A no-brainer for the brain campus
Sometimes the best idea is the one that makes the most sense or — to borrow from the principle of Occam’s razor — the one that’s the simplest.
Yet it doesn’t take a beautiful mind (or a brain as big as one of the many fiberglass brain sculptures on display throughout campus and the surrounding community) to understand the logic behind today’s announcement that Lauren Robel has been appointed executive vice president and provost of the IU Bloomington campus.
Lauren Robel has been named new IU executive vice president and provost of the IU Bloomington campus.
In addition to being, in the words of IU President Michael McRobbie, “the enthusiastic and unanimous choice” of a search committee, Lauren has been an active member of the scholarly community at IU Bloomington since her law student days in the early 1980s, a transformative leader of one of the nation’s most highly regarded law schools and, most recently, interim provost, a position she enthusiastically embraced.
During her tenure as dean of the IU Maurer School of Law, from which she received her law degree and where she’s been a faculty member since 1985, Lauren raised more than $90 million in funds for the school and significantly enhanced the school’s academic reputation. According to U.S. News, the Maurer School is now one of the top 10 public law schools in the nation.
As interim provost, she’s worked to strengthen programs supporting women on campus, begun an examination of retention programs for minority students and pursued the goals of the recent New Academic Directions report, which is designed to ensure the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of IU’s academic structures.
If you’re a fan of IU Bloomington and want to see the campus continue to grow in academic stature and continue to attract the best students and faculty from around the world, Lauren’s appointment — while a no-brainer for the brain campus — is significant reason for excitement.
Listen to Lauren discuss her transition from dean of the Maurer School of Law into the provost position — and her plans to improve the quality of education at IU Bloomington — in President McRobbie’s inaugural presidential podcast.
Tags: Brains, IU Bloomington, Lauren Robel, Maurer School of Law, Michael McRobbie, New Academic Directions, Occam's razor, Presidential Podcast, Provost
