Board of Trustees

Meet the Trustees

Bruce Cole

IU Trustee

Trustee Cole, a scholar of Renaissance art and a Distinguished Professor emeritus of Indiana University Bloomington, is a senior fellow at The Ethics and Public Policy Center after serving as President & CEO of The American Revolution Center (ARC). Before coming to ARC, he was the longest serving Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, appointed by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2001 and again in 2005. In 2008, he received the President's Medal from IU for "excellence in service, achievement and teaching." Governor Mitch Daniels awarded Cole the Sagamore of the Wabash in 2006. He has received nine honorary doctorate degrees and is the author of fourteen books and numerous articles. He has served as a U.S. delegate to the National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and is on the boards of American Heritage, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and the Villa Firenze Foundation, among others. He was appointed by the U.S. Senate to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity. In 2008, President Bush awarded Cole the Presidential Citizens Medal "for his work to strengthen our national memory and ensure that our country's heritage is passed on to future generations." The medal is one of the highest honors the President can confer upon a civilian, second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Earlier in 2008, Cole was decorated Knight of the Grand Cross, the highest honor of the Republic of Italy.