President to give University address

Presidential candidates often talk about how the crisis on Wall Street might affect Main Street.

But IU President Michael McRobbie plans to talk about how the crisis on Wall Street might affect Jordan Avenue during his State of the University address today in Indianapolis.

During McRobbie’s first State of the University address, he is expected to discuss how the financial crisis will affect IU, as well as his existing initiatives such as increasing research and international presence, according to a press release.

The 1:30 p.m. speech will be at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis in the University Place Conference Center Auditorium.

IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said the speech is a long-standing tradition aimed largely at faculty and staff.

“It’s not only tradition,” MacIntyre said. “It’s a pretty important way of letting faculty know what’s happening next year.”

With eight campuses, the speech is really the only way for the president to reach everyone, MacIntyre said.

Herbert Terry, president of Bloomington Faculty Council and associate telecommunications professor, said he expects to get some insight from the speech. He said he hopes to hear an update about how the initiatives from the inaugural address are doing and about how IU is responding to the financial crisis. Many faculty are anxious to hear about new projects, he said.

“He had such an ambitious first year,” Terry said.

Erika Dowell, a public services librarian at the Lilly Library and secretary of the Bloomington Faculty Council, said she expects to hear about the budget outlook. Dowell said she wants to hear about the University’s master plan in light of a planning company being hired to map growth. She said the speech is important for the entire University.

“I’m just going into it with a open mind,” she said.

The speech will be broadcast live in Poplars room 185, Radio and TV room 175, the School of Education room 2140 and on the Internet at http://broadcast.iu.edu.