- 303 Haggar College Center
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
(574) 284-4579 - Director of Media Relations
Gwen O'Brien
gobrien@saintmarys.edu
Press Release
Lilly Endowment Awards Saint Mary’s College Sustaining Grant to Stave off Indiana’s “Brain Drain”
Contact:
Gwen O’Brien
Director of Media Relations
Saint Mary's College
(574) 284-4579 (office)
(574) 286-4977 (cell)
Dec. 10, 2008 (Notre Dame, Ind.) –Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded Saint Mary’s College with a five-year sustaining grant of $359,000 to continue the Endowment’s “Initiative to Promote Opportunity through Educational Collaborations.” This is the second phase of the Initiative, which began at Saint Mary’s in December 2003 with a $750,000 grant. The initiative calls for the College to develop programs to help retain students within Indiana after graduation to stave off the state’s so called “brain drain.” The sustaining grant, combined with the College’s match of $363,000 and $35,000 remaining from the original grant, will allow the College to continue the successful activities initiated under the original grant and to launch a series of new activities.
“We are grateful to Lilly Endowment for awarding the College these grants. The Endowment’s Initiative has been beneficial to both our students and the state of Indiana ” said Carol Ann Mooney, Saint Mary’s College president. “As we move into the second phase of the Initiative we look forward to more of our students participating in internships and finding careers in Indiana.”
The College used the original grant to establish the Indiana Careers @ Saint Mary’s College (INC@SMC) program. The experiential learning opportunities, collaborative partnerships, networking grants, and structural changes supported by INC@SMC have allowed the College to effectively identify meaningful opportunities in Indiana for its graduates. The original grant provided Saint Mary’s students with 57 summer internships with Indiana businesses and organizations. The grant also helped the College and other institutions to form the Indiana Careers Consortium (INCC)—a group of 10 colleges and universities in northern Indiana that put on joint career/internship fairs, business case competitions, internship development programs, etc.
With the sustaining grant, the College intends to build on the successful components of INC@SMC and engage in new, complementary activities specifically designed to help Indiana employers and Saint Mary’s students and faculty make effective use of experiential education opportunities. New Saint Mary’s initiatives supported by the grant include:
o Student participation in an in-depth career assessment program and a faculty/peer-advising program focused on Indiana employment opportunities.
o The development of an internship program for select non-profit organizations in the South Bend area.
o The support of annual summits on Indiana employment opportunities to help students, faculty and Indiana employers develop stronger networks.
For interviews with the College about the Lilly Endowment grants and the INC@SMC program, contact Gwen O’Brien, director of media relations. She can also arrange interviews with students involved in the program and/or formers students who stayed in Indiana as a result of the Lilly Endowment grant and INC@SMC.
About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, women’s institution offering bachelor’s degrees in more than 30 major areas of study. The College has six nationally accredited academic programs: social work, art, music, teacher education, chemistry and nursing. Saint Mary's College ranks among the nation's top liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report's 2009 annual survey. Founded in 1844, Saint Mary’s is a pioneer in the education of women, and is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
