Background

hortly after being named the 18th chief executive of Indiana University, but prior to taking office, President-elect Michael A. McRobbie met with the Board of Managers of the Indiana University Alumni Association and with the IUAA cabinet. At that first meeting, he requested that the association work on six areas of importance for IU. Two of these areas of importance (development and advocacy) were already original guiding principles of the IU Alumni Association. The six areas he identified were:

• Assisting in furthering the international scope of IU;
• Assisting the university in recruitment of the best students, faculty, and staff;
• Assisting the university to increase the diversity of the populations involved with and making up the university;
• Serving as advocates for the university among all publics and with government agencies;
• Helping to market the greatness of the university; and, lastly,
• Assisting the university and the IU Foundation in raising private philanthropy to support the mission and vision of the university.

At the conclusion of this first meeting, the IUAA had six guiding principles on which to guide its future direction.

Further, President-elect McRobbie asked that every action of the association be examined through the dual lenses of the university’s fundamental mission of education and research. By viewing the association’s programs through these lenses and applying the six areas for involvement of the association on behalf of the university, a vision for the association was formed — a vision that not only allowed for clear focus for the future but for a blending of association’s programs, actions, and people to address the six areas of involvement with the university.