1990s

Sample Gates IU's enrollment shot to its highest point ever--96,000 students in 1992--as campuses grew and the university reached students in dozens of new off-campus sites. Via interactive video and e-mail, students can now "attend" distant IU classrooms while staying close to home. Electronic links have radically strengthened communications among the campuses as well, bringing Thomas Ehrlich's vision of "one university with eight front doors" closer than ever to practical reality.

Myles Brand New president Myles Brand sees in IU America's New Public University, a massive yet flexible resource prepared to play manifold roles in the lives of its state and nation. With rapid change as its only constant, Indiana University should find the coming decades as full of challenges--and unexpected rewards--as any in its first 175 years.

1990 Iraq invades Kuwait; the U.S. Desert Storm campaign against Iraq will be met with a mixture of protest and support at IU. Howard Ashman M.A. '74 wins the first of three Oscars, for lyrics in Disney's Little Mermaid.

1991 Following a disastrous fire in late 1990, IUB's student Building is rebuilt (see above photo).

1992 Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Montgomery '63 leads the U.S. relief expedition to famine-stricken Somalia. IU South Bend professor Frances Sherwood's acclaimed novel, Vindication, depicts feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

1993 IU Southeast awards its 10,000th degree; IU Northwest dedicates its 16th campus building, Marram Hall, as enrollment nears 6,000.

1994 Professor Yusef Kumunyakaa wins the Pulitzer Prize in poetry for Neon Vernacular and IUB's softball team wins its fifth Big Ten championship as IU welcomes its 16th president, philosopher Myles Brand.

1995 At his inauguration, President Brand invokes and reaffirms IU's 175-year commitment as a truly public institution--America's "New Public University."