For Marty Pollio, returning to Indiana is more like a homecoming than a fresh start.
Pollio, the new president of Ivy Tech Community College, attended Indiana University Bloomington. While studying for his bachelor’s degree in education, he was a basketball manager under Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight.
Working for Knight was “the toughest of the tough,” Pollio said, but it prepared him for decades of leadership in education.
Though he has Hoosier roots, Pollio is a relative newcomer to higher education. Before starting at Ivy Tech on July 1, he spent 28 years working in Kentucky’s largest public school district, Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville.
At Ivy Tech, he’s taking over from Sue Ellspermann, the former Indiana lieutenant governor who led the college from 2016 to June 2025.
Get the backstory
Pollio’s last eight years with Jefferson County Public Schools were spent as superintendent, leading the Louisville district through the threat of state takeover, the COVID-19 pandemic and a year of severe bus delays.
Now, after nearly three decades, Pollio is back in Indiana.
He’s spent most of the last month traveling around the state to meet with Ivy Tech students and employees. Pollio’s vision for the statewide community college includes providing support services for all students and ensuring Ivy Tech is at the center of Indiana’s workforce development plan.
“I’m proud to say that we are every Hoosier here — rural, urban, young, senior citizen, everything in between,” Pollio said. “That’s what Ivy Tech is, and I think that’s fantastic.”
In his first media interview as a college president, Pollio spoke with Mirror Indy about his background as a superintendent, his plans for Ivy Tech and how he’s adjusting to living in Indianapolis.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
On the switch to higher ed
What drew you to Ivy Tech, to Indiana and to postsecondary education?
When I came to the last nine to 10 months of my time at Jefferson County Public Schools, I was facing some decisions about what I wanted to do next. A lot of superintendents leave and go sell some things, and I just didn’t want to be a salesperson. I didn’t want to go and work for private companies. It wasn’t really fitting into what my “why” is.
I’ve been pushing kids toward postsecondary my entire life. As a high school principal, we did things like make sure every student applies and gets accepted to a postsecondary institution. We did everything we could to make sure every student was college- and career-ready. And now I get the opportunity to bring them in and make sure they complete a program, because it’s going to change their lives.
The more I looked into Ivy Tech, the more I thought this fits my “why” perfectly. It continues on with my mission that I’ve worked with for 28 years, and it’s something I can just continue to do, which is serving students to change lives.
On career readiness
You mentioned in an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal that you were really proud of Academies of Louisville — a career prep program you started. Tell me a little bit about your background with career readiness, and how you plan to bring that to Ivy Tech?
I have a real belief that when students graduate high school and walk across the stage, a student should have a diploma plus something else. They should have a diploma plus college credit hours. They should have a diploma plus a certification, a diploma plus apprenticeship — all of those then lead to postsecondary readiness.
I brought that (to Jefferson County Public Schools). Over eight years, we went from postsecondary readiness (around) 50% to right at 80% now — highest in the history of the district. Dual credit opportunities grew by the thousands across the district. Certifications grew by thousands across the district. Kids were now able to walk across the stage and say, “Yep, I got this diploma, but look what else I got.”
We did not do that alone. In Jefferson County, we partnered with our local workforce development organizations to say, “What does Louisville, Kentucky, need when it comes to workforce development now, and 10 years from now?” The three major ones we found were nursing and healthcare sciences, IT and manufacturing.
The three big ones that we have here in the state of Indiana really are the same three — healthcare, manufacturing and IT.
My belief is everything that Ivy Tech does is workforce development. I think the data clearly shows that the Ivy Tech Community College system is the workforce development engine in the state of Indiana.
On resources for students
How do you plan to support Ivy Tech with resources to serve such a wide variety of students of different backgrounds and ages?
When I was in Richmond, there was a focus group of nursing students sitting in front of me. All 15 were young ladies. All 15 had full-time jobs. Thirteen out of the 15 drove more than 30 miles to arrive at the Richmond campus. Thirteen out of the 15 were mothers. That just speaks to the support that is needed for students when they have so much to do in their lives to be successful, from raising a child to having a full-time job to driving to campus and being a full-time nursing student.
People can be derailed pretty quickly from an academic program if something negative happens in their life. If they have a hardship, what are they going to give up? They’re not able to give up their full-time job, and they’re not able to give up parenting. So school can be put on the back burner.
More than any other campus in this state and probably this nation, we have to be willing to say, “If a student develops a hardship, we’ve got to be there to meet them with that need — wherever they are.”
That comes from counseling and advising and support. If a student has financial problems, we have to be there to help them. If a student has food insecurity, we have to be there to meet them so that they don’t say, “I’ve got to give up on school right now so I can focus on other things in my life.”
That requires significant funding and investment, but I think it is critical to the success of Ivy Tech. I think it’s critical to the success of this state and workforce.
On the state of higher ed
You’re coming into higher ed at a time when there are a lot of pressures from the state and federal level. Ivy Tech’s budget was just cut. There’s a lot of federal funding uncertainty. How do you plan to navigate that?
I want to say this — I can’t thank Sue Ellspermann enough for making the tough decisions before her exit, which were the funding cuts and reduction in force of about 200 staff members across this college. She could have easily said, “I’m in my final 60 days on this job. The legislature gave us these cuts. I’ll let Marty Pollio deal with them come July 1.”
Moving forward, we have clear marching orders here. We’re going to have to be very efficient with our funding and make sure that we are making decisions that are student-focused. Student-focused means everything we do, every penny we spend, is somehow going to impact our students in a positive way.
On Ivy Tech’s Indianapolis campus
What role do you see the Indianapolis campus of Ivy Tech filling in the state?
All of our 19 campuses are extremely important to the success of this institution. However, we’re probably going to go how Indianapolis goes as an institution, when it is the largest by far. The economic driver is Indianapolis. We need to make sure that Indianapolis is extremely effective at what it does.
You look at demographics, we serve some very high-need students at this campus. I think ensuring that we have all the supports that students need, that we have great programming that reflects the workforce needs, especially in Indianapolis, that we absolutely ensure the success of this campus.
If and when we do that, I believe that all campuses will follow that lead.
How do you think that’ll develop over the next couple years with the Ivy Tech Indy Reimagined project and the various efforts from the Indy Health District to connect this campus to the hospitals downtown?
I was a part of a K-12 system where the infrastructure was falling apart. Clearly, what happens inside of the building with the adults is the most important thing for student success — the teachers, the support services. But I have to say this: Facilities are really symbolic to students about how much the institution cares about them, how much they value their success, what investments we are putting into them.
Do the facilities — like a nursing facility — look exactly like the hospital right down the road, and are (students) working on the same equipment they’ll be working on when they go into those hospitals?
Looking at the Indianapolis campus, I believe that investment has been needed in this campus for a long time. Students in Indianapolis — all across this city — need to see Indianapolis as a shining star when it comes to the facilities for colleges. I got to tour some of the new facilities under construction a couple weeks ago, and I’m really, really fired up about what’s coming to Indianapolis.
On reconnecting with his Hoosier side
You’re coming from 28 years in Louisville, which obviously has the Kentucky Derby. Now you’re coming into a motorsports city. How are you feeling about that transition?
The second city I’ve spent the most time in is Indianapolis. I’ve always loved Indianapolis.
Candidly, I’m a big horse racing fan. I have to hit Horseshoe here at some point, which is 20 miles down the road. I actually own small parts of thoroughbred horses, so it is still a real passion of mine.
But my wife and I have moved to Indianapolis, and we love it so far. We’re really looking forward to learning more about the city and getting really involved in the mission, the causes throughout the city, getting to know people.
I don’t know much about car racing. I do about basketball, so I am excited about both the Pacers and the Fever. Obviously, I’m still an IU basketball fan.
Louisville will still be a second home for us. My parents still live there and we’ll still have a home in Louisville, but Indy is our home now.
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Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus. Contact Claire by email claire.rafford@mirrorindy.org, on most social media @clairerafford or on Signal 317-759-0429.
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