about the chancellor
Office of the Chancellor
A passion for education and growth.
As an accomplished educator and researcher, Ronald L. Elsenbaumer has more than 40 years of leadership experience across both academia and the private sector. Elsenbaumer became the 10th chancellor at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne in November 2017 and the inaugural chancellor of Purdue University Fort Wayne on July 1, 2018.
As chancellor, Elsenbaumer’s key accomplishments include rebranding the institution as a Purdue campus; completing institutional strategic planning (2019) and a new campus master plan (2020); achieving institutional 10-year accreditation from HLC as Purdue Fort Wayne (2021); transitioning the NCAA Division I athletics program from the Summit League to the Horizon League (2020); creating the new Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and hiring an inaugural chief diversity officer; and leading Purdue Fort Wayne to be ranked the safest campus in Indiana in 2021.
Elsenbaumer helped secure $4.85 million in legislative appropriations in 2021 for academic expansion and $15 million in appropriations in 2023 to complete funding for a new $22 million music industries studies building on campus. He recently served as chairman of the board for the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (2023) and currently serves on the boards of Greater Fort Wayne Inc., the Northeast Indiana Regional Chamber, and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.
Previously, Elsenbaumer held the positions of senior advisor to the president, provost and vice president for academic affairs, and vice president for research and federal relations at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he played a significant role in strengthening the university’s academic and research profile. Under his leadership, he oversaw significant advancements in student success, overall enrollment, degree production at all levels, research expenditures, and he helped secure more than $18 million in gifts and donations to enhance academic programs and create endowed faculty positions. He helped secure the Hispanic-Serving Institution designation and the elevation in Carnegie Classification from R2 to R1, Doctoral University/Highest Research Activity in February 2016. He was a champion for the University of Texas at Arlington in North Texas; Austin; Washington, DC; and beyond.
Prior to joining the University of Texas at Arlington, Elsenbaumer held various positions in corporate research and management at Allied-Signal Inc., a multinational corporation with headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey. Having made important laboratory discoveries and developed them into a commercial product, he had the privilege of being promoted from a laboratory scientist to a group leader to an efficient project manager, effectively bridging multiple joint ventures (in different locations in Germany, Japan, and the United States) for a successful product development and launch.
Elsenbaumer holds a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Purdue University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He has authored or coauthored more than 110 publications, has more than 35 US patents, and has secured more than $10 million in external research funding. In addition to being chancellor, he holds a tenured professor position in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Previously, he held an appointment as professor of materials science and engineering in the College of Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he successfully graduated master’s and doctoral students, mentored undergraduate and high school students, and published extensively in peer-reviewed journals. He has also lectured at numerous conferences and universities around the world. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Kappa, and was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors in 2013.
