IU announces largest endowment campaign in history for Bloomington campus

Indiana University officially announced last weekend the largest campaign in its history to raise funds for endowments for faculty, and undergraduate and graduate students on the Bloomington campus.

The goal for the Endowment Campaign for Indiana University Bloomington is a total of $350 million by the year 2000, including $150 million for new endowments and $200 million for ongoing support. So far, the campaign has raised nearly $237 million total.

According to IU Foundation President Curt Simic, the $150 million will create endowed faculty chairs and professorships and student scholarships and fellowships.

Gifts to date have established the first endowed chairs for the School of Music and the School of Education -- a $1 million gift from the Cook Group Companies Inc., established the Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong Chair of teacher education, and the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in violin studies was made possible through a $1.5 million gift from the Starling Foundation.

One notable aspect of this campaign has been the overwhelming response from the faculty of the Bloomington campus: The current amount for the endowment is $13 million and still climbing.

An anonymous donor established the Child Development Professorship in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, which is the school's first (see Oct. 24 issue of the Home Pages). Walden University funded the Walden Endowed Librarian position in the IU Libraries.

The largest endowment campaign

gift is $23 million from entrepreneur and alumnus E.W. Kelley to the School of Business (see related story in this issue on the gift and the renaming of the school to honor Kelley's generosity to IU).

A $5 million gift from Jack and Linda Gill of Houston, Texas, is the largest ever received by the College of Arts and Sciences, and among other results will establish a center for instrumentation and measurement science. Gill is also a graduate of IU (see related story).

Emphasizing the magnitude of the effort, Simic compared the current campaign to the university's Campaign for Indiana during the 1980s, which raised money for capital construction. Bloomington's share of that campaign was slightly over $120 million.

DECREASING STATE SUPPORT as a percentage of total operating budget for Indiana University Bloomington 1979-80 to 1995-96

According to IU President Myles Brand, there are several reasons for the campaign. For one, although IU is a public institution, its percentage of support from the state of Indiana has been on the decrease for at least two decades, and currently accounts for less than 25 percent. "In the past, we could count on state and federal governments to provide funding for operations and some quality improvements, but that's no longer the case," Brand said. "There's absolutely no doubt that the continuation of the university's excellence requires an alternative source."

By their nature, endowments offer "steady, reliable growth income," he said.

A specific portion of each endowment is spent, but the remainder goes back into the fund to keep it growing. "Endowments will never be a substitute for state support," Brand stated, "but they can certainly offset the impact of changing economic and political climates."

IU ranks low in the Big Ten in endowed chairs and professorships, Brand noted, adding that "this isn't simply a matter of numbers -- it defines the essence of a university. Excellent faculty create an intellectual atmosphere that affects everything on a campus, from the classroom and the laboratory to the research and performance activities."

The caliber of faculty, he said, directly impacts the quality of the education and service a university provides. "To retain the excellence of our current faculty and ensure we continue to attract top-quality scholars and teachers, we must provide the resources."

The campaign's effort to raise funds for fellowships and scholarships will make it more affordable for hard-working and talented students, Brand added. "We believe it will result in greater persistence on the part of our students, higher graduation rates and an additional incentive for the most motivated students to consider an IU education."

Another notable aspect of this campaign is the overwhelming response from the faculty of the Bloomington campus, said Simic, who again compared it to the previous effort."The total giving from faculty in the Campaign for Indiana was $4 million for the Bloomington campus, but the current amount for the endowment campaign is $13 million and still climbing," he remarked. "The faculty effort is unprecedented. I'm not aware of any public university campaign with this kind of faculty support."

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