18th Presidential Inauguration
Michael A. McRobbie officially became Indiana University’s 18th president on Thursday, October 18, 2007. The IU community, delegates of universities from around the world, and McRobbie’s friends and family—some all the way from Australia—gathered in the IU Auditorium to honor McRobbie and listen to his vision and plan for IU.
IU’s support and enthusiasm toward its new leader was obvious through the remarks of Curtis R. Simic, master of ceremonies and president of the IU Foundation, and representatives for the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of IU. Lieutenant governor of the state, Becky Skillman, and Bloomington’s mayor, Mark Kruzan, also shared their support of IU and McRobbie through their remarks.
The Jacobs School of Music provided the music for the ceremony, including performances by the Indiana University Herald Trumpeters, Professor Christopher Young, graduate student Austin J. Kness, senior lecturer Sylvia McNair, and the Indiana University Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Professor David Effron.
President of the Trustees Stephen L. Ferguson led the investiture of McRobbie as University Grand Marshal Edwin Marshall and McRobbie’s wife, Laurie Burns McRobbie, secured the Jewel and Chain of Office around McRobbie’s neck.
Following the ceremonial presentation, McRobbie shared his ambitious plan for the university in his speech centered on IU’s two missions—education and research. His plan includes:
- Renovating all of the residence halls on the Bloomington campus;
- Establishing the Herman B Wells Presidential Professorship, to recruit Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and elected members of the National Academies and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to IU’s faculty;
- Raising a multi-million dollar endowment for overseas study scholarships for students;
- Launching a nearly half-billion dollar initiative to break ground on new facilities at the Indianapolis and Bloomington campuses;
- Increasing graduation rates at all campuses with a $4 million “Degrees of Excellence” initiative; and
- Upgrading the old University Theatre into a modern facility to support traditional and modern film studies, giving IU its first facility devoted to film.
McRobbie’s commitment to improving Hoosier health, increasing IU’s international relationships, and recruiting and retaining minority students was evident throughout his speech. “We must ensure that an IU education is not only excellent, but also accessible and affordable to every citizen in the State, no matter where they come from, no matter what their background, and no matter who they are,” he said in his speech. “Our institution, in race, gender, and income, should better reflect the full diversity of our state.”
After McRobbie finished detailing his plan, he reflected on the “questions that form the very heart of a liberal education”—questions of the great religions, mathematics, artistic creation, and scientific law—and ended with a challenge and inspiration for the university community:
“So with one eye on these eternal questions, and with one eye on our weighty duty as a public university, let us move forward together and redouble our efforts to ensure that Indiana University will be one of the great universities of the 21st century.”
