Loretta Rush

2015 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI RECIPIENT

BA 1980, History

Chief Justice, Indiana Supreme Court (Indianapolis, IN)

Loretta H. Rush was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court by Governor Mitch Daniels in September 2012. She took the oath of office as Indiana's 108th Supreme Court Justice on November 7, 2012. She became Chief Justice on August 18, 2014. Prior to her appointment, she was elected Tippecanoe Superior Court 3 judge and served for 14 years.

As a Supreme Court Justice, Rush serves on the Commission on Improving the Status of Children in Indiana and the Indiana Conference for Legal Education Opportunity. She serves as liaison to the Division of Supreme Court Administration, the Division of State Court Administration, the Indiana Judicial Center, and the Indiana Judges Association. As Chief Justice, Rush chairs the Judicial Nominating/Qualifications Commission. She has represented Indiana multiple times at the National Judicial Leadership Summit on the Protection of Children.

As juvenile court judge in Tippecanoe County she assisted with the creation of the county's Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program. She also implemented a certified juvenile drug treatment court and initiated a twenty-four-hour assessment center for youth. During her tenure, she helped initiate, develop and sustain more than twenty-five youth programs. Prior to that she spent 15 years in general legal practice and eventually became a partner at a Lafayette firm.

Rush was born in 1958 in Pennsylvania and moved frequently as a child before settling in Indiana in 1972. She earned her undergraduate degree from Purdue University and graduated cum laude from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington. She now serves as a member of the law school's Board of Visitors.

Chief Justice Rush is a member of the Tippecanoe, Indiana, Indianapolis, Seventh Circuit and American Bar Associations; and Indiana and National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Chief Justice Rush was selected as one of Indianapolis Business Journal's 2013 "Women of Influence." In 2003, she was honored to receive the Kinsey Award for Juvenile Judge of the Year and was presented with the Fiscal Responsibility Award by the Tippecanoe County Council and Commissioners in 2001.

Rush is married with four children and resides in Lafayette, IN.