Programs in student mental health, the arts, substance abuse awareness benefit from Women's Philanthropy Leadership Council grants

Increasing Diversity Among Women in STEM Residential Community: This project seeks to increase diversity among the Women in STEM Living Learning Community (WSTEM LLC) residents by funding scholarships for students with high financial need to offset the higher costs associated with living in the WSTEM LLC. The WSTEM LLC was relocated to the Agnes E. Wells Quad in 2017 and, for the first two years in this location, scholarships were made available by the Office of the Provost and Residential Programs and Services to offset the higher cost to live in the now enhanced residence hall. A noticeable decrease in diversity among WSTEM LLC residents occurred once funds were exhausted, signifying fewer students from underrepresented groups have access to the community of support provided by the WSTEM LLC.

Engaged Artist-in-Residence Program: The Engaged Artist-in-Residence Program will host two artists annually, one regional artist in the fall semester and one international artist in the spring semester at the newly opened Gayle Karch Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities. Each three-month residency supports the work of a traditionally underrepresented artist and models contemporary artistic engagement by 1) activating supportive interdisciplinary networks across campus schools and programs, 2) hosting mentoring/professional training opportunities for aspiring artists and arts programmers, and 3) advancing a diverse local art community through public programs and exhibitions.

Expanding the Reach of Quality Undergraduate Research Programs through Research Pods: This project will allow more underserved students, such as first-generation, underrepresented minority, and low-income students, as well as women to participate in STEM research through utilization of Research Pods. Data shows that, while high-impact practices such as undergraduate research benefit all students who participate, a larger benefit is seen among students in traditionally underserved populations. However, these populations also face barriers to participating in research such as a lack of paid opportunities and a lack of confidence in approaching prospective faculty mentors. Research pods address these barriers by offering paid opportunities for students to participate in research over the summer as well as alleviating the burden of finding a mentor.

WellTrack: Supporting Student Mental Health: Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is continuing to expand the integration of WellTrack as an equitable resource for all students’ (both on- and off-campus) mental health. WellTrack's suite of online tools and courses uses aspects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help students identify, understand, and address issues such as stress, resiliency, anxiety, and/or depression.

Increased Access to Naloxone: a partnership between ShipHappens and the IU Center for Rural Engagement IU: By striving to get as much naloxone into the hands of as many as possible, ShipHappens and the IU Center for Rural Engagement (CRE) seek to reduce drug-related health and social harms for all Indiana residents. With a history of success in reducing barriers to overdose reversal medication, ShipHappens has created equal access to overdose and disease prevention resources for people who use drugs (PWUD), their families and their communities. Additionally, ShipHappens collaborates with PWUD to create and deliver stigma and harm reduction education within communities, increasing empathy and inclusion. ShipHappens and CRE collaborate to provide free online naloxone training, free naloxone, and free shipping to any Indiana resident in need with a focus on rural residents. ShipHappens provides free safe use supplies, including resources to Hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS testing and treatment options and resources to free crisis text-line for post overdose trauma.

Student Outreach Eye Clinic: In partnership with the Indiana University Student Outreach Clinic (IUSOC), the Ophthalmology Student Interest Group at Indiana University School of Medicine operates a free monthly medical student-run eye clinic in Indianapolis, Indiana that provides assessments of visual acuity, intraocular pressure (IOP), peripheral visual fields, MD-provided refraction, and fundus examination via a non-mydriatic fundus camera. The free eye clinic serves to bridge the health care gap in the community by providing basic eye care services to the underserved population, while at the same time providing students an opportunity to gain invaluable service experience.

Virtual Care and Support of Student Mental Well-Being (VCS): VCS’s mission is to increase access to mental health resources and decrease barriers to access of support for the IUPUI community. The goal of this project is to develop an easily accessible on-line platform of mental health and wellness resources. This will include videos, worksheets, and informational items on a wide range of mental health topics. Resources will be customized to the IUPUI campus environment to enhance student engagement and sense of belonging.

Stop Harassment! Fighting Power with Empathy and Accountability: This project aims to develop and evaluate a novel approach to sexual harassment training building on scientific evidence of the role of power and moral licensing on motivating harassing proclivities. Training will be tested on a sample of IUPUI faculty, staff, and students; and if effective, may be incorporated University-wide. This project proposes to develop and evaluate a novel training program, called Stop Harassment!, to curtail incidents of sexual harassment and increase bystander intervention to stop sexual harassment from occurring. The training program targets the effects of power and moral licensing (the tendency to rationalize bad deeds based on a moral self-view) on motivation to engage in sexual harassment. A training program will be developed and evaluated on a sample of faculty, staff, and graduate students on the IUPUI campus, with the aim to be incorporated into campus-wide sexual harassment training and exported to other institutional contexts.

Past, Present, and Future Stewardship of Native Village Space: Integrating Indigenous Voices to Preserve our Cultural Landscapes: A multivocal sustainable land management program is critical for the preservation of archaeological sites. Dangers including erosion, invasive species, vandalism, and looting can be mitigated through a strategy focused on preservation and increased native biodiversity. Students from IU East will be key members of a project combining scientific research and the inclusion of historically unrepresented people. By building bridges between the multiple stakeholders of local communities, tribal partners, and archaeologists, we can responsibly steward these spaces for future generations. The project establishes a program for preserving archaeological sites by restoring native plant life and improving biodiversity by planting native pollinators. A primary element of this work involves a collaborative partnership with the descendant community (the Miami Tribe) to commemorate and protect sacred spaces with appropriate ground cover, and to develop a persistent landscape informed by traditional plant use.

Social Justice Speaker Series & Equity Ambassador Program: IU Kokomo’s Social Justice Speaker Series & Equity Ambassador Program has two aims. First, to prepare a select group of students to engage the campus and broader communities by serving as leaders in ongoing equity activities and designing future campus diversity, equity, and inclusion programming. Second, to motivate the campus and larger Kokomo communities to explore, understand, and act on critical DEI issues that impact our society.

Drugs and the Brain: Fostering Learning and Increasing Awareness for Substance Use Issues through Student-Community Partnerships: The project’s mission is to engage Indiana University Northwest (IUN) students in real-world service-learning experiences with partnering organizations in Northwest Indiana to foster learning, increase awareness of substance use issues, and improve public health through greater knowledge of community resources. Students in undergraduate and graduate-level neuropsychopharmacology courses will partner with local organizations in Northwest Indiana to address drug-related issues facing the patrons each organization serves. With organization input and oversight, students will create artifacts (e.g., pamphlets, infographics, signs, etc.) for participating organizations to educate patrons on important drug-related issues. Students will learn more about how drug use impacts regional communities. The participating organizations will benefit from student knowledge and service resulting in tangible artifacts to educate patrons.

IU Northwest Environmental Resilience Project: This project proposes to connect the IU Northwest campus and local community by engaging, educating, and conversing around critical topics in sustainability and climate change resiliency. Recent work identifies key differences in the resilience of the campus and local communities to the impacts of climate change (e.g., flooding, air quality, land use) highlighting inequalities that exist due in part to socioeconomic status and race. Through this project, STEM students will engage in a service-learning opportunity with campus and community partners to 1) collect data and perspectives on campus/ community vulnerabilities and actions to climate change, 2) create learning modules for the campus/community on topics related to sustainability and climate change resilience and 3) develop paired literacy survey tools to collect data on participant knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs.

Composed by Women: The mission of Composed by Women is to provide opportunities for students and the local public to experience music by female composers, performed by a diverse collection of performers. By bringing influential female composers to campus for masterclasses and concerts featuring only works composed by women, this project will expand cultural awareness in music and provide learning opportunities for both theatre and music students at IUSB. IUSB will host public performances by a diverse roster of guest and local artists, as well as hosting notable female composers in both music and musical theatre. Guest artists and composers will also provide free public masterclasses, offering performance critiques and commentary for the benefit of IUSB music and theatre students.

Science is for Everyone: Broadening Access to Undergraduate Research: Introductory biology undergraduates will participate in a year-long in-class authentic research project to identify and characterize novel bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria). All students in the class will actively participate in the excitement of discovering a brand new virus! This effort is part of the broader Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) program that has brought similar phage-hunting experiences to over 100 colleges and universities.

Empowering Young Mothers to Foster Language Development at Home: The mission of this project is for graduate student clinicians to learn the value of preventative services by empowering school-age mothers to communicate and play with their children in a way that fosters optimal speech and language development. In partnering with the Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties Head Start Consortium, the services will be provided to young, socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers who are in middle or high school. The partnership will help mothers understand the role they play in a child's language development, teach concrete ways to interact with their child which will promote strong communication skills, and provide language-rich books and toys at the conclusion of each session to provide the tools needed at home to carryover what is taught in group sessions.  Through this project, the program hopes that intentional engagement will be preventative regarding the need for future language services.

Design of a video-based online workshop to promote prospective teachers learning to teach STEM in a practice-based program: The mission of this project is to support prospective teachers learning to teach STEM by providing a video-based online workshop covering topics including equitable curriculum and culturally responsive pedagogies. Beneficiaries will work in high-need schools, which will indirectly support students from low-income families to gain STEM exposure.

Experiential Philanthropy Course: Giving in Action: This project seeks to educate undergraduate students on the history, theories, and concepts of philanthropic action to encourage students to participate in responsible citizenship and lifelong philanthropy. This project aims to expand students’ understanding of the role philanthropy plays in addressing societal problems while also encouraging democratic and civic engagement, empowering students to create a more equitable world.

IU Auditorium Kids on Campus 2022: Auditorium Kids on Campus brings engaging performing arts experiences to K-12 students in South-Central Indiana through live performances and artist interactions on the IU Bloomington Campus in addition to specially curated virtual events.

WiL (Women in Leadership): Inclusive Strategies to Strengthen and Diversify IU’s Leadership Pipeline: The Women in Leadership (WiL) program directly responds to a recommendation by the Campus Assessment Committee on Gender and Faculty Satisfaction to develop interventions to strengthen and diversify IU’s leadership pipeline leading to greater levels of inclusion in the higher-level administrative team over time. The WiL program uses a multi-tiered approach to create community, build networks, increase access to the processes that inform decision-making on campus, and provide formal training in leadership and management to future IU leaders.