McRobbie begins presidential term

There was no fanfare for Michael McRobbie when he officially took the helm of IU on Sunday.\nHis formal presidential inauguration ceremony won’t be until Oct. 18. He won’t be moving into Bryan House for at least a year. The presidential office in Bryan Hall won’t be ready for him for at least another week.\nBut that doesn’t mean he isn’t ready for the responsibility.\nMcRobbie has been knee-deep in preparing to take office since the IU board of trustees named him president-elect March 1.\nAnd, on the precipice of his new career, the office of the IU president hasn’t really thrown him any curve balls yet, he said. \nOne thing that has surprised him, though, is the widespread support that IU enjoys throughout the state, he said. In the months following his hiring, McRobbie toured each of the University’s eight campuses and all its medical centers.\n“I was just really struck by the enormous influence and importance this institution has in the state,” he said during a sit-down interview with the Indiana Daily Student Friday afternoon.\nDuring his tour of the state, he said, he met families who had four generations of IU alumni and dozens of IU degrees in their ranks. This support and love that alumni have for their alma mater is one of the secrets of success for American universities, he said.\n“That is alumni, on the whole, have such an experience at the University, that the University environment on the whole is just so supportive and seems to provide such a good education, such a good social experience that people remember it 30, 40 years later and are prepared to support it personally in various ways,” he said.\nMcRobbie said one of his major priorities for the summer is to fill the top positions that are currently open at the University. The provost search committee has already sent three finalists for the provost of the Bloomington campus to McRobbie, said senior Matt Jarson, the student representative on the committee. Tom Healy, the vice president of government relations, and Judy Palmer, the vice president for budgetary affairs, have both recently announced their decision to leave their current positions. Charlie Nelms, the vice president for institutional development and student affairs, was recently appointed to the position of chancellor of North Carolina Central University. McRobbie said he hopes to have his cabinet assembled by the end of July.\nMcRobbie said he won’t move into Bryan House for at least a year, until his two teenagers are out of the house, though he is certain the campus will feel his presence nonetheless.\nOther than that, McRobbie named one distinct advantage about the job that he’s noticed since he was selected IU president.\n“Perks like lack of sleep,” he said ruefully.