Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology will share in $8 million Lilly Endowment Inc. grants that will fund collaboration with nearby DePauw University and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College to expand mental health resources for students.
Rose-Hulman is one of 16 institutions being supported by Lilly Endowment funding in the final phase of Charting the Future for Indiana's Colleges and Universities – an initiative designed to help colleges and universities assess and prioritize the most significant challenges and opportunities they face as higher education institutions, and develop strategies to address them.
Rose-Hulman, DePauw and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods will each receive a grant of $2,695,912 to support the collaboration.
The MINDful College Connections not-for-profit consortium, starting this fall, will enable Rose-Hulman, DePauw and SMWC to more efficiently and effectively focus on preventive care strategies and increase student access to mental health services.
The institutions will be able to share knowledge, experiences, and resources – like psychiatrists, counselors, and telehealth services – while retaining the ability to customize resources to the needs of their individual campus’ student populations.
Rose-Hulman President Robert A. Coons says that over the course of the next five years, the consortium, covering about 5,000 students, will develop and implement effective mental health awareness, education, training, resources, and services targeted at increasing wellbeing and academic success of college students at each institution.
“We are so appreciative of the fact that Lilly Endowment has recognized the need to address our students’ current and future mental health service needs,” Coons said. “High anxiety, stress and depression have been growing issues in U.S. higher education for the past decade. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided additional student mental health challenges that need to be addressed. This grant enhances our efforts.”
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