The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University will create the second endowed academic chair in its history because of the generosity of Constance M. Baker, R.N., Ed.D., M.A. Baker has made a $1 million planned gift to establish the Constance M. Baker and Robert S. Ort Chair in International Healthcare Philanthropy at the Center.
It is the second $1 million gift of an endowed chair the Center has received in less than one year. The two chairs are believed to be among only a handful of endowed chairs in philanthropy in the country.
Baker is a professor of Nursing Administration in the Indiana University School of Nursing and a professor of Philanthropic Studies with the Center. She also is a 2000 graduate of the Executive Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies degree program offered by the Center and the School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), where the Center on Philanthropy is headquartered.
"Dr. Baker's very generous gift is especially meaningful because it is given by a faculty member who also is an alumna," said Eugene R. Tempel, executive director of the Center. "The chair will add a new dimension to our work, creating research and learning opportunities for faculty and students in both philanthropy and the health sciences."
"This is our first formal connection to the health sciences, in which IUPUI excels. We are excited about exploring aspects of philanthropic healthcare with our colleagues in nursing, medicine, dentistry and public health," Tempel said. "Dr. Baker has creatively joined her twin passions for healthcare and philanthropy in a gift that will advance both for generations to come."
By endowing the chair, Baker hopes to provide new resources for research related to healthcare philanthropy locally, nationally, and globally. She believes that "healthy people can learn to create civil societies," and sees access to organized healthcare as an important first step toward universal peace and human rights.
Baker and her late former husband, Ort, both have extensive backgrounds in this area. She made it a subject of her research, teaching, and practice, while Ort cared for under-served patients throughout his career in psychology and psychiatry.
"I named the chair in both of our names to honor Dr. Ort's work and his profound influence on my life," explained Dr. Baker. "We shared a commitment to the universal right to healthcare and to expanding the scientific research base to aid professional practice in this field."
Baker's gift will enable the Center to retain a senior scholar whose work will help strengthen healthcare philanthropy throughout the world. She would like to see the chair holder conduct research on public and private healthcare delivery systems. She also hopes the chair will attract more U.S. and foreign students to study and consider careers in healthcare philanthropy.
Baker said she established the chair at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University because of the breadth and depth of its mission, the scope of the faculty's research and service programs, and the quality of the Center's outcomes. The interdisciplinary nature of the Center's programs and its location on the IUPUI campus, where many of the Indiana University health disciplines and other professional schools offering health-related programs are located, also were factors.
"My experiences at the Center have been extremely positive," Baker said. "The Center's faculty and staff practice the stewardship they teach."
In 2000, the Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, endowed the Efroymson Chair in Philanthropy to honor three generations of civic and philanthropic leadership by the Efroymson family in Indianapolis. Both gifts are part of the Center's participation in the IUPUI comprehensive campaign.
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