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Dr. Gene Elwood Sease (June 28, 1931 - May 30, 2024) was the fifth president of the University of Indianapolis and an active leader who was instrumental in the shaping of the city of Indianapolis.
Born in the small coal mining town of Portage, Pennsylvania, Gene Sease is the youngest of five siblings and was named after the famous singing cowboy, Gene Autry. His father worked for the Portage Coal Mining Company.
Gene served a number of churches in his area, and it was while he was serving one of the churches, he met Joanne Cherry, the church pianist, who he later would marry.
Gene went to Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where he received his A.B (1952). He received his M.Div. from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (1956). He received his M.Ed. and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh (1958, 1965). Shortly after college graduation, he married Joanne on July 20, 1952. Together, they had three children; David, Daniel, and Cheryl.
In 1968, the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) merged with the Methodists to create the United Methodist Church (UMC).
In 1968, the family moved from Pennsylvania to Indianapolis, Indiana, where Dr. Sease was named president of Indiana Central College in 1970. Dr. Sease was seen[ by whom? ] as a civic-minded educator who could use his political connections to reshape the image of the school. Gene helped the school expand towards Indianapolis, which resulted in a growth period that brought in more students as well as more diversity. With this inward city movement, he changed the name to University of Indianapolis in 1986.[ citation needed ]
Under his leadership, UIndy experienced significant growth and transformation, including the construction of the Lilly Fitness Center, Krannert Memorial Library, Key Stadium, Zerfas Wing of Lilly Hall, and New Hall (renamed Ray & George Crowe Hall in 2012). He was also instrumental in leading the name change from Indiana Central College to Indiana Central University in 1975 and again from Indiana Central University to the University of Indianapolis in 1986.
The administrative wing attached to Krannert Memorial Library was renamed the Sease Wing in honor of Dr. Gene Sease in 2001.
In 1988, Dr. Gene E. Sease started a public relations firm, Sease Gerig & Associates with his oldest son David and business partner Lou Gerig. Together, the three have continued to manage one of the oldest public relations firm in Indianapolis.
Dr. Gene E. Sease was appointed as the Indiana State Fair Commission Chairman in 2000 by Governor Frank O'Bannon and again in 2003 by Governor Mitch Daniels. Gene was most noted for helping with the renovation of the 4-H Educational Complex.
The University of Indianapolis (UIndy) is a private United Methodist Church-affiliated university in Indianapolis, Indiana. It offers Associate, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees. It was founded in 1902 as Indiana Central University and was popularly known as Indiana Central College from 1921 until 1975. In 1986 the name was changed to University of Indianapolis.
Matthew Simpson was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1852 and based mainly in Philadelphia. During the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War, most evangelical denominations in the North, especially the Methodists, were initially strong supporters of radical policies that favored the Freedmen and distrusted the Southern whites. However, by the late 1860s in border state conferences, the MEC North moved well away from their work with the Freedmen's Bureau and often sided with the grievances of Southern white members. Bishop Simpson played a leading role in mobilizing the Northern Methodists for the cause. His biographer calls him the "High Priest of the Radical Republicans."
Herron School of Art and Design, officially IU Herron School of Art and Design, is a public art school at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a professional art school and has been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design since 1952.
The Stephen Collins Foster Memorial is a performing arts center and museum which houses the Stephen Foster Archives at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It is dedicated to the life and works of American songwriter Stephen Foster.
Josiah Kirby Lilly Sr., nicknamed "J. K.," was an American businessman, pharmaceutical industrialist, and philanthropist who became president and chairman of the board of Eli Lilly and Company, the pharmaceutical firm his father, Colonel Eli Lilly, founded in 1876. Josiah, the colonel's sole heir, began working at his father’s company at the age of fourteen. He graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and became superintendent of the Lilly laboratories in 1882 and company president in 1898. Under his leadership, the company introduced standardized manufacturing processes, expanded its sales force, and increased its research efforts to develop new drugs. Eli Lilly and Company grew into one of the largest and most influential pharmaceutical corporations in the world, and the largest corporation in Indiana. Lilly’s eldest son, Eli Jr., succeeded him as president in 1932. His younger son, Josiah Jr. ("Joe"), succeeded Eli as company president in 1948. J. K. served as chairman of the board from 1932 until his death in 1948.
Walker and Weeks was an architecture firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, founded by Frank Ray Walker and Harry E. Weeks.
Fletcher Hodges Jr. was an American who curated the Foster Hall Collection, a collection of documents and music related to Stephen Foster at the University of Pittsburgh, for fifty-one years.
The Rev. Titus Lowe was an English-American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and The Methodist Church, elected in 1924.
Powers Hapgood (1899–1949) was an American trade union organizer and Socialist Party leader known for his involvement with the United Mine Workers in the 1920s.
Andrew Wylie was an American academic and theologian, who was president of Jefferson College (1811–1816) and Washington College (1816–1828) before becoming the first president of Indiana University (1829–1851).
Herman C. Krannert (1887–1972) was a businessman and philanthropist in the Midwest of the United States who made millions in the corrugated fiber products industry and subsequently made generous contributions to education and the arts. Among other substantial contributions, eleven buildings bear the Krannert name, most of them at hospitals and universities in Illinois and Indiana, including the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, and the Krannert Art Museum and Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Joseph Thomas Taylor was an American academic, educator and activist who was named dean of Indiana University at the downtown Indianapolis Campus on February 24, 1967. In 1972, he became the first dean of the newly created School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). He was married to Hertha Ward-Taylor and they had three children: deceased actor Meshach Taylor, Judith F. Taylor and Hussain Taylor.
Bohlen, Meyer, Gibson and Associates, or BMG, is an architectural firm based in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was founded in Indianapolis on April 10, 1853, as D. A. Bohlen, Architect by Diedrich A. Bohlen, German immigrant. In 1884, after Diedrich's son, Oscar D. Bohlen, joined the firm it was renamed D. A. Bohlen and Son. Four successive generations of Bohlen architects have worked at the firm: Diedrich A. Bohlen, Oscar D. Bohlen, August C. Bohlen, and Robert L. Bohlen. The firm specialized in institutional projects, especially civic, religious, and educational buildings. In 1971 Melvin B. G. Meyer acquired majority interest in the firm, which adopted its name in reference to its founder and its two principal architects, Meyer and John M. Gibson. The architectural firm is among the oldest still operating in the United States. More than twenty of its projects are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ralph Basui Watkins is the Peachtree Associate Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth at Columbia Theological Seminary, in Decatur, Georgia, United States. He also serves as the senior pastor of the historic Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
Sarah B. Cochran was an active philanthropist and a director on multiple corporate boards in western Pennsylvania during the height of the area's coal wealth in the early 20th century. At one time, she was one of the wealthiest women on the East Coast. She was the first female trustee of Allegheny College and financed construction of Linden Hall and the Philip G. Cochran Memorial United Methodist Church, both on the National Register of Historic Places.
Meridian Street United Methodist Church, known in its early years as Wesley Chapel, the Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Meridian Street Methodist Church, is a Methodist church located at 5500 North Meridian Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. The church originated from the first Methodist congregation in Indianapolis that began in a log cabin in 1821–22 with fifty members. The congregation worshipped at several locations and erected four earlier churches on Monument Circle and along Meridian Street in downtown Indianapolis before it merged with the Fifty-first Street Methodists in 1945. The first service at its North Meridian Street location was held on June 29, 1952. Designed by the architectural firm of Russ and Harrison, the Georgian-Colonial-style, red-brick church is noted for its architecture, pipe organ, and formal parlor. The Aldersgate addition on the west side (rear) of the church was consecrated on October 4, 1989.