Letter from Indiana University President Michael McRobbie

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Indiana University Bloomington.
Here, you will discover the quintessential liberal arts university experience. As an IU student, you will be presented with a wide range of opportunities to broaden your academic and cultural horizons. As new and exciting challenges arise in your quest for knowledge, you will benefit from the support of IU’s brilliant and caring faculty, many of whom are among the best teachers and researchers in their respective fields. You will also be supported by IU’s highly trained staff members, who are ready and able to help you succeed in whatever path of learning you choose.

Whether your studies take place in a classroom or laboratory, a theatre stage or concert hall, I urge you to invest your heart and mind in all that the university has to offer. Take in an exhibition at the IU Art Museum or an opera at the Musical Arts Center. This year, you will have the opportunity to attend over 1,100 concerts, operas, ballets and other musical performances at our world-renowned Jacobs School of Music. Volunteer with one of the 500 student organizations on campus. Work out at the Student Recreational Sports Center. Show your spirit at a Hoosier football game or the legendary Little 500 bicycle race. You will be amazed at how quickly you become part of IU tradition.

I would also encourage you to take time for personal reflection as you wander a campus that has been described as among the most attractive in the nation. You will soon find that a stroll through our beautiful Arboretum and Dunn Meadow – or visits to campus landmarks such as the Rose Well House and Showalter Fountain – can be as enlightening and inspiring as a brilliant lecture or virtuoso performance. The surrounding community can be equally energizing. Just a short walk across campus and through the Sample Gates will take you to the heart of downtown Bloomington, where you can find shops, restaurants, galleries, festivals, live music and all of the other amenities offered by one of the nation’s premier college towns. Venture a little further and you will encounter the rolling hills, lakes and lush forests in the many state and national parks that surround Bloomington.

As you commence this intellectual journey and begin to reap the benefits of this wonderful community of scholars, know that you are not only preparing for your career, but also for your life. You stand on the cusp of one of our society’s most transformative gifts: an education. An Indiana University education will give you the resources you need to solve the world’s most complex problems and to enrich your lives in ways you never thought possible.

Yours sincerely,
Michael A. McRobbie
President Indiana University