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Jonathan Purvis

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Executive Director, Special Gifts and Annual Giving Programs

Jonathan Purvis

Jonathan Purvis
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Jonathan Purvis led the IU Student Foundation staff for the last four of his six years as a member; he continued to oversee IUSF during his assignment as assistant to the Foundation president and now as executive director of the Special Gifts and Annual Giving Programs.

IUSF, the oldest and premier organization of its kind in the U.S., gives undergraduates significant opportunities to practice leadership, service, and philanthropy in support of their fellow students and encourages them to remain involved in leadership roles after graduation. IUSF alumni are more likely to become donors and volunteers than non-IUSF alumni; more than half of IUF's Board of Directors were involved with the program as undergraduates.

Each year, IUSF has nearly 500 undergraduate members on the IU Bloomington campus and involves more than 2,000 undergraduate student participants in its various activities, including its premier event, the Little 500 bike race. The "Little 5" was the subject of the 1979 Academy Award-winning film, Breaking Away, and won the Seal of Excellence in 2001 for "Outstanding Alumni Relations Programming" from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

IUSF awards more than $100,000 annually in scholarships and grants. Since its founding in 1950, it has awarded more than $1.4 million in scholarship funds. The organization has more than 21,000 living alumni who are well represented among IU's leadership volunteers and major donors.

Mr. Purvis was active with IUSF as an undergraduate, riding on the winning Dodds House team in the Little 500. He holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, where he teaches an applied leadership course focused on participant and organizational leadership.

Awards and honors

  • Little 500 All-Star Rider Award
  • Little 500 Riders Council President

Education

  • BA, Indiana University
  • MPA, Indiana University