For three generations the Quigg Family Foundation has centered its mission on giving back to the community in order to see the region succeed, “to encourage, preserve and promote the education, welfare and enlightenment of our fellow citizens.”

This mission goes hand-in-hand with the partnership that has developed between the Quiggs and Indiana University East over the past 11 years.

Rob Quigg

The partnership first began when Rob Quigg joined IU East’s Campaign for Community as the chairman in 2005-06. Quigg, the executive director of the Quigg Family Foundation, said IU East is an important asset to the community, providing excellent education options for citizens.

“Our partnership goes back to the Campaign for Community when the Quigg Family Foundation helped to sponsor the nursing laboratory. When we realized training nurses was an important need for the community, we wanted to do everything we could to support that,” Quigg said.

Today, the partnership continues with the Quigg Family Foundation’s recent support of IU East’s Student Events and Activities Center.

“We believe that IU East is so important for the community and we want to help IU East thrive,” said Quigg who is an Indiana University alumnus and a member of the IU Foundation board of directors.

The Quigg Family Foundation provided a gift toward the Student Events and Activities Center in recognition of former chancellor Nasser H. Paydar, who initiated the start of the public fundraising effort for the center by kicking off the capital campaign, Bold Aspirations: The Campaign for the Student Events Center. Paydar is now chancellor of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

In Paydar’s honor, the Quiggs’ gift has provided the “Nasser Paydar Classroom,” a space for health education, fitness and activities to be held in the center.

“We wanted to recognize Nasser’s role to help IU East achieve phenomenal growth,” Quigg said.

The center is the campus’ fifth building. A dedication ceremony will be held August 19 before the center opens this fall semester to host athletic and campus events.

Paydar said, “I was honored and grateful to learn that the Quigg family chose to name a classroom in the new Student Activities and Events Center in recognition of the role I played as IU East chancellor. The many improvements that took place at IU East during my tenure reflect the support of the entire Richmond community, and the Quigg family represents the remarkable generosity, leadership, and service for which that community is known.”

Left to right: Bill Quigg, Felicia Quigg and Angie Dickman at the Groundbreaking Ceremony for IU East’s Student Events and Activities Center held in November 2014.

In addition to the gift for the classroom, members of the Quigg family volunteered to raise funds for the center. Bill and Felicia Quigg served as campaign co-chairs with Dan and Angie Dickman on the “Bold Aspirations” campaign. Bill and Rob are brothers. Bill is president of Richmond Baking and his wife, Felicia, is vice president of Family Pride at Richmond Baking. Felicia is also a member of the IU East Board of Advisors and a 2005 IU East alumna.

“It is our desire to support financially those organizations that are making a real difference in our community and our region; IU East continues to do just that,” Felicia Quigg said. “This project is a much needed addition to the campus, as it expands capabilities across the board -academically, and socially affording the campus the resource of space. This venue brings student events to the campus that have been traditionally outsourced and somewhat scattered. The impact it will naturally have on student life and their perception of the ‘community’ that is the Red Wolves is most certainly unprecedented. Then again, IU East has forever been, at its core – Pioneers.”

Rob Quigg said the family’s involvement with the campaign for the center is a reflection in how they feel the campus is enhancing the region.

Since 2007, IU East has doubled its student enrollment to over 4,700 and offers over 60 bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. The facility will promote student success through a comprehensive offering of programming in health and wellness, physical education, athletics, student activities and special events.

“We thought the Student Events and Activities Center would be a great continuant on the growth and development of the IU East campus and the Student Activities and Events Center helps to strengthen the college campus feel that IU East has achieved,” Rob Quigg said.

The Quigg family inherited the value of giving back from their dad, Jim Quigg, who passed away earlier this summer. Jim Quigg also played a role in establishing the gift for the classroom and other partnerships between the Quigg Family Foundation and IU East.

Within the past decade, the Quigg Family Foundation has been involved in supporting the campus through various ways that meets its mission. The Quigg Family Foundation is also a sponsor of many public events, including “Run with the Wolves” held each July on campus.

In its support of the IU East School of Nursing and Health Sciences through the Campaign for Community, the Quigg Family Foundation donated funds for the nursing learning laboratory and assisted in purchasing equipment and patient simulators. The nursing lab provides students with the opportunity to use critical thinking and decision-making skills while practicing in a real world environment.

The Quigg Family Foundation also supports the collaboration between IU East, Indiana University School of Medicine and Reid Health to bring medical students to Richmond to complete their third- and fourth-year clinical clerkships here. The IU School of Medicine students work with highly-respected health professionals through Reid Health and obtain the necessary clinical experiences in locations where they might practice in the future.

“We supported that program as well because we felt it was a great opportunity for medical students to learn about our community and to then practice at Reid Health in the future,” Rob Quigg said.

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.