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Tanuja Singh will be the next leader of the University of Indianapolis, beginning July 1. The UIndy Board of Trustees unanimously approved her selection as president, the school announced Tuesday.
Singh, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Loyola University New Orleans since July 2020, has worked in leadership at higher education institutions for almost 30 years.
Singh succeeds Robert Manuel, who was selected in May 2022 to lead Chicago’s DePaul University, after a decade at UIndy. He oversaw the college’s development of the R.B. Annis School of Engineering, the 150,000-square-foot University Health Pavilion and the construction of three new residence halls.
Singh said she will focus on creating partnerships in Indianapolis and meeting the needs of the local workforce.
“It is the University of Indianapolis, and in my mind it has to be a great partner with the government, with the companies that exist here, with the not-for-profits, with the economic development groups,” Singh told IBJ.
Singh will begin her new job July 1.
Prior to joining Loyola, Singh led the school of business at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, for 11 years. Before that, she had a 13-year tenure at Northern Illinois University, where she served as a professor of marketing and department chair.
Singh said she plans to focus on areas including health care, engineering and logistics at UIndy.
“We should be participating more fully in all the development that takes place in the city … and Indianapolis is growing in areas that are really leading the world in logistics and health care,” Singh said.
Under her leadership, the Loyola College of Nursing and Health partnered with a major health care system in Louisiana to create the college’s first nursing simulation lab. She oversaw a $150 million comprehensive fundraising campaign as dean of the Greehey School of Business at St. Mary’s University.
Amid growing concerns that Indiana is not retaining college graduates, Singh said she expects UIndy to combat the trend under her leadership.
“We will be the university that produces the kinds of graduates that are employed locally,” Singh said.
UIndy has nearly 5,300 undergraduate, graduate and continuing education students. It offers more than 100 undergraduate degrees, more than 40 master’s degree programs and five doctoral programs.
The school said it picked Singh after a “comprehensive global” search that lasted nearly a year. Phillip Terry, immediate past president of UIndy’s board of trustees and the former CEO of Indianapolis-based Monarch Beverage Co., served as interim president.
Board members applauded Singh’s experience.
“The breadth of Dr. Singh’s expertise—enrollment strategy, new program development, student and faculty development, fundraising, industry and community partnerships–is what made her candidacy stand out,” said Stephen Fry, who chaired the search committee, in written remarks. “As our search process developed, she became the clear choice as our 10th president and will lead UIndy into the future.”
Singh has a doctorate in business administration from Southern Illinois University, an MBA from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, and a master’s of science in physics from University of Allahabad in India.
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