How Neeli Bendapudi got here: A timeline of the new Penn State president’s career
Neeli Bendapudi officially became Penn State’s 19th president on Monday, and her path to this point has been an unquestionably unique one.
She was born and raised in Vizag, India, a southern city in the country’s agricultural “rice bowl” region, before moving to the U.S. to pursue her doctorate at the University of Kansas. From there, she excelled at every step along the way — as a doctoral student, a marketing professor, a dean, a provost and then a president.
Here’s a closer look at how Bendapudi got to Happy Valley and her experiences along the way, based on multiple accounts and reports over nearly a 30-year period:
May 1994: Bendapudi graduates with a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Kansas, where her father also received his doctorate, after she earned a bachelor’s degree in English and an MBA from Andrha University in India. She earlier received the Richard D. Irwin Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, awarded to dissertators in a nationwide competition, in addition to receiving a similar Kansas fellowship designed for five university students. She is awarded five grants during her time as a doctoral student and, in 1993, earns a University Distinguished Teaching Assistant Award.
Fall 1994: Bendapudi begins her academic career at Texas A&M as an assistant professor of marketing. One of her first research articles is published in August in the Journal of Marketing Research and titled, “Enhancing Memory of Television Commercials Through Message Spacing.” She becomes an editorial board member of the journal by 1996.
1996: Bendapudi starts a new job, with a similar title, at Ohio State. She becomes an assistant professor of marketing there, before a promotion to associate professor in 2002. She receives recognition in 2000 for her work teaching in the business school — but, in the ensuing years, that recognition only grows. In 2001, she gets university-wide recognition with the Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award and, in 2003, earns national recognition for being named the Academy of American Marketing Association Marketing Educator of the Year.
2005: While at Ohio State, Bendapudi is named the founding director of the Fisher College of Business’ Initiative for Managing Services (IMS), which is designed to connect theory and practice in service management. Within five years, the IMS grows to a membership of 25 companies, including several Fortune 100 companies. She authors and/or co-authors at least eight research articles during her time at the IMS, in addition to contributing chapters for several different books.
April 2007: After initially serving only as a consultant for Columbus-based Huntington National Bank, she leaves Ohio State to become executive vice president and chief customer officer for the company. (Huntington held about $55 billion in assets at the time and boasted about 12,000 employees.) According to BizJournals, Bendapudi said “leaving OSU for the corporate world taught her that her professional passion was in higher education.” She returned to Ohio State in 2008.
December 2008: Bendapudi leaves Huntington National Bank and returns to Ohio State, resuming duties as director of the IMS. She is also elevated to professor of marketing in 2008 and, in 2009, wins a departmental honor in the James Ginter Outstanding Marketing Professor Award. She remains at Ohio State until her next stop, the University of Kansas, in 2011.
Aug. 1, 2011: Selected in April, Bendapudi officially starts her tenure as the dean of the University of Kansas’ School of Business, becoming the first woman to hold the position. She says at the time, “My hope is to work with all the stakeholders of our School of Business to make it a great place to learn, a great place to work, a great place to partner and a great place to invest.” During her five-year tenure, Bendapudi sees enrollment increase 62% in addition to job placement after graduation increasing from 55% to 77%. She is inducted into the KU Women’s Hall of Fame in 2014 and, in 2016, earns a spot in Ingram’s Magazine’s “50 Kansans You Should Know.”
July 1, 2016: Bendapudi becomes the provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of Kansas, succeeding Jeffrey S. Vitter, who became the University of Mississippi’s 17th chancellor. During her brief 2-year tenure, Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod praises Bendapudi by saying she “prioritized retention and graduation rates, faculty and staff development, and our university’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.”
May 15, 2018: Bendapudi officially takes over as the University of Louisville’s 18th president, succeeding two interim presidents that followed James Ramsey after he resigned in the wake of numerous scandals. Ramsey oversaw an escort sex scandal involving recruits between 2010 and 2014, NCAA investigations, a scandal where he and staff members dressed up as stereotypical Mexicans and another scandal where he was accused of embezzling due to his dual role as president of the university’s charitable foundation. Louisville sued Ramsey for $80 million before ultimately settling for only $800,000. Bendapudi said a month prior, “The leader cannot be everywhere, but the leader can absolutely set the tone for who we are, what we will be and what we will not tolerate.”
July 11-13, 2018: Bendapudi is tested within two months of taking office at Louisville when one of the university’s top boosters, “Papa” John Schnatter, admits to using the n-word during a May conference call. That revelation came July 11 and, within 48 hours, Bendapudi announces Louisville had changed the name of the football stadium, from Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium to simply “Cardinal Stadium.” Effective immediately. The move comes months after Bendapudi promised a more inclusive environment at Louisville. She is widely praised for the decision, with one local columnist saying she handled her first crisis “magnificently.” In the first line of his column, he writes, “Well played, Madame President.”
Aug. 4, 2021: After a “glowing review” from the Louisville board of trustees, Bendapudi receives a six-figure raise in the form a new five-year deal worth $875,000 in base salary in addition to an annual $200,000 retention incentive. Louisville’s trustees noted in July that she initially accepted a smaller salary than her predecessors because she said she wanted to earn it. She did not approach the trustees about a raise in 2021 but, trustees chair Mary Nixon said, “She has clearly earned it.” Added Nixon: “We continue to be very impressed by and grateful for Neeli’s leadership of the University of Louisville.” Among her accomplishments were acquiring a new hospital and surrounding facilities, boasting Louisville’s highest enrollment in decades and steadying a ship rocked by scandals.
Dec. 9, 2021: Penn State’s board of trustees unanimously vote to appoint Bendapudi as Penn State’s next president. Said David Kleppinger, vice chair of the trustees and co-chair of the presidential recruitment and selection committee: “In Dr. Bendapudi, we have found a values-driven leader who will help realize the very best of this institution, and will successfully lead Penn State into the future.” About 80 presidential candidates were initially selected for meetings and conversations, with about 50 target prospects evaluated by the trustees committee, before Bendapudi was ultimately chosen. Her five-year contract includes a $950,000 base salary and $350,000 in annual supplemental retirement contributions.
May 9, 2022: Bendapudi officially starts her tenure as the 19th president in Penn State’s history, replacing 18th president Eric Barron, who retired the day before. She becomes the first woman and first non-white person in the university’s 167-year history to serve from the top post. In a video message to the Penn State community, Bendapudi says, “I am excited to be here and work alongside each of you to continue to advance excellence for all Penn Staters.”
This story was originally published May 9, 2022 at 4:25 PM.
