Candidate Profile
MaryEllen (Kiley) Bishop
Attorney
I graduated from the Kelley School of Business, Bloomington and from the IU School of Law, Indianapolis. My husband, Michael also graduated from the IU School of Law, Indianapolis. My daughter graduated from Kelley School of Business, Bloomington in 2007 and my son is a junior at IUB. My brothers are graduates of the IU School of Medicine.
Under the leadership of President McRobbie, Indiana University is expanding academic programming on all campuses, providing increased access to all qualified students, increasing scholarship opportunities for students based upon merit and need, while maintaining the tradition of excellence that we expect at IU. Accessibility, affordability and accountability will continue to gauge IU’s performance going forward.
- IU must continue to recruit and retain the best and the brightest students, faculty and staff while improving on racial and gender equity. IU has a committed plan to increase minority enrollment over the next 5 years. During my term as Chair of Indiana University Alumni Association we developed an aggressive strategic plan. One of the strategic goals calls for the IUAA to partner with the university to fulfill its diversity plan and assist with the recruitment of diverse students, faculty and staff. I believe this mission will become a reality if the university, the IU Foundation, our alumni and IUAA work together. We must all be ambassadors for the University on this critical issue by relaying the IU story.
- In spite of current economic times, IU will be expected to continue to recruit the best and the brightest students, faculty and staff; to continue to improve on the diversity of the student population it serves; and to better prepare our graduates for the workforce. The greatest challenge will be to make sound fiscal policy decisions and maintain a tuition level that is affordable to the citizens of Indiana. We must retain our world class faculty and staff as we cannot afford to compromise on academic excellence. In order to recruit the best and brightest students, it is imperative that we recruit and retain the best faculty. To accomplish these goals, IU must provide competitive compensation and updated facilities. The challenges going forward will be how to "appropriately" control costs and identify new funding sources while maintaining tuition at current levels. The Matching the Promise campaign has provided substantial assistance and promoted affordability and accessibility for Hoosiers students. We must continue to develop innovative programs which afford access to all qualified students, while not compromising on the momentum we are gaining.
- IU has been a great steward of state funds. The State Budget Agency is considering a reduction in IU’s operating funds in this budget cycle. In times of fiscal constraint it is paramount that the university responds swiftly and appropriately. IU must be creative in the way it partners with the state and private enterprise. We must establish new relationships that will benefit the economy of our state while producing alternative sources of income for the university. The historical alliance of IU and Purdue University in the Indiana Innovation Alliance is one such way. The goal of the alliance is to strengthen the utilization of the state’s resources in life science and bioscience and obtain state appropriations to enhance research and education in medical and bioscience programs. Creative collaborations like the Alliance will present opportunities that allow IU to compete as one of the top research institutions in the world.
- We must also improve our efforts to retain IU graduates for careers here in Indiana. Nearly 250,000 Indiana University graduates live in the state of Indiana. These graduates represent the greatest return on Indiana’ s investment in higher education. We must stop or slow the “brain drain” as an educated population will assist the State of Indiana in competing on the global stage. IU can be a catalyst for economic growth for our state which will also lead to new job opportunities for our graduates at home.
- After some major stumbles, the IU Athletics department is on strong footing. Our new AD has substantial experience in the managerial aspects of sports. Our retooled basketball program has a tremendous new coach who has that program moving in the right direction. Athletics is operating in the black and new facilities for many sports are taking shape.
My Indiana University degrees have afforded me innumerable opportunities. My degrees have always been well respected and the contacts made and kept at IU have opened many doors.
Exercise your right to vote. Vote for someone who has a strong interest in improving higher education, who is open to new ideas, who currently has a child attending IU and someone who has a very strong volunteer commitment to IU. I hope I can count on your vote.
Contact me at www.BishopforTrustee.com.
