Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush to keynote 2026 ATHENA Awards
Dubois County will bring Indiana Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush to Huntingburg for ATHENA, a sign the local awards have become a serious stage for women’s leadership.
Dubois County’s ATHENA Awards are drawing one of Indiana’s most powerful judicial figures to Huntingburg, with Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush set to headline the 2026 program at the Huntingburg Event Center on Thursday, Sept. 3. For a county-sized event, the choice of keynote speaker says as much about local civic priorities as it does about the honoree list: ATHENA is built to recognize leadership, public service and women whose work shapes the community beyond a single night of awards.
The Rotary Club of Dubois County announced the lineup Wednesday, saying nominations for the 2026 ATHENA Leadership Award remain open through June 8. Candidates may come from the profit or nonprofit sector, and there is no age requirement. The award recognizes excellence, creativity, initiative, community service and active support for women’s leadership development, placing the focus squarely on influence that lasts after the applause ends.
Rush brings that kind of résumé. Appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court in September 2012 by Gov. Mitch Daniels, she took the oath of office in November 2012 as the court’s 108th justice. Voters retained her in 2014 and 2024, and on Aug. 18, 2014, she became Indiana’s first female chief justice. She was reappointed to that leadership post in 2019 and again in 2024.
As chief justice, Rush supervises Indiana’s judicial branch, a job that reaches well beyond the courtroom. Indiana Judicial Branch materials say she has helped oversee pretrial and problem-solving court initiatives, statewide electronic filing and unified case management systems, administrative restructuring and expanded access to justice. Her work has also included leading the National Judicial Opioid Task Force, an assignment that tied the courts directly to the public health consequences of addiction and the need for treatment-focused responses.
Rush’s career also reflects the kind of leadership pipeline ATHENA often spotlights. Before joining the Supreme Court, she spent 15 years at a Lafayette law firm and was elected three times as judge of Tippecanoe Superior Court 3. She earned both her undergraduate degree from Purdue University and her law degree from Indiana University Maurer School of Law with honors. Born in Pennsylvania, she moved frequently as a child before settling in Indiana in 1972.
The ATHENA program has already become a fixed part of Dubois County’s late-summer calendar. Last year’s banquet was held Sept. 17, 2025, at the same Huntingburg venue, and Laura Grammer received the award. With Rush now set to keynote the 2026 event, local organizers are pairing a statewide leader with a homegrown recognition program that continues to elevate women’s leadership, civic service and the people shaping public life in Dubois County.
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