From IDS reports
The Jacobs School of Music announced Monday it has received a $6.5 million planned gift that will fund piano scholarships and the directorship in the William and Gayle Cook Music Library.
The gift comes from former music school faculty member Mary H. Wennerstrom and her late husband, Leonard M. Phillips.
Wennerstrom was a faculty member for more than 51 years, including 23 years as chair of the music theory department, and retired in December 2015 after 13 years as associate dean of instruction.
Phillips was a faculty member and retired in 1997. He also served a term as president of Friends of the Lilly Library.
Both Wennerstrom and Phillips studied in the music school and earned doctorates in music theory and musicology, respectively.
Wennerstrom and Phillips have donated to the Jacobs school in the past, including a previous endowment for general support of the Cook Music Library.
The continued support of the music library stems in part from their time spent there as students, Wennerstrom said in the release.
“We thought giving to the library would have the most wide-ranging effect on the school since it touches all of the students and underlies the school’s entire foundation, in both performance and academia,” she said. “Hopefully, the endowment will help ensure that this critical component of Jacobs will thrive well into the future.”
The gift contributes to For All: The Indiana University Bicentennial Campaign. IU will match the donation.
The Bicentennial Campaign seeks to raise $2.5 billion across IU’s eight campuses by its 2020 bicentennial and has raised more than half that goal so far, according to the IU Foundation’s website.
The gift from Wennerstrom and Phillips is one of several recent Bicentennial Campaign donations, including a $20 million donation from alumnus David H. Jacobs to the music school.
“The music school has really been my whole life,” Wennerstrom said in the release. “We always hoped the things about which we cared most deeply — good students and good resources — would get perpetuated. We see it as an important investment in the future and hope to inspire others to do what they can also. Even a modest pledge can make a difference.”
Jack Evans
