New fellowship named after former IU president

A new public affairs fellowship program named in honor of IU President Emeritus John W. Ryan aims to attract the most gifted graduate students from across the globe to IU's School of Public and Environmental Affairs. \nThe John W. Ryan Fellowships will provide four annual fellowship awards to graduate students working on a SPEA degree. As part of the program, each award recipient will get the chance to work with state or local government agencies in Indiana or with a nonprofit organization to examine key issues and recommend solutions for the surrounding community, according to an IU press release. \nThe idea for a fellowship program came about when SPEA approached the IU Foundation about creating a program in honor of Ryan. Ryan was the president of IU when SPEA was founded. At the time, it was the first new school on campus in more than 30 years, said Curt Simic, president of the IU Foundation. The school would not have been established if it weren't for Ryan's influential work with the board of trustees and state legislature, he said. \nThere has yet to be a final decision on how the fellowships will be awarded to students, but the first awards are expected to be given out next school year, said Jennifer Cohen, manager of media relations for SPEA. \n"At this point, we're still in the fund-raising stages for the fellowship and haven't awarded any of the money to students yet," Cohen said in an e-mail. \nThe fellowship program is being funded strictly through private gifts donated by alumni and close friends of Ryan, Simic said. The original fund-raising goal, set at $1 million, has already been surpassed, but the fund is still open, and additional gifts are welcome, he said. \nSimic said the generous amount of donations shows how much people care about Ryan and what he has done for IU. \n"There is a lot of admiration for him and his leadership over the 16 years he was IU's president," he said.\nAstrid Merget, dean of SPEA, said the fellowship program is a way to honor Ryan's contributions to IU. \n"John (Ryan) believed that it was the responsibility of Indiana University to serve the state, the nation and the world," Merget said. "This is a tribute and a thank you to a great man for his vision and leadership"