Austin, Texas
Phone: 512-350-7024
Email: johnjmcglothlin@gmail.com
Website: mcgfortrustee.com
I am a proud alumnus of Indiana University-Bloomington, and feel profound gratitude for the years I spent at IUB. My experiences as a student and teacher fundamentally shaped my sense of self and honed my personal values. More broadly, my time at IUB developed my belief that public universities can and should endow students not only with marketable skills, but with an understanding of their own civic and ethical responsibilities. As trustee I want to ensure that current and future IU students are afforded the same opportunity to develop as thinkers, workers, and citizens.
Providing the students of today and tomorrow with a high-quality education requires a robust, motivated workforce. If elected, I would prioritize making staff and faculty needs a central concern for the Board of Trustees. The range of positions I held while at IUB—among them Assistant Director of Composition within the Department of English and Visiting Lecturer within the Kelley School of Business—shaped my conviction that faculty, staff, and graduate student instructors form the bedrock that enables IU to fulfill its academic mission. Sustaining that mission requires providing employees with the resources and support they need to flourish.
I similarly believe that IU’s trustees must uphold shared governance, the collaborative process by which faculty and staff help shape university policy. The questions facing IU today are numerous and complicated. To name only a few: How should resources be allocated to guarantee that all students receive an exceptional education, regardless of the campus they attend? How can IU continue to attract and maintain world-class faculty in the face of shrinking federal funding? How do we protect staff from excessive workloads given the persistent downsizing of departments? To answer these questions, IU’s leadership should draw upon the institutional experience and wisdom of faculty and staff alike. As trustee, I will encourage more open dialogue amongst employees, leadership, and board members.
Spirited communication within and across the IU system in turn requires university leadership to stand firmly in defense of free speech and academic freedom. Students, faculty, and staff must not fear repercussion when they participate in public debates or release their research. And IU cannot function as world-class institution unless trustees vocally defend the basic rights of all university stakeholders. In this regard I concur with the IUB faculty who argued recently in an open letter that “this university’s best means to protect the well-being of all … will be to affirm its commitment to civil liberties and to protect its academic programs from political interference.”
As trustee, I will draw upon the experience I gained as a nonprofit board member. I served on the board for the Capital Area Parkinson’s Society for four years and currently serve as board vice president for Open Door Preschools in my native Austin, Texas. In my experience, the most impactful board members are deeply committed to their organizations, work together effectively, and know how and when to question one another. Above all they, they never fail to act as fiduciaries and focus on serving their institution’s best interests. I am committed to dedicating the time and engagement required to ensuring the Board of Trustees guides IU towards the best possible outcomes, and will challenge my fellow trustees to do the same.
Though I now live in Austin, where I work as a financial planner, I maintain deep connections to IU and to academia. My wife is an Indiana native and an IU alumna. A host of family members are IU graduates and current Indiana residents. Numerous friends and former colleagues are employed at IU, and at universities and colleges across the US. These connections all inform my desire to serve as trustee, and I plan to draw upon my network’s collective wisdom when serving IU and the state of Indiana writ large.
For more information about me and my platform, please visit mcgfortrustee.com. I also welcome the opportunity to hear from you directly. My contact information is available here and on my website.
Thank you for your consideration and your support.