McRobbie awards Indiana senator with President’s Medal for Excellence

IU President Michael McRobbie posthumously awarded IU alumnus and Indiana Sen. David Ford with the President’s Medal for Excellence, the University announced today.

Ford died last March and was a strong proponent of higher education, University research and building the state’s information technology infrastructure, according to an IU press release.

“It is an honor to pay tribute to a great public servant and a true technology pioneer, who helped lead this state into the digital age,” McRobbie said. “Senator Ford was one of the motivating forces behind the creation of I-Light, the high-speed, fiber-optic computing network that connects colleges and universities throughout the state and offers them a link to national computing networks. Indiana University is proud to count Senator Ford as one of our most distinguished graduates.”

Ford was elected to the Indiana Senate in 1994. He earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from IU.