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Last modified: Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Bishop elected as IU alumni trustee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2010

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University graduates today (June 30) elected MaryEllen Bishop of Carmel, Ind., to succeed Sue Talbot, who chose not to run for another term on the IU Board of Trustees.

Bishop, a graduate of the Kelley School of Business and the IU School of Law-Indianapolis, is an attorney with Cohen, Garelick & Glazier in Indianapolis and served as national chair of the IU Alumni Association in 2007-08.

MaryEllen Bishop

MaryEllen Bishop

Print-Quality Photo

Her involvement at IU also has included serving on the steering committee for the Colloquium for Women of IU, on the board of visitors for the IU School of Law-Indianapolis and as alumni representative on the IU Athletics Committee. Her husband, Michael, also is a graduate of the IU School of Law-Indianapolis, and her two children also are IU graduates.

Bishop received 3,773 of the 14,444 total votes cast, finishing ahead of Kent E. Agness, a retired attorney from Indianapolis, who received 2,963 votes.

"Three years ago, serving as the national chair for the IU Alumni Association made me realize how much I love this university," Bishop said. "I am honored to be representing the alumni of this university, knowing the incredible things that the university is doing right now, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

"I would be very remiss if I didn't say thank you to Dr. Sue Talbot for everything that she's done for IU over so many years," Bishop added. "She left big shoes to ever try to fill on the board."

With Bishop's election, it is ensured that the IU Board of Trustees will continue to include a woman member for the next three years, in addition to student trustee Abbey R. Stemler of New Albany, Ind., who was appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels last year.

Other candidates and their vote totals were:

  • Brian J. Shapiro, Zionsville, Ind., 2,823
  • Jonathan Sweeny, Bloomington, Ind., 1,690
  • Ernestine "Erni" (Shonholz) Mann, Scottsdale, Ariz., 1,483
  • David Eric Steele, Indianapolis, 1,183
  • Robert "Rob" Foos Jr., Indianapolis, 528

This was the third year that alumni could vote online, and 12,889 ballots were cast in that manner. There were 1,555 valid paper ballots. Alumni had to return a postcard in order to receive a paper ballot. Due to a lack of signatures, 37 paper ballots were declared invalid and just two paper ballots or envelopes were voided for other reasons.

IU has nine trustees, three of whom are elected by alumni. The other two alumni trustees are Patrick A. Shoulders, Evansville, Ind., who was elected in 2005 and re-elected in 2008; and Philip N. Eskew Jr. of North Webster, Ind., who was elected in 2006 and re-elected in 2009. Shoulders' current term will expire in 2011, and Eskew's term expires in 2012. The remaining trustees are appointed by the governor.