IU Bicentennial Ceremony

Thank you, President McRobbie.  It is an honor to represent the IUPUI campus of Indiana University on this auspicious occasion. 

This year, we are celebrating 200 years of excellence in research and education at IU. I want to take a moment for us to think about those 200 years. 

Think about all that has happened on the campuses of Indiana University in those two centuries:  200 years of discoveries, of technological innovation—the automobile, the airplane, the computer, the cell phone. I think some of you might be checking your phones right now ...

200 years of teaching—of changing lives and of saving lives. Most important, 200 years of people. 

Tens of thousands of people have made this university thrive for centuries. They have dedicated their careers and their lives to Indiana University because they love and believe in its values and its mission. Looking around this morning, I can see that such people are filling this magnificent auditorium. 

How do I recognize you? Because I am one of you.

I am proud to count myself among those who have spent their entire careers at Indiana University.

I join those tens of thousands of people who celebrate not just the great history of Indiana University but the future this institution is helping to build by educating the next generation and preparing to solve problems we have yet to imagine.

IUPUI Chancellor Nasser H. Paydar