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Mission of the Division of Undergraduate Education

The Division of Undergraduate Education supports strategies related to promoting undergraduate student learning and success through collaboration with academic and support units across IUPUI. The division is a nonprofit organization dedicated to maximizing private sector support for undergraduates to succeed at IUPUI.

A photo of students touring campus during summer bridge.

A photo of a student smiling and flashing a peace sign.

A photo of students participating in a summer bridge activity.

Our commitment to advancing racial justice

The Division of Undergraduate Education at IUPUI supports all undergraduate students by supporting high-quality learning and on-time degree completion. Matters of equity have always been at the core of our work, and we are committed to confronting systemic inequities in higher education through our programs and initiatives that propel students of color and those who are underrepresented and/or under-resourced to success.

Below, please find a list of our programs working to create a sense of belonging and inclusivity among students as they enter into and move through their journeys toward achieving graduation.

You can also use these links to jump ahead to sections.

University College | Honors College | Institute for Engaged Learning (IEL)

If you would like to learn more about partnering with the Division of Undergraduate Education to support these initiatives, please contact

Kristin Bird
Director of Development
Phone: (317) 274-5070
Email: kabird@iupui.edu

University College

Diversity Enrichment and Achievement Program

The mission of the Diversity Enrichment and Achievement Program (DEAP) is to enhance the transition and success of IUPUI students from populations that have been traditionally underrepresented in higher education by addressing academic, social, and personal matters that have an impact on persistence. Through connecting, affirming, guiding, and engaging students, DEAP helps to ensure their success at IUPUI. DEAP offers intensive retention programming and a supportive community. This program has made significant strides in retention and graduation rates for IUPUI students of color.

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21st Century Scholars Success Program

The 21st Century Scholars Success Program supports IUPUI 21st Century Scholars with a diverse array of programs and services, including professional coaching, financial literacy and education programs, as well as peer mentoring. The number of 21st Century Scholars enrolling at IUPUI has almost tripled since 2008, and the services offered to support them have significantly narrowed the gap in retention rates for this program and other students at IUPUI.

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Bowen Scholars Program

Through the generosity of the Bowen Family Foundation, we offer the Bowen Scholars Program at IUPUI for selected Ivy Tech Bowen Scholars. This program for returning adult African-American students provides monthly workshops, mentoring, a computer lab, and financial support for up-to-three years. One hundred percent of Bowen Scholars have graduated from IUPUI.

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Nina Scholars Program

Funded by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars Program offers students who face significant barriers to educational success an opportunity to obtain a bachelor's degree at IUPUI. The program is offered to lower-income individuals who were either raised in the child welfare system (such as foster care), have physical disabilities, or are returning adults with dependents. Nina Scholars regularly have over a 90% first-to-second year retention rate, and a 69% six-year graduation rate.

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THRIVE Program

Funded by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, THRIVE is designed to empower independent students to develop their capacity for personal growth and self-authorship for students who were formerly in foster care or experienced housing insecurity, homelessness or emancipation from a parent/guardian. Participants engage in a full IUPUI experience, as well as activities beyond the classroom, including workshops, cultural events, excursions, and retreats. The first-to-second year retention rate for THRIVE participants is 80.5.

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Student Support Services

Student Support Services (SSS) is a program funded by the US Department of Education to help students from low-income, first-generation backgrounds from orientation until they graduate. A proven program of information, support, and guidance helps provide SSS students with the academic and personal support necessary to excel at IUPUI. Over 300 students participate each year. The first-to-second year retention rate for SSS participants is 80%.

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Sophomore Internship Program

There are internship opportunity gaps among under-represented students at IUPUI. These gaps are evident in comparing 2019 Black graduates’ rate of participation (59.9%) to that of White graduates and Asian graduates (72.8% and 74.4% respectively). Students without internship experience report first full-time job salaries thousands of dollars below their peers with experience. To help in eliminating this gap, the Sophomore Internship Program (SIP) is designed to provide students with an opportunity to apply their academic coursework in a paid internship experience. Students are placed in professional internships with local industry partners. This program is aimed at sophomore students of all majors and provides supportive services throughout the application process and internship experience. Priority is given to students from historically underrepresented populations with focused recruitment from students who are 21st Century Scholars and who participate in DEAP.

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Career Outcomes Data

IUPUI maintains public datasets on graduates’ career outcomes that can be disaggregated by race, first-generation status, income level, and internship experience (career.iupui.edu/outcomes). Data is collected on employment, further education, starting salaries, debt, and confidence in repaying debt.

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Upward Bound

IUPUI Upward Bound provides low-income, first-generation potential college students quality instruction and academic support to ensure their successful completion of a bachelor’s degree. Students from targeted schools in Marion County participate throughout high school including a 6-week residential program in which students can earn college credit.

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SPAN Division

Special Programs for Academic Nurturing (SPAN) is an IUPUI program that gives academically motivated students the opportunity to get started on their college education or to take courses that are not available at their local high school. In order to promote enrollment by students in IPS, IUPUI awards tuition scholarships each academic year to academically eligible Crispus Attucks High School and George Washington High School junior and senior students engaged in coursework at the Indianapolis campus through the IUPUI SPAN Division. Students can earn up to 12 hours of college credit. Low-income students from any area high school are eligible to earn up to six credits of discounted tuition ($25 per credit hour).

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IUPUI First-Generation Celebration, national designation of IUPUI as a “First Forward” institution

IUPUI has been recognized by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators as a “First Forward” school for our efforts to recognize and support students who are the first in their families to attend college. For the past three years, IUPUI has hosted celebration of students, faculty and staff at IUPUI who are first in their families to attend or graduate college.

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Honors College

The Honors College offers a unique experience with housing, peer mentoring, student organizations, and more benefits that will make students’ time at IUPUI challenging, engaging, meaningful, and relevant. Comprised of high-achieving students from a variety of academic degree programs, our students can experience Honors coursework, one-on-one advising, and opportunities for research, international study, service, and experiential learning that allows students to build strong foundations inside and outside the classroom.

The Honors College has several diversity initiatives and plans underway, including:

White ally training for Honors College students.
New racial justice lecture series.
Existing partnerships with SPAN and Crispus Attucks High School.
Pursuing partnerships with other diversity scholarships on campus such as Diversity Scholars Research Program (DSRP), Olaniyan, Norman Brown, and others.
Supplemental Study Abroad stipend for underrepresented and/or
under-resourced Honors College students on top of the current $2,500 we provide.
Goal to create Diversity Scholarship to be awarded to Honors Scholars to fulfil unmet need on an individual student basis, while building a cohort of recipients, and creating an identity and community specific to the scholarship.
Goal to establish a student award to support dedication to building a diverse community.

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Institute for Engaged Learning (IEL)

Institute for Engaged Learning Equitable Pathways

The Institute for Engaged Learning promotes and supports the equitable progression of undergraduates through pathways of connected and scaffolded curricular and co-curricular, applied, integrative, and experiential learning opportunities that prepare students for lives of commitment and success with skills to communicate, innovate, and engage in local and global communities to address 21st century problems. The institute is comprised of units and centers that work together to support faculty, staff, and students in these efforts.

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First-Year Experience – Summer Bridge and Learning Communities

Bridge Week takes place the week before fall classes begin and gets you ready to hit the ground running. Learning communities combine a first-year seminar and one or two other linked general education courses, and include Themed Learning Communities and Gateway Learning Communities. Fall 2018 Bridge participants were significantly more likely to return to IUPUI in the fall It should be noted that 2018 Bridge participants were more likely to be first generation, more likely to receive a Pell Grant, and had a lower average SAT than non-participants.

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Diversity Scholars Research Program (DSRP)

The IUPUI Diversity Scholars Research Program (DSRP) is a performance-based scholarship directed toward academically talented first-time or incoming transfer students. The program is meant for students who want to continuously engage in faculty-mentored research while pursuing their degree at IUPUI. Scholars from racial and ethnic populations who have been historically underrepresented in institutions of higher education and whose presence will enhance the learning environment through increased diversity at IUPUI are encouraged to apply.

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Diversity Scholars Intensive Research Experience (DSIRE)

This program is meant for IUPUI students from underserved and underrepresented populations who want to engage in an intense faculty-mentored research experience for the duration of at least 11 months. To address promote a diverse and inclusive campus, the program includes, but is not limited, to students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, military veterans, students underrepresented in their discipline, LGBTQ+ students, as well as first-generation/low-income students.

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Diversity Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (DS-UROP)

The program is for IUPUI students from underserved and underrepresented populations who want to engage in faculty-mentored research over the summer. The program promotes a diverse and inclusive campus and includes, but is not limited to, students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, military veterans, students underrepresented in their discipline, and LGBTQ+ students, as well as first-generation students with financial need.

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For more information

If you would like to learn more about partnering with the Division of Undergraduate Education to support these initiatives, please contact