Indiana University President To Retire In June 2021

Indiana University President Michael McRobbie will step down in June 2021 as part of his planned retirement, after 14 years. 

McRobbie made the announcement in an email to faculty, staff and students, and during Friday's Board of Trustees meeting. 

"I am immensely proud of all that has been accomplished over the period I have been president," McRobbie said. "All the change and effort has, I believe, consolidated and elevated IU's position as one of America's premier and leading research universities.

"But all these accomplishments -- and many more -- are not a one-person show. They are the collective product of the hard and unremitting work of IU's outstanding senior leaders, the strong support of superb faculty who have embraced change, engaged and talented students who have and will continue to go on to become leaders in their chosen fields, and exceptional staff whose professionalism and dedication have been the linchpin of so many of our successes."

McRobbie will continue leading IU through the current academic year, during which the university will resume in-person teaching and research operations that were interrupted in the spring by the COVID-19 pandemic.

McRobbie came to IU in 1997 from his native Australia as its first vice president for information technology and chief information officer. Now a U.S. citizen, he was appointed vice president for research in 2003 and named interim provost and vice president for academic affairs for IU Bloomington in 2006. He became IU's 18th president on July 1, 2007, making him one of the longest-serving university presidents in the country.

The Board of Trustees began planning for McRobbie's transition when he informed members of his decision to retire several months ago, and it approved a resolution on Friday forming a Presidential Search Committee to conduct a national search for McRobbie's successor. Trustees Harry Gonso and Melanie Walker will serve as co-chairs, and the remainder of the committee will be appointed by Michael Mirro, chair of the IU Board of Trustees.