“The Power of Two!!”
In 2003 Charles’s first challenge to IUPUI was to “invoke the power of two to help to create the Indiana, the U.S., the world, all of us wish to live in.” The idea was to multiply faculty, staff, and student efforts and the resources available to them to accomplish their goals. Integral to this was the inclusion of a commitment to achieve excellence in civic engagement into IUPUI’s strategic plan.
The Bantz Era website at IUPUI lists, in detail, his many contributions and accomplishments made to IUPUI, Indianapolis, and beyond while serving at IUPUI.
Click here to visit the Bantz Era website.
Chancellor Bantz promoted the idea of community engagement to change people’s hearts in a way that taking notes in a classroom never will. It was arguable that at the beginning of his tenure at IUPUI the campus was not focused on and aware of civic engagement, and did not fully understand the importance of community service delivered in a variety of ways to the larger community. Indeed, Charles developed a more complete and concrete development of community engagement than was recognized earlier on this campus and thereby won IUPUI significant national and international awards and recognition.
“Charles Bantz’s leadership has made our surrounding community a better place to live. He has changed the hearts and minds of almost every student who has ever graduated from here since he took office by raising their awareness of their obligations to others. He also has increased opportunities for faculty and staff members through investing in community partnerships and fulfilling IUPUI’s obligation to contribute to the welfare of the larger community in every way a research university can. Charles R. Bantz merits the Bepko Community Medallion because he has expanded the very idea of community engagement at IUPUI to forever incorporate it into the mindset, modus operandi, and the very fabric of this place.”*