Over the past few weeks this spring, I have been showcasing the award recipients that should have been celebrated this week during Cream and Crimson Weekend. We regret that we are not able to honor our President’s Award, Volunteer Leadership Award, and Gertrude Rich Award recipients in the typical fashion, and look forward to honoring them in person at our next available opportunity, hopefully in 2021. This final installment in the series Spotlight on Achievement is the Gertrude Spraker Rich Award.

The Gertrude Rich Award was first presented in 1972 to Ruth Kivett Smith, BA/BS’39, and 42 women have now been distinguished in this way. The award is a tribute to the memory of Gertrude Spraker Rich, wife of Claude Rich, BA ’29, chief executive of the IUAA from 1948-1968, and is given to IU women leaders who have provided guidance to and impact for alumni programs and communities. This year, the honor goes to Laurie Burns McRobbie. As First Lady of Indiana University, Laurie is not only a supporter of IU’s alumni programs worldwide, but is a powerful leader who has made a lasting impact on our University.

Although it is not a requirement of the award, Laurie is an alumna of IU herself, with a Master’s degree in Philanthropic Studies from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. She is currently an adjunct faculty member at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering.

Laurie has distinguished herself by meeting with alumni around the world, speaking to our IUAA groups, and showing ongoing support and encouragement of our programs and initiatives. Laurie has also made a tremendous impact on women’s leadership at Indiana University. She is the founder and honorary chair of the Women’s Philanthropy Leadership Council, has helped establish the Center of Excellence for Women & Technology (CEW&T), and puts energy and enthusiasm behind many STEM initiatives across Indiana University.

It’s a fitting tribute that when bringing the Gertrude Rich Award back after a break in bestowing it, the awardee is Laurie Burns McRobbie. See the list of past recipients. She’s among very good company of women leaders who have continued to sustain Indiana University and the IUAA into the third century through individual generosity as well as collective actions.  At the speech she delivered in 2018 to the Women’s Giving Circle of the Heritage Fund – Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, Laurie said, “The desire to make positive transformation, through individual acts of philanthropy and through combined acts of associational effort, in the context always of thinking of the larger public good, is what will keep us moving forward.”

Thank you, Laurie, for all you do to keep us moving forward together.