FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The University of Saint Francis has been awarded a $100,000 planning grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The grant is part of Lilly Endowment’s new initiative, Charting the Future for Indiana’s Colleges and Universities (CTF).
Lilly Endowment launched CTF with the hope that it will help the leaders of Indiana’s 38 colleges and universities engage in further thoughtful discernment about the future of their institutions and advance the speed of their strategic planning and implementation efforts to address their key challenges and opportunities. Lilly Endowment has allocated up to $108.2 million for the initiative, which will have three phases: a planning phase, an implementation phase and an invitational phase for large-scale proposals.
“We are pleased to be awarded this planning grant from Lilly Endowment and thank Lilly Endowment for its continued investment in higher education,” said USF President Sister M. Elise Kriss, OSF. “This grant will assist USF in exploring innovative ways to best serve the needs of students.”
In CTF’s planning phase, funds may be used at the discretion of the institution’s president for a variety of purposes, such as consultants, staff time, conferences and seminars, travel to gather information and ideas, and preparation for a Phase 2 proposal and Phase 3 concept paper. During the initiative, Lilly Endowment plans to provide opportunities for college and universities to convene to discuss topics of common interest that could enrich their individual and collective efforts.
Founded in 1890 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition, the University of Saint Francis offers more than 70 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs through the School of Health Sciences, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Keith Busse School of Business and Entrepreneurial Leadership and School of Creative Arts. In addition to its traditional programs, USF designs focused curricula for working adults in Fort Wayne, Crown Point and online. USF Downtown houses the university’s business and music technology programs while offering enhanced internship and networking opportunities for students. The University of Saint Francis campus experience includes 16 athletic programs boasting two individual and four team NAIA national championships and is recognized as an NAIA Five-Star Champion of Character institution. Approximately 2,200 students from a broad geographic region attend USF.