Last modified: Friday, December 11, 2009
IU seniors to leave a lasting legacy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 11, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Student Foundation (IUSF) launched its 2009-10 Senior Challenge with a $10,000 grant to Delta Gamma, Theta chapter.
The Senior Challenge gives the graduating class at IU Bloomington the opportunity to "establish its philanthropic legacy on the campus," according to IUSF president Kyle Mauch.
Mauch and vice president Caitlin Callahan made the presentation from the Senior Challenge's Hoosier Legacy Fund at IUSF's Black and White Gala on Dec. 3. The event was the kickoff for this year's Senior Challenge campaign, which was attended by student leaders.
IU Student Foundation President Kyle Mauch and Vice President Caitlin Callahan. Photo courtesy of Alex Benson and the Indiana Daily Student
The funds awarded this year were raised by last year's senior class for a project that would "benefit all IU Bloomington students," said Mauch. Delta Gamma's winning proposal will help to establish a lecture series on values and ethics to be given by nationally and internationally known journalists, business leaders, artists and others.
"We received several outstanding proposals," said Callahan, "and invited the finalists to present their proposals in person. We felt that Delta Gamma's proposal would best serve the entire student body, because it deals with a topic that is important to everyone and the lectures would be free and open to all students and members of the IU community."
The Lectureships in Values and Ethics concept originated with the national Delta Gamma Foundation, according to IUB Delta Gamma Director of Lectureship in Values and Ethics Aimee Frantzen, who accepted the grant for the chapter along with Elizabeth Billman, Delta Gamma's vice president of Foundation.
"The project was instigated locally on the IUB campus with a challenge gift of $50,000 from former alumna and Delta Gamma member Amy Carlson Wilson," stated Frantzen. "Our goal is to raise another $50,000 to complete the funding for the lectureship," said Frantzen. "We are grateful for this $10,000 grant -- it certainly helps!"
"One of the most influential activities for me as an IU student was being able to attend lectures by thoughtful and dynamic people on the Bloomington campus," said Wilson, who graduated from IU with a degree in business in 1999. "Being able to experience their character and influence first hand inspired me to want to reach higher and go farther in my own life.
"Now, I am honored to be in a position where I may be instrumental in ensuring that the next generation of IU students will have an opportunity to be in the midst of the great thinkers and change agents. The Delta Gamma Lectureships in Values and Ethics will ensure that this cycle of inspiration and aspiration continues on the IUB campus," said Wilson.
When fully funded, IUB will be one of only 20 universities in the country with a Lectureship in Values and Ethics funded by Delta Gamma. A few of the featured speakers of the Delta Gamma lectureships at participating campuses across the country have included: Maya Angelou, Barbara Bush, Cokie Roberts, Madeline Albright, Sally Ride, William Bennett, Carl Bernstein and Sylvia Naser.
The Senior Challenge benefits not only the students of the IU Bloomington campus, but also contributes to the campus's Matching the Promise fundraising campaign. The campaign has raised $1.02 billion toward its $1.1 billion goal. Launched six years ago, the campaign was initiated to provide scholarships and fellowships to help keep IU affordable and attractive to top-notch students, provide funding to attract and retain outstanding faculty, and to construct high-quality teaching and research facilities.
This year's Senior Challenge is the last that will be part of the Matching the Promise campaign, which concludes in June 2010.
"I am proud to see so many of our students embrace the spirit of philanthropy," IU Bloomington Provost Karen Hanson said. "The inspirational efforts of the women of Delta Gamma will have a lasting positive impact on the lives of many IU Bloomington students. The IUSF Senior Challenge demonstrates that gifts of any amount, when pooled with other contributions, can, even in a very short time, have great impact."
For more information or to make a gift to the Senior Challenge, visit https://www.iusf.indiana.edu/senior or email https://www.iusf.indiana.edu/senior.
Contributions for the Indiana University Delta Gamma Lectureship Fund may be made to: Indiana University Foundation, Showalter House, PO Box 500, Bloomington, IN 47402. Please include "Delta Gamma Lectureship Fund" in the memo line.
For more information about the lectureships, go to: https://www.deltagamma.org/content.aspx?item=Foundation/1Our Story/lectureships.xml.
