Indiana University President Michael McRobbie announced Friday that he will retire next summer after 14 years as the head of the state's flagship public university.
In an email to the IU community, McRobbie wrote that he had notified the Board of Trustees Friday morning of his plan to retire and acknowledged the challenges the university is still facing while dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
"I am completely committed to continuing to work alongside you this year to overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that the university emerges better than ever from this present crisis," McRobbie wrote.
McRobbie arrived at IU in 1997 as the university’s first vice-president for information technology. He became IU’s 18th President in July 2007.
On WFIU's Noon Edition in December, McRobbie reflected on his accomplishments with the university as its eighteenth president.
Among those accomplishments: presiding over the creation and expansion of several academic programs in areas from education to international studies.
“The transformation of what used to be called HPER of course, into the School of Public Health, now an accredited school of public health. The new Eskenazi School of Art and Architecture," McRobbie said in December.
McRobbie also expressed how proud he was to have expanded IU's committment to diversity and equity during his tenure. For three consecutive years, IU's student body has included 20,000 degree seeking students.
During his appearance on Noon Edition, McRobbie expressed concern about a trend in society of truth and science not being taken as fact.
"The problem is, that if you abandon truth, it's not long before you degenerate into barbarism," he said.
On Friday, the Board of Trustees approved a presidential search committee to be led by trustees Harry Gonso and Melanie Walker. McRobbie’s last day on the job is June 30th, 2021.
