The Office of the Vice Provost for Research maintains a directory of all research centers and institutes on the Indiana University campuses. Indiana University centers, institutes, and museums provide special environments for research, scholarly activities, and teaching. Many of the centers and institutes bridge the boundaries of traditional academic departments. Indeed, it is the ability to connect the previously disparate, to cross-fertilize separate fields, and to amalgamate ideas and approaches into new and effective combinations, that underlies many of the achievements and great productivity of these units.

The university values the maintenance of tradition while it invites and stimulates the excitement of change. In many ways the existence of academic departments helps to maintain the continuity of traditional intellectual disciplines. Institutes and centers, on the other hand, can be formed as needed to pursue a novel avenue of inquiry, or to attack problems with different combinations of research tools. In this sense, research centers and institutes can be an efficient way to reconstitute intellectual organization without undoing existing academic foundations.

The capabilities of diverse but specialized groups often enable researchers to secure external funds that otherwise might not be available to an individual through specific departments and/or schools. Several of the research centers and institutes have achieved national prominence that provides recognition as well as attracts top scholars to the university. They also make it possible to offer many special courses, and to provide space for a diversity of educational endeavors that benefit the entire university.