PLAINFIELD — Nearly 300 people joined life-long Plainfield resident Nick Kellum in celebrating his retirement from IUPUI on Monday.
In 1963, Kellum enrolled at Indiana University’s Normal College of the American Gymnastic Union as a transfer student from Hanover College. Though he spent time at Hanover, on the IU Bloomington campus, and two years in Michigan, Kellum considers Plainfield his home.
Kellum is a career IU man, dedicating most of his life to serving faculty, staff, and students on the IUPUI campus.
He graduated from Normal College with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. After teaching in Michigan for two years, he returned to the Indianapolis campus to start the intramural and recreational sports program on the newly formed IUPUI campus in 1969.
Kellum has been with IUPUI and the IU School of Physical Education and Tourism Management since then. As the outgrowth of Normal College, the school is the oldest academic unit on the IUPUI campus, as well as the nation’s oldest school for the preparation of physical education teachers.
Kellum earned his master’s and doctorate of education degrees from Indiana University while working at IUPUI. He was appointed as the university’s first athletic director in 1972.
During his tenure as dean of the school, a position he assumed in 1978, Kellum oversaw construction of the current physical education/natatorium building and Michael A. Carroll Track and Soccer Stadium.
He served as volunteer coach of the IUPUI women’s softball team from 1975-91, earning nine consecutive national championship tournaments and scoring himself induction into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994.
“My work at IUPUI has been extremely gratifying,” Kellum said in a press release. “I have had an opportunity to work with outstanding students, talented athletes, tremendous faculty, and wonderful university leaders.”
His contributions include growing the school from a two-year program with fewer than 100 students and seven full-time faculty to one that includes physical education, tourism management, and military science. The school now offers bachelor and master’s degrees and has more than 900 students and 30 full-time educators. It also has oversight of Indiana University’s family camp, Camp Brosius.
Kellum has served in a variety of professional organizations and community boards, and contributes as a volunteer and donor to countless community organizations and the university.
His distinguished service earned him the Maynard K. Hine medallion in 2008, the highest honor bestowed by the IUPUI alumni association in Indianapolis.
He was recognized as a Kentucky Colonel in 2005, and his 40-year tenure in the Indianapolis community earned him the designation of Distinguished Hoosier from Gov. Mitch Daniels, presented on Monday during his campus retirement event. Mayor Greg Ballard also proclaimed April 20 as Nick Kellum Day in Indianapolis.
Friends who would like to celebrate Kellum’s achievements may contribute to a scholarship established in his honor through the IU Foundation. For more information or to donate, call 274-1484.
