Former Senators Bayh, Coats to Join IU

Former U.S. Senator and Governor Evan Bayh and former Director of National Intelligence and U.S. Senator Daniel Coats will join Indiana University. (photos courtesy of Indiana University)

Former U.S. Senator and Governor Evan Bayh and former Director of National Intelligence and U.S. Senator Dan Coats will join Indiana University at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, respectively. IU President Michael McRobbie says Bayh will be appointed to the university as distinguished scholar and executive at large, while Coats will serve as distinguished scholar and ambassador at large.

Coats represented Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1989 and in the U.S. Senate from 1989 to 1999 and 2011 to 2017. He also served as director of national intelligence from 2017 to 2019 and is a former ambassador to Germany.

Bayh served two terms as Indiana governor from 1989 to 1997 and two terms as a U.S. senator from 1999 to 2011.

IU President Michael McRobbie says Coats and Bayh are two of the state’s and nation’s most distinguished public servants and two of IU’s most renowned alumni.

“Both have had lengthy and productive careers in the public sector, and both have served as bipartisan leaders at the highest levels of government, where they have consistently championed the causes of education, civic responsibility, community service and global engagement,” McRobbie said. “Both also remain highly influential voices on the most critical issues facing our nation and our world and, as such, will further enhance IU’s mission to educate the next generation of leaders to confront our most pressing challenges.”

IU says Bayh and Coats have each been honored by the university with the President’s Medal for Excellence, the highest honor that an IU president can bestow. Both have also received honorary degrees from IU.