Indiana University Bloomington Provost Rahul Shrivastav is leaving the position to become interim Vice President for Student Success, according to a press release from Chancellor David Reingold.
John Ciorciari, Dean of the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, will be interim provost.
“I’m grateful for the chance to advance this vital work alongside colleagues across IU,” Shrivastav said in the release.
“Rahul and John are trusted, experienced leaders who care deeply about Indiana University and the people who make this place exceptional,” President Pamela Whitten said.
Shrivastav was provost for four years. Once serving as leader of the Bloomington campus, the role of provost lost much of its administrative power after the chancellor position was created. The provost now mainly handles academic affairs, reporting to the chancellor.
The release did not say what Shrivastav’s position would be when a hire is made for a permanent vice president for student success.
IU said it will conduct a formal search for a permanent provost. It did not say when or how it planned to fill the other position. Shrivastav’s new role places him back in Whitten’s cabinet, from which he was removed last year after IU created the chancellor position above him.
Whitten hired Shrivastav shortly after she became president. They worked together at the University of Georgia as vice presidents, and at Michigan State, where he chaired a department and she was a dean.
Shrivastav clashed with the IU Bloomington community almost as soon as he arrived in February 2022. The Graduate and Professional Student Government voted “no confidence” in him that April after the administration threatened to dismiss striking graduate workers. Faculty followed suit in 2024 when it also voted “no confidence” in Whitten and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty.
As provost, Shrivastav oversaw several large initiatives, including Faculty 100, a plan to attract 100 new tenure-track professors to IU in applied science. Shrivastav was also responsible for rolling out Whitten’s seven-year strategic plan for IU Bloomington.
He is filling a position suddenly vacated by Brenda Stopher, who the press release said “has chosen to step away from the position for personal reasons after four years of significant contributions to the university.”
Stopher was also a longtime collaborator with IU President Pamela Whitten, starting as her assistant at Kennesaw State University and rising to Vice President for Enrollment Management.
After joining IU as Whitten’s chief of staff, she was promoted to a new executive role, Vice President of Strategic Operations, and in 2025 was appointed Vice President for Student Success. She replaced Julie Payne-Kirchmeier, the officer’s inaugural VP, who left without an announcement.
