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White emphasizes mutual growth during State of the University breakfast
Saying she had no desire to be accused of burying the lede, DePauw University President Lori White addressed the $32 million question during her State of the University address Tuesday morning.
Less than two weeks removed from the announcement of a $32 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, White made the university-community partnership it represents central to her message as she addressed a crowd of university and community leaders during a breakfast gathering at Hoover Dining Hall.
“We’re celebrating what is a continued strong partnership with Greencastle and Putnam County,” White said.
While White’s comments did not go into further detail than the earlier university announcement, she did address one elephant in the room — the proposed demise of Ashley Square Cinema in favor of the proposed Seminary Square mixed-use development.
“Yes, for those of you worried about the movie theater, we will find a place for the cinema,” White said with a laugh. “My husband, as well as all the kids in town, would have my head if we got rid of the theater.”
One of four parts of the Growing Green and Gold initiative that is expected to represent $109 million of investment in the Greencastle community, Seminary Square will turn two city blocks into a mixed-use development with new residential units, commercial space and parking.
Two other portions of the plan will look toward downtown, the first being public space enhancement featuring new streetscapes, public spaces and a parking garage to support activities and businesses.
“There’s going to be even more people who want to go downtown,” White said.
White noted she is most excited about the downtown small business incubator portion of the plan, with its aim of fostering local entrepreneurship through a partnership with Main Street Greencastle, the Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center and the DePauw School of Business and Leadership. Through School of Business involvement, the program should develop local businesses while it develops students’ skills.
Of course, the final piece of the puzzle is in funding the aquatic center addition to the not-yet-finished Putnam County YMCA, which came as welcome news in the community.
“Our YMCA is going to be an exciting addition to the community and particularly the natatorium,” White said.
Discussion of the grant, however, was only a microcosm of White’s overall address, as she emphasized various ways the university is attempting to be forward-looking.
She spoke of the recent announcement of DePauw being among the Colleges that Change Lives as “an opportunity to connect with even more young people as well as school counselors to let them know about DePauw.”
This is an ongoing effort that also includes the recent transformation to a three-school model (liberal arts, business and leadership, creative) that White and other university leaders believe “will give DePauw a competitive advantage as we recruit students.”
It also includes focusing on an exemplary student experience, institutional equity and a flourishing university “for today and the next 187 years,” referring to the age of the university.
In terms of enrollment, this seems to be paying off to some degree. In May, the university graduated its smallest class in many years, not exactly surprising considering the class of 2024 would have arrived on campus in August 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With that in mind, White did not announce an official enrollment number for 2024-25, but said the overall student population would be up at least 100 with the addition of the new freshman class.
That includes nearly 40 percent from Indiana, with the university strategy of “winning in our backyard,” as well as nearly 20 percent international students.
“It’s really exciting that this small liberal arts college in rural Indiana attracts so many international students,” White said. “Thank you to the community for welcoming those international students.”
White closed by noting that the $32 million grant as well as the $200 million in gifts announced late last winter matter in terms of money, but beyond that “will help ensure the mutual flourishing of DePauw and Greencastle because neither of us can flourish without the other.”