Thomasson Scholars with Shawna Meyer-Niederman, associate director of the Kelley Institute for Social Impact. Left to right, Meyer-Niederman, Janani Eswaran, Logan Brooks, Diane Kosior, Anushka Patil and Emily Sun.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Five students at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business are the inaugural recipients of the Thomasson Scholars, which recognizes socially conscious undergraduate students working to make a difference in their communities.
All the students are from the state of Indiana and are freshmen direct admit students to the Kelley School’s Undergraduate Program. Each of them was chosen based on their commitment to community service and social impact and will continue to pursue those interests through the Kelley Institute for Social Impact.
The inaugural Thomasson Scholars are Logan Brooks, a graduate of Freemont High School; Janani Eswaran, a graduate of Carmel High School; Diane Kosior, Crown Point High School; Emily Sun, Munster High School; and Anushka Patil, Columbus North High School.
Each of them will receive an annual scholarship during their four years at the Kelley School in recognition of their work with the Kelley Institute for Social Impact.
The Kelley Institute for Social Impact serves as the hub of social impact for business-minded students, empowering socially conscious undergraduate students to make a difference in local and global communities through education, service, career development and leadership opportunities.
The Thomasson Scholars attended a full-day workshop and orientation to KISI before the start of their first semester at IU, to learn more about getting involved. Since then, each was actively involved in the Whirlpool-Kelley Habitat for Humanity Build and the Kelley Social Impact Fair.
The scholarships were established by the Thomasson Foundation, created in Indianapolis by Jeffrey and Benita Thomasson in 1992.
“We are grateful to the Thomassons for establishing this special scholarship,” said Ash Soni, interim dean of the Kelley School and The Sungkyunkwan Professor. “It demonstrates the importance of societal impact and creates positive momentum, not only for our students, but also for the communities and organizations the students work with during their time at Kelley. In that way, it has a great ripple effect.”
Jeffrey Thomasson earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kelley School in 1981 and is the chief executive officer and managing director of Oxford Financial Group, Ltd., which he founded in 1981. He received the Kelley School’s Distinguished Entrepreneur Award in 2000.
Benita Thomasson earned a Master of Science degree in elementary education from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis in 1984 and a Master of Arts degree in philanthropic studies from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy in 2010.
“We are pleased to welcome the inaugural class of the Thomasson Scholars at the Kelley School of Business. Supporting higher education is a passion for us, and we are excited to be able to provide support for these outstanding students,” Benita and Jeffrey Thomasson said in a statement.
Through the Thomasson Foundation, the couple has awarded hundreds of scholarships to deserving college students over many years, including for children of full-time missionaries around the world. They are dedicated to philanthropy and the development of the study of philanthropy, as well as committed to the development of building new leaders for the field of philanthropy.