Inspirational Giving
Breathtaking commitments to Manchester College

Dr. Jane E. Henney '69 with Dr. R. Emerson Niswander, professor emeritus of biology, and Evelyn Niswander as they celebrate the dedication of the Niswander Department of Biology on March 28. (Click on photo for enlargement)

A walk down the third-floor hallway of the Administration Building has changed little through the ages.

Steep, well-traveled stairwells in the Administration Building are the only access to any of the floors.

The addition to the PERC is under way for use in fall 2010.

"I WAS SPEECHLESS. All I could say was 'Thank you, thank you,'" said President Jo Young '69 Switzer when Lilly Endowment Inc. called to say Manchester would receive $35 million for its School of Pharmacy. The words did come, of course, and were shared at a news conference with jubilant northeast Indiana healthcare, government and economic development officials.

The grant is inspiring other partnerships and gifts, including more than $850,000 from other foundations, to the School of Pharmacy. The attention also is fueling hundreds of experiential opportunities for the doctoral students, who arrive at their Fort Wayne campus in August 2012.

Meanwhile, four members of the Board of Trustees each are donating more than $1 million each to inspire alumni to remember future Manchester students in their estate plans. The four trustees: Sara Edgerton '70; Dave Haist '73 and his wife, Sandra Cleveland '74 Haist; Marsha Palmer '68 Link and her husband, Bill; and Richard Robins '64 and wife, Kate.

And the College dedicated the Dr. R. Emerson and Evelyn M. Niswander Department of Biology with an endowment from Dr. Jane E. Henney '69 and her husband Dr. J. Robert Graham.

The endowment gift is timely as Manchester begins construction on the Academic Center, where classrooms, faculty offices, lounges, labs, entire floors – or even departments – await benefactors wishing to recall their faculty mentors.

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