What a positive way to start the year, with the Lilly Endowment awarding $33M to the IU Kelley School of Business in Bloomington.
Lilly’s generous gift, the largest ever to the Kelley School, demonstrates a gratifying faith in Indiana University’s ability to provide a high rate of return on community investments. Simply put, the Lilly Endowment gift is an investment in the economic future of our state.
Combined with other substantial private-sector contributions, the Lilly Endowment grant will provide for much-needed building expansion and renovation. The new construction at the Kelley School will deliver multiple benefits. Here are just two:
- State-of-the-art technology updates in the trading room will enable Kelley students to interact with companies from across the state and around the world on actual business projects.
- The enlarged building will have space to house the Indiana Business Research Center, enabling the IBRC to be fully integrated with Kelley’s academic programs. Business students will gain firsthand experience working as assistants in the IBRC, which in turn boosts the IBRC’s capacity to serve businesses in Indiana.
In short, the Kelley School’s new facilities will provide real-world experience to business students as well as economic value to commercial enterprise in the state. And perhaps the biggest dividend of all, as President McRobbie described it, will be the ability for the Kelley School “to develop and retain the best and brightest minds who will drive our state’s economy in the future.”
I extend my warmest thanks to the Lilly Endowment and hearty congratulations to Dean Dan Smith and the students of the IU Kelley School in Bloomington.
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