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The Indiana Daily Student

academics & research

Foundation grants will support Kelley diversity efforts, Jacobs performances

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The Kelley School of Business and the Jacobs School of Music are receiving a total of $1.7 million in grants from the Conrad Prebys Foundation, according to an IU news release.

This money will be used to increase diversity efforts at Kelley through the Prebys Scholars Program, according to the release. The Prebys Scholars Program usually chooses high-achieving students from underrepresented communities in the business field and those who have faced financial hardship.

Idalene Kesner, dean of the Kelley School of Business, said in the release that the school will receive $1 million, which will be going to these incoming students. She said the grant was written to also help support these communities since they have typically faced more economic hardships from the pandemic.

Related: [Black Voices: How to make the most out of federal and IU scholarships as a Black student]

“COVID has really brought hardships to many families, economic hardships, and certainly more diverse communities have oftentimes been even more greatly affected in terms of what’s happened during this period of COVID and the economic impact of it,” Kesner said.

The Conrad Prebys Foundation is a philanthropic foundation created by late IU alumnus Conrad Prebys to extend his mission beyond his own life, according to the foundation’s website.

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Students sit outside of the Jacobs East Studio Building on Tuesday. The Kelley School of Business and the Jacobs School of Music will receive a total of $1.7 million in grants from the Conrad Prebys Foundation to be given to students from underrepresented communities. Katie Brenneke

Kesner said Prebys was an undergraduate at the business school, graduating in 1955, and he gave the school and IU $20 million in 2016. Most of that money dedicated to the business school went into building the Conrad Prebys Career Services Center, she said.

The other $700,000 of this grant will be used for funding performances at the music school during the 2021-2022 academic year, according to the IU news release.

“The season will be known as the Conrad T. Prebys Centennial Performance Season and will include festivities celebrating the countless artists who have touched the internationally renowned school over the past 100 years,” the release said.

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