Dr. Michael McRobbie
Dr. Michael McRobbie became the eighteenth President of Indiana University on July 1, 2007. IU is one of the largest universities in the United States, with seven campuses, a total budget of more than $3.5 billion, more than 9,000 faculty, 11,000 staff, nearly 100,000 degree-seeking students, and approximately 700,000 living alumni.
Dr. McRobbie joined IU in 1997 as the university’s first Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer. He was appointed Vice President for Research in 2003. In 2006, he was named interim provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs for IU’s Bloomington campus.
Under Dr. McRobbie’s leadership as president, IU has seen:
- A major expansion in the size, quality, and diversity of its student body, the largest academic restructuring in its history during which ten new schools have been established;
- A reinvigoration of its global engagement that support the university’s international academic and educational programs;
- The construction or renovation of more than 100 major new facilities across all campuses with a total value of around $2.5 billion;
- The launch of the largest fundraising campaign in IU’s history and one of the largest ever by a public university—“For All: The Indiana University Bicentennial Campaign,” which has a goal of raising $3 billion by IU’s Bicentennial in 2020;
- The development of The Bicentennial Strategic Plan for Indiana University, a comprehensive set of strategic initiatives that cover all IU’s campuses and are to be implemented by the Bicentennial.
Dr. McRobbie holds faculty appointments in computer science, philosophy, cognitive science, informatics, and computer technology. He has been an active researcher in information technology and logic during his career. He also has been the principal investigator on many major grants, has published a number of books and many articles, and has served on numerous editorial boards and conference committees.
In addition to his duties as president, Dr. McRobbie serves on several outside committees and organizations. He serves as Acting Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of American Universities and will officially assume the chair position in October. He also serves on the board of directors of the Applied Research Institute, a nonprofit institute in Indiana that accelerates the commercialization of technology across the state.
Dr. McRobbie also serves as Vice-chair of the Board of Directors of the Indiana University Health system—one of the largest and most highly regarded hospital systems in the U.S.—and on the executive committee of the board of the OneAmerica insurance company, based in Indianapolis.
He served as Co-chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on the Future of Voting. He is a former chair of the Board of Trustees of Internet2, and the former chair of the board of directors of the Digital Preservation Network.
A native of Australia, Dr. McRobbie received a PhD from the Australian National University in 1979 and has honorary doctorates from the University of Queensland (2007); Sung Kyun Kwan University in Korea (2008); the Australian National University (2010); the South East European University in Macedonia (2011), which IU helped found; and Griffith University in Australia (2014). He was honored by the Australian National University as Alumnus of the Year in 2015.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012 and is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities. He was appointed a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in 2016. He is a two-time recipient of the Sagamore of the Wabash, one of the highest honors the governor of Indiana can bestow on a private individual. He also is an Officer of the Order of Australia, Australia’s national honors system. In 2012, he was listed as one of America’s 10 most popular university presidents.
He has received the Bicentenary Medal of the University of Warsaw in Poland, the Prince Naradhip Bongsprabandha Plaque for services to international education from the National Institute for Development Administration in Thailand, and the International Citizen of the Year Award from the International Center for outstanding contributions to the globalization of Indiana.
Dr. McRobbie also is a recipient of the Anti-Defamation League’s “Man of Achievement Award,” which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to community, justice, and equal opportunity.