New IU Center to Bear Tobias Name
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA prominent name in life sciences, telecommunications and philanthropy will be affixed to a new center at Indiana University. A $5 million donation will establish the Randall L. and Deborah F. Tobias Center for Innovation in International Development in Bloomington. It will focus on issues including reducing poverty and inequality, improving health, education and employment opportunities and dealing with climate change.
The inaugural "Visions of Development" conference November 10 and 11 will serve as the formal kick-off of the center.
Randall previously serves as chief executive officer of Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) and CEO of AT&T Communications and AT&T International. He chaired the IU Board of Trustees from 2014-2016 and has been a board member for the IU Foundation for more than 30 years. Deborah Tobias retired as operations director for Juniper Networks in the United Kingdom and Ireland and previously served as an executive with technology firms Infotron, StrataCom and Cisco Systems. She is currently vice chair of the Indianapolis-based IU Health Methodist Health Foundation board.
IU President Michael McRobbie says "this new center will have an enormous impact on preparing a new generation of leaders in the increasingly vital field of international development. On behalf of everyone at Indiana University, I want to express our deep gratitude to Deborah and Randy for their continued and remarkably generous contributions to IU that have furthered our missions of excellence in teaching, research and service to communities around the world."
IU says the center will serve as a hub and laboratory for research and teaching in development and is "designed to develop a new generation of leaders in the field."
You can connect to more about the gift and the center by clicking here.