Photo caption: Chancellor Ken Iwama
Attorney Ken Iwama, Indiana University Northwest’s newly appointed Chancellor, will receive the Katie Hall Educational Foundation’s Chairman’s Award on Saturday, April 15, during the Foundation’s 10th Annual Public Service Awards Luncheon and Program.
Chancellor Iwama, an educator and lawyer, appointed August 1, 2020, to lead the Gary campus, is the first Asian-American and seventh individual to serve as Chancellor at Indiana University Northwest.
Since assuming the helm at the institution, he has made important strides to make the University more accessible to a diverse student body.
Iwama’s strategic planning for the university includes the mission of being a diverse body of faculty, staff, and students committed to inclusiveness, academic excellence, and student success.
Prior to coming to Northwest Indiana, Iwama served as founding vice president for the Division of Economic Development, Continuing Studies, and Government Relations for the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York.
His division supported faculty research and innovation, government relations, corporate and foundation engagement, specialized student career services, student residential life, workforce development, auxiliary services, and community-based centers and programming.
Iwama’s division led the college’s strategic priority in re-engaging with the community of Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, resulting in unprecedented resources flowing to the college.
Of particular note, Iwama secured approximately $22 million for major facilities and infrastructure projects, as well as academic initiatives supporting the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, Division of Science and Technology, School of Health Sciences, and the School of Business. Iwama also led the expansion of the college’s Tech Incubator to create the first innovation center in the borough.
Currently an executive committee member for the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, Iwama has presented on higher education issues at national conferences and seminars and has served with numerous higher education/legal organizations.
He is actively involved in local and regional organizations, and was recently named to the Managing Board of the Northwest Indiana Forum and the Executive Board of the Alliance for Regional Development.
Iwama holds a B.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire, an M.A. in Labor and Employment Relations from the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations, and a J.D. from Seton Hall Law School.
He and his wife Joanne have relocated to Ogden Dunes.
The Katie Hall Educational Foundation, Inc., has awarded the Chairman’s Award to a few distinguished Americans since 2015. The award recognizes individuals in various areas of public service.
Other recipients of the Foundation’s Chairman’s Award are PBS filmmaker Ken Burns, executive producer of The Civil War, the most-watched documentary in United States television history; Civil Rights leader and founder of the King Center, Mrs. Coretta Scott King; and billionaire trial attorney Willie E. Gary of Stuart, Florida.
Additional awardees for the April 15 luncheon are U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-IN); Christina Shutt, executor director, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM); and Indiana State Representative Dr. Vernon G. Smith (14th House District).
The Hall family has attained seven academic degrees from Indiana University Northwest.
The Honorable Katie Hall was the first member of the Hall family to graduate from Indiana University Northwest.
Attorney John Henry Hall was the first member of the Hall family to attend Indiana University Northwest, followed by Attorney Jacqueline D. Hall and Attorney Junifer Hall.
U.S. Representative Katie Hall (D-IN-1) after leaving the U.S. Congress often lectured on the topic “How the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Holiday Became Law in the United States Congress” on the campus of Indiana University Northwest in Gary.
The Annual Katie Hall Public Service Awards Luncheon and Program is Saturday, April 15 at the St. Timothy Community Chuch Fellowship Hall, 1600 W 25th Ave. in Gary. A VIP Reception featuring Chancellor Ken Iwama and other dignitaries will begin at 12:00 p.m. with the luncheon awards program beginning at 1:00 p.m.
For tickets, contact the Law Office of Attorney John Henry Hall at (219) 883-7711 or [email protected].
Indiana University Northwest is a Bronze Level sponsor of the 10th Annual Katie Hall Public Service Awards Luncheon and Program.
