Martha McCarthy (PhD, University of Florida) joined the IU faculty in 1975 and has served as Director of the Indiana Education Policy Center and Associate Dean of the Faculties. She currently chairs the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the School of Education and teaches courses in educational law.

She has authored or coauthored eleven books, including Public School Law: Teachers' and Students' Rights (6th ed., in press) and Educational Governance and Administration (6th ed., in press). She has also written more than 250 articles and chapters and has made numerous presentations regarding various aspects of students' and teachers' rights, church-state relations, equity issues, privatization of education, school reform efforts, leadership preparation, and student engagement. She has served as President of the Education Law Association (ELA) and the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) and as Vice-President for Division A of the American Educational Research Association.

Among awards, she has received the Research Competition Award from the American Association of School Administrators (1980), the President's Award from the Indiana Principals' Association (1988), the inaugural Contribution to Knowledge Award from the Indiana Association of School Leaders (1991); the Tracy M. Sonneborn Award for distinction in teaching and research at IU (1991), the McGhehey Award from ELA for contributions to the field of school law (1992), the IU Office for Women's Affairs' Distinguished Scholar Award (1993), the Living Legend Award from the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (2002), the School of Education's Gorman Teaching Award (2003), the Sylvia Bowman Teaching Award from the IU system (2004), and the Campbell Lifetime Achievement Award from UCEA (2004). She has also received alumna awards from the University of Kentucky (1990) and the University of Florida (1997).