Indiana University Fort Wayne

Fort Wayne; established July 1, 2018, as Indiana University's health sciences campus in the division of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne; based in Neff Hall on the shared campus, 2101 East Coliseum Boulevard

The Indiana line: Indiana University's Fort Wayne record is the older of the two that meet on the Coliseum Boulevard campus. The university established its Indiana Extension Center in Fort Wayne in 1917, teaching one hundred forty-two students in twelve courses, housed at first on the third floor of the courthouse. Under Floyd Neff, its director from 1918 to 1951, enrollment increased substantially, and in 1939 the center settled at 1120 South Barr Street, the former Lutheran institute building, for a quarter century. Purdue kept its own separate center downtown from 1941, and for a generation the two universities taught in the same city under separate roofs, until both trustee boards joined them on one campus.

The joint campus, from Indiana's side: On the agreement of the two trustee boards, the State of Indiana transferred one hundred fourteen acres at the city's northeast edge, the Old Oak Park Farm of the Fort Wayne State School, and Indiana University's own history dates the groundbreaking to October 18, 1961, when Presidents Elvis Stahr of Indiana and Frederick L. Hovde of Purdue dug together with a two-handled shovel; the published account of the joint university dates the start of construction a year later, to October 18, 1962, and the two dates stand here as their sources give them, as in the Purdue entry beside this one. The IU trustees approved the Indiana-Purdue Regional Campus at Fort Wayne in 1964, the Education Building was dedicated on August 27, 1964, the joint university opened on September 17, 1964, and the first building took Alfred W. Kettler's name in 1973. Through the joint decades, Indiana's side ran heavily to the health sciences: the published accounts list a branch of the Indiana University School of Medicine among the joint university's nine colleges and schools, and its nursing and dental programs taught toward Indiana degrees, the inheritance the division of 2018 gathered into one institution.

The division: The Indiana General Assembly's staff report of 2016, the Report on Role and Governance of IPFW, recommended the split, and on July 1, 2018, the reorganization took effect: the health sciences of the joint campus became Indiana University Fort Wayne, and everything else became Purdue University Fort Wayne, whose own entry stands beside this one. IU Fort Wayne began its first academic term on August 20, 2018, with about three hundred first-year students and one hundred fifty returning students expected in its classrooms, clinics and labs. Based in Neff Hall, on the campus's south side, with nursing on the third floor of the Liberal Arts Building, it was placed under IUPUI's administrative direction and is administered today through Indiana University Indianapolis, IUPUI's successor. It is, in its own description, northeast Indiana's only university dedicated exclusively to the health professions.

The degrees: The degrees are the health professions' degrees, awarded through Indiana University's schools. Nursing is the largest company: the bachelor of science in nursing in its traditional, RN to BSN and accelerated second degree tracks, with a master of science in nursing beyond it. The IU School of Dentistry teaches dental hygiene at the bachelor's level, dental assisting as a certificate, and dental technology, which at the campus's founding was the only program of its kind in the state and one of fifteen accredited programs in the country. Medical imaging, social work at the bachelor's and master's levels, a community health certificate through the Fairbanks School of Public Health, and the IU School of Medicine's Fort Wayne program, which enrolled about ninety students in the campus's first year, complete the list the university publishes.

The growth: The campus has grown by its own announced counts in nearly every term since it stood up. Indiana University's figures give one thousand ninety-one students in the fall of 2025. The spring of 2026 counted one thousand twenty-six students, up from nine hundred thirty-eight the spring before, with the School of Nursing alone at four hundred ninety-five students, its largest spring enrollment to that date. The fall of 2026 then set the campus's record at one thousand two hundred eight students, a rise of 10.7 percent over the fall before it, with nearly three hundred freshmen. The figures are printed term by term as announced, because the institution is young and a single standing number would misstate it within a year.

People: Dr. Deborah Garrison leads the campus as its inaugural vice chancellor and dean, the title Indiana University's own news releases give her in 2026 as she announces its record enrollments. The campus's first table was set in 2018, when Dr. Fen-Lei Chang, associate dean and director of the IU School of Medicine-Fort Wayne, chaired its executive committee, and Professor Ann Obergfell served as associate vice chancellor of academic affairs and operations. The university began with forty-four full-time undergraduate faculty and twenty-five staff, beside sixteen full-time graduate faculty, figures Indiana University published in its first month. It shares its six hundred eighty-eight acres, its library and its student life with Purdue University Fort Wayne, and keeps its own faculty, admissions and degrees: two universities on one campus, divided by the professions they teach.

Sources:

1. Indiana University Fort Wayne, institutional history page (fortwayne.iu.edu): the extension center of 1917, the Barr Street years and director Floyd Neff; the 114 acres and the groundbreaking of October 18, 1961; the Education Building dedicated August 27, 1964 and renamed Kettler Hall in 1973; the 2016 report, the reorganization of July 1, 2018 and the first term of August 20, 2018; citing Ankenbruck, The Creation Years (1983), and the IU trustees' minutes
2. Indiana University news release, July 18, 2018, "Welcoming IU Fort Wayne to the family": the first students, Neff Hall and the Liberal Arts Building arrangement, administration under IUPUI, the first faculty and staff counts, the dental technology program's standing, the social work and medicine enrollments, and the campus's first officers
3. Indiana University Fort Wayne, degrees and majors page: the undergraduate programs in nursing, dental hygiene, dental assisting, dental technology, social work and community health, and the schools awarding them
4. Wikipedia, "Indiana University Fort Wayne": the establishment of July 1, 2018, administration through Indiana University Indianapolis, Vice Chancellor Deborah R. Garrison, 1,091 students in fall 2025, and the shared 688 acre campus
5. Indiana University Fort Wayne news, February 2, 2026: spring 2026 headcount of 1,026 students, up from 938, and the School of Nursing at 495 students
6. Indiana University Fort Wayne news, September 3, 2026: fall 2026 enrollment a record 1,208 students, up 10.7 percent over fall 2025, and the campus described as the region's only university dedicated exclusively to the health professions