IU Foundation honors volunteer leaders, IU donors

IU and the IU Foundation honored five volunteer leaders and IU donors at this year’s Partners in Philanthropy event early this month.

IU President Michael McRobbie and IU Foundation President and CEO Daniel Smith presented the Keystone Award, the Cornerstone Award and the Herman B Wells Visionary Award to five people.

The IU Foundation supports IU’s fundraising activities and looks after the investment of the University’s endowment, Smith said..

Keystone awards
The Keystone award recognizes individuals who have shown exemplary volunteer leadership through multiple IU fundraising campaigns.

Mary Jamia Jasper Case Jacobsen
Jacobsen received the Keystone Award for her active role on the School of Education’s Alumni Association Board of Directors and her work with the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

She founded the Indiana Family Support Center and served as director before being appointed by then-president Ronald Reagan to serve on the United States Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1986.

She established the School of Education’s 50-year class anniversary scholarship committee, which raises funds to support high-ability students pursing teaching as a profession.

Adam Arceneaux
Arceneaux received the Keystone Award for his participation in campaigns within the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law, including his support for the construction of the McKinney Law’s Lawrence W. Inlow Hall.

He serves as president of the Law Alumni Association Board of Directors and has recently worked toward raising money for the Gerald L. Bepko Endowed Chair.

Cornerstone awards
The Cornerstone Award is given to individuals whose partnership and volunteer involvement have been instrumental in the success of a single IU philanthropic initiative, according to an IU news release.

James Hodge
Hodge received the Cornerstone Award for his volunteer work with IU and the Kelley School of Business. Hodge has been part of the Kelley Dean’s Council and the IU Foundation Board of Directors.

Hodge has achieved the reputation of a creative, driven individual who wants nothing more than to make his University “better for generations to come,” IU Foundation representatives said .

Rafat Abonour
Abonour received the Cornerstone Award for his dedication to medical research and first-rate patient care demonstrated during his time as director of the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center Adult Clinical Research Office and as associate professor of medicine, pathology and laboratory medicine at the IU School of Medicine.

Since joining the faculty in 1995, he has developed the first clinic dedicated to multiple myeloma patients in Indiana.

Frustrated by the lack of funding available to conduct medical research, Abonour focused on myeloma, a type of cancer,  and created the Miles for Myeloma fundraising event.

During the event, Abonour personally runs or rides a bicycle to various Indiana cities.

“Since all of you travel so many miles to come to me all the time, why don’t I try coming to you?” Abonour told his patients, according to a press release.

Abonour has covered almost 2,000 miles on Indiana roadways and has raised more than $2 million for myeloma research at the IU Simon Cancer Center.

Herman B Wells Visionary Award
The Visionary Award recognizes people who have shown a “lifetime volunteer commitment to IU,” according to an IU news release.

Ernestine Morris Raclin
Raclin, or “Ernie” as Smith called her, was awarded the Herman B Wells Visionary Award for her work with the IU South Bend campus and the surrounding community.

Forty years ago, she and her husband, O.C. Carmichael, became forceful negotiators for the IU South Bend campus.

Together, Raclin and Carmichael helped to develop the IUSB campus, which now educates more than 8,000 students annually.

To honor Raclin’s contributions, the University named the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, focusing on training musical and visual artists, after her.