies at 97. The Herman B Wells plaza is dedicated.
Challenging conventional wisdom
For her analysis of economic governance, Professor Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012) won the Nobel Prize in 2009. Ostrom, a political theorist, defied traditional understanding by showing how local property can be successfully managed by local commons without privatization or governance by central authorities. She was the first woman to win in the category of Economic Sciences.
2001: Sharon Stephens Brehm becomes chancellor. Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis is named chancellor emeritus. IU is named TIME's College of the Year.
2002: Gerald Bepko is named interim IU president after Myles Brand steps down to become the head of the NCAA. The Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center is dedicated. The inaugural powwow is held by IU First Nations.
2003: Adam W. Herbert becomes the 17th IU president. Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis is appointed interim chancellor. Coach Jerry Yeagley leads the IU men’s soccer team to a sixth NCAA championship in his final season.
2004: Intel names IU the No. 1 wireless college campus. The Lilly Endowment Inc. gives IU $53 million for life sciences research. The IU men’s soccer team wins the NCAA championship under new head coach Mike Freitag.
2005: IU is named the "Hottest Big State School" by Newsweek, America’s Hot Colleges.
2006: IU’s supercomputer system “Big Red” is ranked the fastest supercomputer owned and operated by a U.S. university and the 23rd fastest supercomputer in the world. IU is named the “most wired” public university by PCMag.
2007: Michael A. McRobbie becomes the 18th IU president. Karen Hanson is named IU executive vice president and Bloomington provost.
2009: IU Professor Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012) is awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
2010: IU moves into the top 30 colleges in Kiplinger’s rankings of the “100 Best Values in Public Colleges.” IU Bloomington libraries are named No. 1 in the country by the Association of College and Research Libraries. A new microscope at IU breaks the light microscopy resolution barrier.
2011: The IU Cinema is dedicated. The 9/11 Commission reconvenes on campus.
2012: IU is named 17th in the nation in total voluntary support rankings by the Council for Aid to Education. Lauren Robel is named provost and executive vice president. The IU Trustees approve a new School of Global and International Studies in the College of Arts + Sciences. The IU Trustees approve the merger of the School of Informatics and the School of Library and Information Science. The IU men’s soccer team wins the NCAA championship.
2013: Former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton are named distinguished scholars and professors of practice in the School of Global and International Studies. The IU men’s baseball team makes its first trip to the College World Series.
2014: The Media School at Indiana University is established, which combines the 100-year-old journalism program, the telecommunications department, and portions of the communication and culture department. The IU Trustees approve the Indiana University Bicentennial Strategic Plan.
2015: The IU Trustees approve a proposal to establish a new engineering program that will be initially housed in the IU School of Informatics. IU, IU Health, and IU Health Bloomington Hospital announce plans to create a regional academic health campus at IU Bloomington, which will include a new home for the IU Health Bloomington Hospital. The National Jurist names IU Maurer School of Law Professor William Henderson the most influential person in legal education. Three IU Jacobs School of Music alumni take home Grammy statuettes—double-bassist Edgar Meyer, pianist Cory Smythe, and early-music tenor Aaron Sheehan.
2016: Ground is broken for SPEA’s O’Neill Graduate Center. The Hutton Honors College celebrates its 50th anniversary. The first IU Day—a 24-hour worldwide celebration of all things IU—is held on April 12. The IU Auditorium celebrates its 75th anniversary. The IU Art Museum becomes the IU Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art. Lori Reesor is named dean of Ï㽶ÊÓƵs. The first program is selected for the Grand Challenges initiative. The School of Art and Design opens. IU’s first engineering program launches. Olympians with ties to IU bring home five gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.
2017: Herman B Wells’ 23 reels of personal home movies are digitized and made available online. The IU Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art closes to begin a two-year, $30 million renovation. Goodbody Hall and Wells Quadrangle become Ï㽶ÊÓƵ housing for the first time in almost 90 years. A new Master of Architecture degree program, set to begin in fall 2018, is announced. The Conrad Prebys Amphitheater is dedicated. IU Health and IU reveal the design of the planned Regional Academic Health Center. The School of Informatics and Computing becomes the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. The School of Art and Design becomes the School of Art, Architecture, and Design. The Arthur Metz Carillon plays its final notes prior to a planned renovation and move to the Arboretum. Chancellor Emeritus Ken Gros Louis passes away at age 80. Actor Glenn Close donates her costume collection to the School of Art, Architecture, and Design.
2018: IU Provost Professor Lisa Pratt is named the planetary protection officer at NASA. Ballantine Hall renovation begins. Found footage of the 1954 high school basketball games that inspired the movie Hoosiers is preserved in the IU Libraries Moving Image Archive. The WFIU program A Moment of Science celebrates its 30th anniversary. The Center for Rural Engagement is launched. Former Chancellor Sharon Brehm passes away. Luddy Hall is dedicated. Dave O’Guinn is named vice provost for Ï㽶ÊÓƵ affairs and dean of Ï㽶ÊÓƵs. IU’s Mexico Gateway opens in Mexico City. IU amends its non-discrimination policy to include protections for genetic information and gender expression. The Russian Language Flagship program is established, making IU Bloomington the only institution in the United States with four language flagship programs. The Precision Health Initiative, part of IU’s Grand Challenges, leads to a new cancer treatment. The IU School of Global and International Studies is named for Lee Hamilton and Richard Lugar. IU football legend George Taliaferro passes away at age 91. Reuters ranks IU the 54th most innovative university in the world.
2019: Due to its international reputation for Drosophila research, IU receives a donation of the earliest records of fruit fly genetics research. Carol Anne Murdoch-Kinch is named the first female dean of the IU School of Dentistry. Public TV station WTIU celebrates 50 years of serving the community. The movie Breaking Away celebrates its 40th anniversary. IU begins digitally re-creating “Megajeff,” an ancient giant sloth skeleton that once resided on campus. The School of Art, Architecture + Design is renamed for Sidney and Lois Eskenazi. The IU Herbarium completes digitization of its collection of more than 160,000 preserved plant specimens. Former Indiana senator and IU faculty member Richard Lugar passes away. I.M. Pei, internationally renowned architect of the IU Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, passes away. The century plant, located in the Jordan Hall greenhouse (now the Biology Building Greenhouse) for almost 50 years, finally blooms. IU acquires Big Red 200, the fastest university-owned supercomputer in the nation. The Informatics East and West buildings are renamed Myles Brand Hall after the former IU president. The Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center celebrates its 50th anniversary. The LGBTQ+ Culture Center celebrates its 25th anniversary. The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art reopens to the public after a $30 million renovation. Researchers at the Center for Underwater Science open an underwater “living museum” in the Dominican Republic. The former School of Public and Environmental Affairs is renamed to celebrate distinguished alumnus Paul H. O'Neill. Athletics director Fred Glass announces his retirement from IU at the end of the academic year. Kelley School of Business Dean Idie Kesner is named Dean of the Year by Poets & Quants.
2020: IU celebrates its bicentennial on January 20 by ringing the Metz Carrilon's bells 200 times.
2021: President Pamela Whitten is inaugurated as IU's 19th president. IU Health Bloomington opens its doors to serve 11 counties in its new 620,000-square-foot Regional Academic Health Center. The Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design becomes the Mies Building for the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design to honor building architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. A "Black Lives Matter" mural embraces diversity with its colorful messaging near the Neal-Marshall Black Cultural Center.
2022: Rahul Shrivastav assumes the role of provost. The portion of Jordan Avenue that runs through campus is renamed Eagleson Avenue to honor a prominent Black Bloomington resident. The Helene G. Simon Hillel Center opens its doors, becoming the campus's seventh cultural center. Celebrating its 75th year, The Kinsey Center announces a partnership with the Kelley School of Business to address gender inequity and sexual misconduct.