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Indiana University at a Crossroads
Commentary, WFIU Radio, July 2007
Introduction
It is an honor to be speaking to you today as Indiana University’s new president.
I have long believed that the achievements of the past instruct us as we approach the challenges of the present. Thus, as I took office I have reflected on how my predecessors responded to the challenges of their times.
Legacies of Leadership
When Andrew Wylie became IU’s first president in 1829, it was a small citadel of learning quite literally on the edge of the wilderness. As President Wylie hired faculty and collected a library, his stated goal was to make IU “the leading institution of higher learning beyond the Ohio.”
When our seventh president, David Starr Jordan, took office in 1884 the mission of public universities was shifting away from a classical and toward a professional education. Jordan secured state funds to build out the campus and instituted the revolutionary concept of curricular majors. He also traveled the state on horseback explaining the central role the university would play in the state’s continued progress.
Legendary President Herman Wells took office at the height of the Great Depression. Yet he implemented a vision of such power that he transformed a small Midwestern college into a major research university of international stature.
He exerted bold leadership in nurturing IU’s strengths in the arts and humanities as well as the sciences and professions.
IU At A Crossroads
I believe IU is again at a crossroads in its history. The challenges and opportunities we face are not unlike those that confronted these visionary leaders. During their presidencies, they responded to a rapidly changing world.
So must we.
They rose to their challenges and opened new chapters in IU’s history.
And so must we.
My vision is to ensure that IU emerges as one of the very best universities of the 21st century. But in contrast to President Wylie’s era, we will pursue this goal in a global rather than regional context.
Unlike President Jordan, I have no plans to ride on horseback around Indiana. But I do plan to vigorously represent IU’s interests across the state, the nation, and around the world.
I will work to marshal the resources necessary to provide an excellent education for all of our students, for increased research and creative activity, stronger economic development programs, and increased diversity.
Like that of Dr. Wells, my vision includes expanding our exceptional arts and humanities programs while also encouraging a blossoming of the Indiana Life Sciences Initiative.
This task must involve all of us—faculty, staff, students, alumni and citizens of Indiana. There is much to do, and I greatly look forward to working with all of you in the years to come to write a new chapter in the great continuing story that is IU.
