INDIANAPOLIS – The Informatics Diversity-Enhanced Workforce Program administered by the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI has received a grant totaling $120,000 from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. This is the second grant from the trust to the program, known as iDEW, for a total of $240,000.
“We have grown the iDEW program in size and scope over the last three years,” said Mathew J. Palakal, senior executive associate dean of the School of Informatics and Computing and iDEW program director. “This grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust will give us additional resources to fund faculty salaries, IT certification training and dual-credit tuition for students.”
“Programs like iDEW reveal a path to career and college for underserved high school youth who might not otherwise imagine that a well-paying job or higher education is attainable for them,” said Kent E. Agness, trustee of the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. “We are proud to support the School of Informatics and Computing as it continues to raise the bar in every endeavor it undertakes.”
iDEW is a workforce-development initiative launched by the school in collaboration with the Indiana community, business partners and high schools to address the diversity gap in next-generation tech talent. The program provides transformative learning through year-round daily group and project-based courses in which underserved students use information technology to solve real-world problems. These hands-on experiences help prepare them for college and lucrative, in-demand careers.
The grant to iDEW represents one of 20 awarded to organizations in Indiana by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust during the first of two grant cycles this year. Since the trust began its grant-making in 1998, it has awarded more than $297 million to 975 organizations in its home states of Indiana and Arizona.
