McRobbie outlines next decade of changes for IU

Interim Provost Michael McRobbie spoke to the Bloomington Rotary Club Tuesday, outlining his vision for change at IU over the next decade.\nThe speech, titled "Seven Directions of Change: The Next Decade at Indiana University," outlined seven areas he sees the University exploring in the near future. \nIn the speech, he stressed the importance of IU's ability to adapt, despite the widely held belief that universities move at a "snail's pace," he said.\n"IU represents the genius of great universities," McRobbie said, according to the speech's text.\nThe seven directions McRobbie sees change in are:\n• Raising admission standards at IU -- McRobbie said the University's 20 percent jump in application this year is evidence this has already taken effect. \n• Encouraging diversity -- By 2013, McRobbie said IU should double its minority student enrollment.\n• Increasing interdisciplinary research -- He used expansion of life-sciences research at the University as an example of the increased multidisciplinary projects.\n•Promoting IU's construction boom -- By increasing research space, McRobbie said more money will flow into the University's research fund and IU's life-science initiative will be able to continue to grow. \n• Renewing arts and humanities infrastructure -- Although McRobbie described the programs as already "glorious," he said he hopes to increase the "multidisciplinarity" between the arts and humanities. \n•Internationalizing IU -- By producing "globally literate" students, McRobbie said the University will be better able to develop stronger relationships with overseas institutions. \n•Transforming the faculty generation -- With 565 of the tenured faculty eligible to retire in the next 10 years, McRobbie said, "it is on these new faculty and administrative leaders that the future of Indiana University will depend"