FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): Indiana Tech has received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. as part of the philanthropic foundation’s Charting the Future of Indiana’s Colleges and Universities initiative.

The grant will support the creation of new academic programs across engineering technology and and supply chain management. The grant will enable Indiana Tech to offer career programs to technologically focused students and also to help Indiana employers find and keep highly skilled workers.

Indiana Tech will also utilize grant funding to establish a new regional center of excellence, the Northeast Indiana Center for Engineering. The Center will be built around three primary initiatives:

• The creation of a hub to match Indiana Tech engineering students and those of other universities with internships, projects and full-time employment opportunities throughout Indiana.
• Expansion of the depth and reach of Indiana Tech’s existing array of STEM camps for middle and high school students, and the support for dual credit K-12 students throughout Indiana who are interested in STEM degrees and careers.
• Development of greater access, support and programming for women and minority STEM students to increase the numbers and success of women and under-represented minorities at Indiana Tech, and in STEM-related careers around the state.

Dr. Tom Kaplan, Indiana Tech vice president for academic affairs, commented, “Indiana Tech has a rich history in engineering education and career-focused degrees. This history, and our strategic vision for the future, have positioned us well to step into the realm of engineering technology education in a way that allows us to better serve a wider range of students, our industry partners, and our community. With the support of Lilly Endowment’s grant, we will be able to take our efforts in this area to a new level. Our new programs and the new Northeast Indiana Center for Engineering will be a driver of student success and economic development for our region and our state for years to come.”

Lilly Endowment Inc. launched Charting the Future in late 2019 when it invited all of Indiana’s 38 accredited public and private colleges and universities to consider what it would take to improve their efforts to educate students while thoughtfully examining the long-term financial sustainability of their institutions. This multi-phase initiative began in 2019 with planning grants to all of the schools. Second phase grants, of which this grant is a part, are funding implementation grants. A third phase, which is competitive, will be complete in 2021. Those grants will support efforts that seek to have large-scale impact on higher education institutions and in Indiana.