IU Bloomington School of Law renamed in honor of largest-ever donor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 4, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie today (Dec. 4) announced the naming of the Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington in honor of Indianapolis business and community leader Michael S. "Mickey" Maurer, J.D. '67.
The school will be renamed the Michael Maurer School of Law in recognition of Maurer's longtime support for the school and his $35 million gift for law student scholarships. The scholarships will be known as the Michael and Janie Maurer Scholarships.
Michael "Mickey" Maurer (right) and his wife Janie gave a gift of $35 million to the IU School of Law-Bloomington.
"This exceptional gift builds on the law school's foundation of excellence," McRobbie said. "It will enable Indiana University to continue to attract top law students and to provide them with the essential knowledge and practical training vital in today's complex legal environments."
The gift is the centerpiece of the School of Law's most successful fundraising campaign in history, which has now raised more than $83 million for faculty and student support.
Maurer's $35 million gift will go to the IU Foundation, which will secure it in income-producing investments. The income from those investments will be used for Maurer Scholarships in perpetuity.
The gift qualifies for matching funds set aside by IU, through its "Matching the Promise" campaign, for the purpose of supporting endowed scholarships, fellowships and faculty positions. This will effectively double the annual distribution of income earned on the gift.
School of Law Dean Lauren Robel said the gift will have an enormous impact on students for generations to come.
"Michael Maurer's unprecedented gift reflects his deep and longstanding commitment to advancing the excellence of this school," she said. "It is a commitment that resonates through all the members of the school's family, from alumni and faculty to administrators and students. I am confident that this gift will help us secure our place in the highest echelon of law schools nationwide."
Maurer related the significance of his donation to his relationship with the School of Law. "This gift is special for me because it is an opportunity to say thank you to an institution that made possible the success I have enjoyed in my legal and business career, the IU School of Law in Bloomington," he said. "Janie and I make this contribution to the law school with confidence in Lauren Robel, who has served our school so well. We fully expect under Dean Robel's guidance that this school will be recognized as an elite institution and assuredly one of the finest public law schools in the nation."
For more than 30 years, Maurer has been a devoted supporter of IU and the School of Law-Bloomington. His service, loyalty and leadership earned him a place in the Academy of Law Alumni Fellows in 1996. He received the IU Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 2001, and, in 2007, he received the IU Foundation President's Medal for his outstanding and sustained support of the IU Foundation and the university. Maurer chaired the law school's first and highly successful capital campaign during the 1990s.
Maurer's career as an attorney and entrepreneur includes ventures in cable television, film production, radio broadcasting, newspaper publishing, government service and banking. An Indianapolis native, he graduated from North Central High School and attended the University of Colorado before attending the IU School of Law-Bloomington, where he wrote and edited for the Indiana Law Journal.
Maurer was a pioneer in the initial development and operations of cable television systems throughout Indiana and Michigan. Admitted to both the New York and Indiana bars, Maurer enjoyed a 20-year career as a practicing attorney. He is chairman of the board of IBJ Corp.; owner and publisher of the Indianapolis Business Journal, Court and Commercial Record and Indiana Lawyer; and chairman of the board for The National Bank of Indianapolis, which he co-founded in 1993.
The IU Board of Trustees approved the naming at its Sept. 18 meeting. The name change will be effective as of Thursday (Dec. 4), and the school is planning a formal renaming ceremony to take place in the spring.
IU has two separate schools of law -- one in Bloomington and the other at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Maurer's gift is the largest ever to the law school from an individual donor and the largest single gift received during the school's ongoing fundraising campaign. In December 2007, the school received a $25 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, which also qualified for matching funds from the university. The Lilly grant will be devoted to faculty recruitment.
