University of Indianapolis officials announced a $1.8 million gift for student scholarships, along with partnerships with Marion County high schools and accreditation for engineering programs during a news conference Thursday.
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Students at the University of Indianapolis will now be able to pursue degrees in engineering, college officials announced during a news conference Thursday at the school.
The news was coupled by announcements regarding a $1.8 million gift to fund scholarships and a partnership with four Central Indiana high schools that will yield full-ride engineering scholarships.
The campus’s R.B. Annis School of Engineering, which opened in 2017, will now offer bachelor’s degree programs in industrial and systems engineering, mechanical engineering and software engineering, according to a UIndy news release.
The degree paths will be accredited by ABET, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, which adds legitimacy to the engineering program, said Ken Reid, the engineering school’s associate dean and director, in the release.
“It’s been the culmination of several years of hard work and is a testament to our faculty, current students and recent graduates,” Reid said. “Having the ABET seal shows to outside parties about our program’s legitimacy what we and our corporate and community partners knew to be true: that we have a world-class faculty and curriculum here at the Annis school.”
A $1.8 million gift from Zane and Frances Todd will fund the establishment of the Zane and Frances Todd Merit and Leadership Scholars Fund endowment to financially assist students majoring in fields related to science, technology, engineering and math, with an emphasis on engineering. Zane Todd was on the UIndy board of trustees from 1977 to 1991, serving as the chair for the last decade of that stretch. He received his honorary doctorate in humane letters from the school in 1993, according to the release.
The money will also fund the Frances and Zane Todd Merit and Leadership Scholars in Health Sciences and Nursing scholarships funds, which will assist students working to fund their education, students who were honorably discharged from the military, students who have children and students who are married, according to the release.
Along with engineering accreditation and the $1.8 million gift, university officials revealed a partnership with Fishers High School, Pike High School, Perry Meridian High School and Southport High School. With the partnership, school leaders have a goal of inspiring students to pursue higher education, and will pair them with resources from the school of engineering. Once a year, each high school will award a student with a full-ride scholarship to the engineering school, and faculty members will visit classrooms at those schools to spread awareness about opportunities in higher education, according to the release.
The partnership will help students see a path in higher education when fewer of them are going on to college after high school, Reid said in the release.
“Right now, just 54% of Indiana high school seniors are pursuing four-year college degrees. We want to do our part to increase that number and better prepare students for higher education,” he said. “These partnerships will allow us to work more closely with the students and teachers in these schools to help strengthen engineering within (kindergarten through 12th grade) and prepare those students for higher education and to prepare them for STEM careers.”
