Indiana Higher Ed Institutions to Receive $100M from Lilly Endowment

A $100 million initiative announced last week by the Lilly Endowment Inc. will help Indiana's colleges and universities attract and retain more faculty and students. The Lilly Endowment, a private philanthropic foundation based in Indianapolis, supports community, educational and religious causes.

A total of 37 institutions among Indiana's two- and four-year public and private schools will be encouraged to submit proposals for funding under the initiative. Purdue University and Ivy Tech State College are eligible for a combined $30 million of the $100 million pot. Another $26 million is allocated for Indiana University. Other schools such as Ball State University, Indiana Wesleyan University and the University of Notre Dame are eligible for $5 million or less.

To lure the best and brightest talent to Indiana, institutions could suggest ways to upgrade research facilities or draw more full-time and part-time faculty to their campuses. Proposals also might consider other aspects of intellectual capital.

Statistics in the 2003-2004 Almanac Issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education reveal the public university salary for full-time faculty in Indiana is almost 7 percent less than the national average. Indiana colleges and universities generally do not rank highly in the number of National Merit Scholars they attract or in the amount of licensing revenues and patent activity. Similarly, no Indiana college or university is among the top 50 higher education institutions, with respect to federal research and development expenditures.

The Lilly Endowment is allowing the selected colleges and universities until September to craft proposals. More information on the Lilly Endowment initiative is available at: http://www.lillyendowment.org/