BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie has announced the appointment of Hannah Buxbaum as the university’s next vice president for international affairs, which the IU Board of Trustees approved at its meeting today on the IU Southeast campus.
“Hannah’s background and extensive international experience make her the ideal candidate to serve as IU’s next vice president for international affairs,” McRobbie said. “I am confident she will build upon the strong foundation that David Zaret and the staff of the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs built over many years – a foundation that has helped make IU one of the nation’s most internationally engaged universities.”
Buxbaum is the John E. Schiller Chair in Legal Ethics at the IU Maurer School of Law, where she has been a faculty member since 1997. Her research focuses on the areas of private international law and international litigation and jurisdiction.
Buxbaum has also held a number of administrative positions in the Maurer School, including associate dean for research and executive associate dean for academic affairs. She was also the school’s interim dean from January 2012 to December 2013.
Presently, she serves as academic director of the IU Europe Gateway office in Berlin, which was established in 2015 to provide IU with a physical presence in the center of Europe and a point of access to other countries within the region. The office has helped link local institutional partners, alumni and students more closely with the university, as well as increase the visibility and impact of the university’s academic and research activities within the region.
“Through my work at the Europe Gateway, I’ve seen first-hand the tremendous commitment of Vice President Zaret and the rest of the OVPIA team to the international dimension of research and teaching at our university,” Buxbaum said. “I’m honored by this appointment and excited to carry that work forward.”
Prior to her IU tenure, Buxbaum practiced law in the area of international securities transactions in the New York and Frankfurt, Germany, offices of Davis Polk and Wardwell.
She holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Heidelberg, conducted research in Germany as a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and has taught at a number of foreign universities as well as at The Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands.
“Hannah has made a huge personal commitment of time and energy to making the Europe Gateway an active and energetic presence for IU,” Zaret said. “International affairs will benefit enormously when she has the opportunity to expand that commitment to the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs as a whole.”
Zaret, who will retire in June, has served as the vice president for international affairs since 2011. During his tenure, IU has:
- Launched successful international gateway offices in Europe, India and China.
- Established new partnerships with leading international universities and institutions, and strengthened its existing international partnerships.
- Opened new international chapters of the IU Alumni Association to serve the university’s extensive global network of alumni.
- Sent record numbers of IU students overseas for study abroad. IU Bloomington currently ranks seventh in the nation out of about 1,200 universities in terms of the number of students studying abroad.
- Welcomed record numbers of international students. IU Bloomington currently ranks 19th in the nation for the number of international students enrolled.
“David has been extremely effective during his tenure as vice president,” McRobbie said. “Because of his efforts, IU continues to enjoy a well-earned reputation as one of the nation’s most internationally focused universities.”
