The university's first female president will succeed outgoing president Dr. Michael McRobbie on July 1.
On Friday, April 16, the Indiana University Board of Trustees elected Dr. Pamela S. Whitten 19th president of Indiana University. Dr. Whitten, who has been president of Kennesaw State University in Georgia since 2018, will succeed outgoing president Dr. Michael McRobbie on July 1. Dr. Whitten is the first woman to serve as president of Indiana University. The School of Public Health-Bloomington will be her home school.
"President-Elect Whitten is not only an accomplished administrative leader, but she is every bit as much a highly accomplished scholar," says School of Public Health-Bloomington Dean David B. Allison. "We are simply thrilled to have an expert nationally recognized public health researcher at the helm of our beloved university. And, we are equally thrilled and immeasurably proud to have her appointed as a professor in our very own School of Public Health-Bloomington."
Prior to joining Kennesaw State University, Dr. Whitten served as the senior vice president for academic affairs and provost for the University of Georgia and professor in UGA's Department of Communication Studies, Franklin College of Arts & Sciences; Department of Health Policy & Management, College of Public Health; and Department of Advertising & Public Relations, Grady College. She has also served as dean of the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University. Dr. Whitten earned her Ph.D. in Communications with a focus on new technology and telemedicine from the University of Kansas.
"President-Elect Whitten's area of scholarly expertise is telehealth and telemedicine, and she presciently began working on this years before the current pandemic," says Dean Allison. "Her work in this domain has been funded by the NIH and is impressive for its quality, its quantity, and its impact. She will be a great intellectual collaborator for us all and a role model of scholarship for our students and mentorees."