IU Board Approves Committees for President Search
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana University Board of Trustees has approved two committees that will conduct the nationwide search for the next president of the university. In August, President Michael McRobbie announced he will retire next spring.
IU says the search committee will screen candidates and recommend three to five finalists in early 2021. The board will then conduct the final steps of the search and make an appointment.
“The board is seeking a leader whose innovative ideas and bold vision for IU build upon President McRobbie’s accomplishments,” said Melanie Walker, a trustee who will co-chair the search committee. “We are confident IU’s reputation as a leading public research institution with world-class faculty, expert staff and exceptional students will attract outstanding candidates.”
In addition to Walker, the board also named trustee Harry Gonso to co-chair the search committee.
“Our goal is to identify an individual who shares IU’s core values, including an unwavering commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” Gonso said.
The university says an advisory committee will gather input from internal and external stakeholders to guide the presidential search committee. It is expected to deliver a report summarizing constituent feedback by November 13
IU says it has also retained executive search firm R. William Funk and Associates to assist. The university says the Texas-based company has conducted more than 400 searches for university presidents and chancellors.
McRobbie will continue to lead the university through the current academic year, then will retire in June 2021. The board intends to have a successor in place before McRobbie leaves.
The presidential search committee includes:
- Rachel Aranyi, student body president, IU Student Government, Bloomington.
- Sarah Booher, chief of staff, IU Office of the Executive Vice President for University Academic Affairs.
- W. Quinn Buckner, IU trustee.
- Molly Connor, IU trustee.
- Kathryn Ernstberger, professor of business administration, School of Business, Indiana University Southeast.
- Lacy Johnson, partner, Ice Miller LLP Indianapolis.
- Ryan Kitchell, national board member, Cancer Treatment Centers of America; former executive vice president and chief financial officer, Indiana University Health.
- Nir Menachemi, Fairbanks Endowed Chair, professor and Department of Health Policy and Management chair, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, IUPUI.
- Charlie Nelms, consultant in higher education and former chancellor of universities in North Carolina and Michigan and at Indiana University.
- Robin Newhouse, dean and Distinguished Professor, Science of Nursing Care, IU School of Nursing, IUPUI.
- Jeff Richardson, distinguished alumnus, Indiana University Bloomington; retired health executive.
- Susan Sciame-Giesecke, chancellor, Indiana University Kokomo.
- Marietta Simpson, Distinguished Rudy Professor of Music (Voice), IU Jacobs School of Music.
- Randall Tobias, former ambassador, United States Director of Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Assistance, and former chair and CEO of Eli Lilly and Co.
- Rick Van Kooten, executive dean and professor of physics, IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences.
- Deborah Lemon, secretary, IU Board of Trustees; member ex-officio.
The advisory committee will be co-chaired by trustees MaryEllen Bishop, Donna Spears and Jim Morris. The advisory committee also includes:
- Michael Barlow, former chair, IU Alumni Association.
- Dennis Bland, president and CEO, Center for Leadership Development.
- Kay R. Booth, vice chair, IU Foundation Board.
- Camy Broeker, vice chancellor for finance and administration, IUPUI.
- Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, chair, Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences.
- Dakota Coates, president, IU Bloomington Graduate and Professional Student Government; Maurer School of Law graduate student.
- Victor Creed, undergraduate in political science, IU School of Liberal Arts, IUPUI.
- Scott Dorsey, co-founder and managing partner, High Alpha.
- Lee Feinstein, founding dean, IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.
- Nathan J. Feltman, owner, IBJ Media.
- Tatiana Foroud, executive associate dean for research affairs, executive vice president of academic affairs for Clinical Research, IU Health; Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics chair, August M. Watanabe Professor for Medical Research, Joe C. Christian Professor of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Distinguished Professor, Chancellor’s Professor, adjunct professor of psychiatry, and division chief, IU School of Medicine.
- Fred Glass, former IU vice president and director for intercollegiate athletics.
- Kirsten Grønbjerg, Distinguished Professor, Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Bloomington; Efroymson Chair in Philanthropy (2001-20), Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IUPUI; adjunct professor, Department of Sociology, IUPUI.
- Jay Hess, executive vice president for university clinical affairs; dean of the IU School of Medicine; Walter J. Daly Professor, Indiana University.
- Steven Hollar, president-elect, Indiana Dental Association.
- Jerry Hinnefeld, Chancellor’s Professor of Physics and Astronomy, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Indiana University South Bend.
- Idalene “Idie” Kesner, dean of the Kelley School of Business; professor and Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management, Kelley School at IU Bloomington.
- Patty Martin, president and CEO, BioCrossroads.
- Una Osili, associate dean for research and international programs; professor of economics and philanthropic studies; Dean’s Fellow, Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IUPUI.
- Ronald Remak, president and owner, Bill C. Brown Associates.
- Curt Simic, president emeritus, IU Foundation.
- Rebecca Spang, director, Liberal Arts and Management Program; director, Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies; professor, Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences, IU Bloomington.
- Jeff X. Watt, M.L. Bittinger Chair of Mathematics Education; chair and professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Purdue School of Science, IUPUI.