Laurie Burns McRobbie
First Lady of Indiana University
Laurie Burns McRobbie brings a wealth of experience in the research and education community to her role as IU’s first lady. Throughout a distinguished career, she has been an advocate for the use of information technology and advanced networking in higher education. An effective ambassador for Indiana University and its eight campuses, she speaks around the state to promote the university and her husband’s vision for IU as a global leader in the 21st century.
Appointed as an adjunct faculty member in the IU School of Informatics in 2008, Laurie has been a technologist for more than 25 years. She held numerous management and executive positions at the University of Michigan, and was most recently an executive director with Internet2, where she played a leading role in the evolution of Internet2’s governance and membership structure and building the Internet2 community beyond its initial membership base. For four years she was a faculty member in the Leadership Institute of EDUCAUSE, an association of colleges and universities dedicated to intelligent use of information technology in higher education.
In her faculty role at Indiana University, Laurie focuses on science and technology literacy, particularly for historically underrepresented populations in these fields. She works with others within IU and statewide to promote the importance of STEM education for Indiana’s, and the nation’s, future.
Laurie also devotes her energies to fostering the relationship between Indiana University and the surrounding community. Recently named to the IU Center on Philanthropy’s Board of Visitors, she serves on the boards of Middle Way House, a national model program addressing domestic violence, where she also chairs the New Wings Community Partnership fundraising effort. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the award-winning WonderLab science museum in Bloomington and of the Advisory Board of Bloomington New Tech High School. Additionally, she is the incoming vice-president of the board of Society of Friends of Music.
Laurie received a bachelor’s degree in history with honors from the University of Michigan in 1978 and helped establish a major in Women’s Studies as an undergraduate. While working at the University of Michigan in the mid-1980s and 1990s, Laurie co-chaired the university’s Commission for Women and served on the President’s Advisory Commission on Women’s Issues.
For a short biographical sketch of IU’s First Lady, click here.
