Paul and Pat Lingle have a strong connection to the history and development of Indiana University East.

Paul and Pat Lingle

Since IU East was established in 1971, the Lingles have supported the campus. Today, they continue to be a part of IU East by providing a $700,000 gift to the new Student Events and Activities Center.

IU East will dedicate the Student Events and Activities Center on August 19. It is the fifth building for the campus.

The Lingle name will be permanently etched on a plaque in the building and appear on the court where the Red Wolves basketball and volleyball teams will play future home games.

Lingle Court will also be home to student activities such as concerts and pep rallies as well as a variety of community events.

The Student Events and Activities Center will help stimulate even more growth, Paul Lingle believes.

“I see this as another building block, another way to complete the mission,” Lingle said.

Lingle and his wife, Pat, are instrumental parts of the IU East mission. Their gifts help provide scholarships to students each school year through Lingle Scholars. The four-year scholarship is given to two incoming freshman students who have been accepted to the IU East Honors Program, an academic program that provides an intellectually enriching curriculum for highly motivated students.

IU East’s Chancellor Kathy Cruz-Uribe said Paul and Pat Lingle do many things to show their support for IU East.

“They believe in the importance of providing higher education to those working and living in Wayne County and the region and we applaud the many ways they support IU East and the students we serve,” Cruz-Uribe said. “The Lingles’ legacy will continue to be felt on the IU East campus for years to come.”

Their gifts also help the community in other cultural ways. One reason for the gifts is that the Lingles truly believe that they live in a special place.

“There’s no other community our size that has what we have,” he said, noting the new Reid Health facilities next door to IU East and an arts scene that includes renowned museums, nature centers, a symphony and thriving theater program. “I think it’s only natural that it’s here, thriving, too,” he said about IU East.

Lingle Court

The IU East and Paul Lingle success stories are parallels in regional history.

Lingle returned to Richmond in 1969 after a decade away to start a highly successful career with Lingle Real Estate.

“That was about the same time as the beginning of IU East,” notes Lingle.

He was thrilled when the university welcomed its first 633 students in the fall of 1972 with classes held at Earlham College. Whitewater Hall opened in 1975, bringing students to IU East’s permanent campus in north Richmond. The next year, Lingle started serving on the university’s board of advisors.

Both Lingle Real Estate and IU East have been growing ever since.

Lingle had three sales people when he joined the company in 1969. Now, there are 35 and several other employees involved in the operation. It is the undisputed leader in property sales for Wayne County. He’s been thrilled to watch buildings and students increase on campus. “I am thankful I have been able to be a part of this, and to watch these building blocks be put in place,” Lingle said.

Hayes Hall opened in 1992, followed by Middlefork Hall in 1996 (now Tom Raper Hall) and then Springwood Hall in 1999.

The Lingles are known as stalwarts in community giving, which has its roots at the same time that Paul Lingle returned to Richmond and joined Lingle Real Estate with his father, Bill.

“Somebody gave me a book called Giving is Living. I took it home that weekend and read the whole thing,” Paul Lingle said. “It talks about the whole process of giving. The giver gets so much more out of it than the recipients.”

He remembers thinking, “If I was fortunate enough to accumulate assets, the best use was to give them away. I started that early.”

By being involved in the early stages of the campus and continuing through the decades with IU East, Lingle saw the vision for quality and growth that has been maintained at the top.

“It’s been fun to watch the institution grow and have the opportunity to know the six chancellors,” Lingle said.

Those six are Alexander Schilt (1978), Glenn Goerke (1981), Charlie Nelms (1987), David Fulton (1995), Nasser Paydar (2005) and Kathryn Cruz-Uribe (2013). Lingle also worked with Larry Richards who served as interim chancellor from 2012-2013.

“I think IU East has been blessed to have the right leadership at the right time,” Lingle said.

It’s also blessed, he said, to have a strong, caring faculty, quality students, and a burgeoning array of degree possibilities, including master’s degrees.

IU East already has seen record growth in the last decade, but also has put itself in a position to keep growing, Lingle believes: “If somebody would have told me there would be 4,000 students taking classes when it began, I would have said that’s impossible,” he said. “Now, I think it’s possible to double that.”

One reason for Lingle’s optimism is the new the Student Events and Activities Center, which will draw more community visitors and more opportunities to see what’s happening on campus.

“Now, IU East is a place to have the total experience. It’s more of a destination for learning and growing, not just a place to take a class,” Lingle said. “I think this is one more attraction to make people permanently want to come here. There’s no limit to the educational opportunities that can be provided.”

This gift counts toward the $2.5 billion campaign, For All: The Indiana University Bicentennial Campaign. IU East’s campaign goal is $7 million, which will help fund a variety of campus initiatives, student scholarships and strategic projects. Find out more about IU East and ways to assist the campus at iue.edu/development.

For All: The Indiana University Bicentennial Campaign is taking place on all IU-administered campuses including IU Bloomington, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, IU East, IU Kokomo, IU Northwest, IU South Bend, and IU Southeast. The campaign will conclude in December 2019 to coincide with IU’s bicentennial year celebration in 2020. To learn more about the campaign, its impact, and how to participate, please visit forall.iu.edu.

Founded in 1936, the Indiana University Foundation maximizes private support for Indiana University by fostering lifelong relationships with key stakeholders and providing advancement leadership and fundraising services for campuses and units across the university. Today, the IU Foundation oversees one of the largest public university endowments in the country, with a market value of approximately $1.9 billion. In fiscal year 2015, IU received $359.3 million in support from the private sector. IU is consistently ranked among the top four of Big Ten universities in annual voluntary support.