Candidate Profile
Philip N. Eskew, Jr. MD
OB/GYN
When I was elected trustee in 2006, Dr. Adam Herbert was President, Rick Greenspan was the athletic director and Kelvin Sampson was the basketball coach. Working with the other trustees and administration, we have made significant progress by replacing each of them with individuals who will return IU to its recognized place of high ethical standards in NCAA sports and re-establish the integrity of Old IU.
As Trustees, our biggest accomplishment, of which Indiana University has been the beneficiary, was hiring President Michael McRobbie.
IU has become a ’destination’ school for students in Indiana and from all over the world (6000 international students from 144 countries). Last fall IU’s enrollment topped 100,000 statewide for the first time in history (101,727). System-wide, enrollment is up 2.6% and credit hours are up 3.3%. At IU Bloomington, enrollment (40,354—3.5% increase from the previous year) and full time students (89%) are at all time high. IUB received 31,177 applications, a 7.3% increase. The average SAT was 1174, up 10 points from the previous year. All indications are that we will continue to see an upward trend in applications, average SAT scores and a higher percentage of students ranked in the top 25% of their high school class (from 56% in 1998 to 73% in 2008).
We have opened ten new buildings, including new student housing at IUSB and IUS, and there are sixteen buildings under construction or in the design stage utilizing ‘green’ standards. The new athletic facilities, to be completed this year, are being financed by generous donations.
We continue to focus on recruiting and retaining great faculty, and improving our curriculum. Our faculty received $523.3 million in grants and awards to support their research this year (a 25% increase over the previous year) helping make IU one the world’s leading research institutions.
As trustees, we are concerned about the diversity of our students (13% increase in minority students this past year) and faculty. In the past ten years we have seen a 5% increase in total faculty, 28% increase in female faculty (32% of total) and a 60% increase in minority faculty (16% of total).
I-light is the state’s high-speed fiber optic network that supports education and research. IU and Purdue operate the network that aims (when fully completed) to connect every college and university in the state of Indiana. IU’s Global Network Operations Center on the IUPUI campus manages the network along with millions of dollars of contracts for other federal and international research and education networks. Our aim is to ensure that the wired and wireless campus networks continually evolve just ahead of the needs of IU’s faculty, staff, and students.
The economic climate demands that the stewards of our beloved University exercise sound judgment in financial matters ranging from state appropriations to tuition to the responsible use of our endowment. The financial situation that IU faces is the most critical issue we have dealt with in the last decade. My experience as a physician and business owner has honed my ability to listen, diagnose, and make decisions. This serves me well as a trustee and will be even more valuable during these challenging times as the trustees work to maintain Indiana University’s high ranking in the world.
My continuing goals are to improve the quality of the students’ education, maintain the high ethical standards that we insist IU follow, retain and reward our outstanding faculty, follow our new master plan for the Bloomington and IUPUI campuses utilizing ‘green’ standards, and assist the leadership of each of our campuses to make Indiana University even better.
As a trustee I have one vote out of nine. My input from suggestions, questions and challenges comes from listening to alumni and my experience as a physician, athlete, student, parent, educator and concerned citizen.
I am happy to answer questions at peskew@indiana.edu.
