INDIANAPOLIS – Martin University is pleased to announce it is the recipient of a $100,000 planning grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The grant is part of Charting the Future for Indiana’s Colleges and Universities, an initiative to strengthen the future of higher education in Indiana.
Through the initiative, Lilly Endowment is making available grants totaling $108.2 million to help Indiana colleges and universities address their key challenges and take advantage of promising opportunities to enhance their relevance and sustainability. The challenges are varied and include a decline in higher education enrollment in Indiana; competition from more widely available job training programs (such as apprenticeships and certificate programs) and the enhancement and expansion of online learning opportunities; and changes in federal funding policies for higher education.
“We are grateful to be a beneficiary of Lilly Endowment’s effort to sustain and enhance Indiana’s institutes of higher education,” said Dr. Sean Huddleston, President of Martin University. “At Martin, we know that education is a key factor to addressing the challenges our students face and improving their socio-economic conditions. This planning grant will help us identify and address ways to attract and retain students while adding programming, services, and employer partnerships that will improve our students preparation for career attainment or advancement.”
The planning grant to Martin is from the first phase of the Lilly Endowment initiative. Given to Indiana’s eligible two- and four-year colleges and universities, the grants were based on student enrollment at each school. These planning grants are designed to encourage reflection, research and consultation so leaders can better prioritize the challenges and opportunities they wish to pursue and prepare their implementation grant proposals for funding under phase two of this initiative.
“We encouraged Indiana’s higher education leaders to be bold and imaginative in developing creative and collaborative strategies to strengthen their institutions and further their educational missions more effectively,” said Ted Maple, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for education. “We are impressed with the dedication of Indiana’s higher education leaders to face head on their challenges and embrace their opportunities to build brighter futures for their students and colleges and universities.”
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.
Martin University’s mission is to provide excellence in educating and developing traditional and non-traditional students in an inclusive, supportive and healthy collegiate environment