Alumni Legacy Society: Passing down a love for IUS
Reconizing families who make an Indiana University education part of their family tradition
"My hope is that we have started a family tradition that will span a lifetime."
A legacy is a tradition. A passing of the torch. A point of pride.
At IU Southeast, legacies come in many forms — from faculty who instill a lifelong passion for learning to donors whose gifts open the door for generations of perpetual discovery.
The most personal type of legacy at IU Southeast is the one shared between members of a family. A grandfather and granddaughter who both climbed the stairs to Hillside Hall on the way to class. A mother who glows with pride as she watches her stepson cross the same commencement stage she once crossed.
For Leah Phillips-Black ‘90, the seed was planted as a young girl.
She grew up watching IU basketball, fell in love with the university and graduated from IU Southeast with a nursing degree. Her great-grandfather attended IU Bloomington and her uncle used to go on hunting trips with former basketball coach Bobby Knight.
“IU was just part of our family one way or the other growing up,” she said.
So she made IU part of her own family. Leah’s daughter, Kirsten Black ‘16, learned to love the crimson and cream at an early age.
“We would always talk about, ‘When you go to IUS,’” Leah said with a laugh.
The IU Southeast Alumni Legacy Society recognizes families for making an Indiana University education part of their family tradition. The program is offered to encourage spirit in students who are children and/or grandchildren, of IU Southeast graduates. Generations of families have passed on the tradition, and we celebrate this special relationship. To join the Alumni Legacy Society or for more information, visit ius.edu/alumni/legacy-society.php.
Leah would take Kirsten to summer programs at the Ogle Center geared towards elementary and middle school students, hoping the exposure to campus would catch Kirsten’s interest.
“Being so involved in that program and being so enamored in that class really spoke volumes to me,” Kirsten said. “That probably planted a little seed when I was younger that this is a really good place and that they do a really good job connecting with us.”
That seed took root, and Kirsten chose to pursue her education at IU Southeast.
In May 2016, Leah looked on as Kirsten graduated with degrees in criminal justice and criminology and a minor in psychology.
“Mom was ecstatic,” Kirsten said. “To this day, she will constantly stop by with an IU mug or an IU sticker. She is constantly so proud that we have that. She loves it.”
The two will now become inaugural members of the IU Southeast Legacy Society during a pinning ceremony in March that recognizes their multi-generational commitment to IU Southeast.
Kirsten, who now works with Louisville Metropolitan Animal Control, is looking forward to passing on her love of IU Southeast to the next generation in their family.
“I would encourage them to get an IU degree,” she said. “Part of it comes from that innate love my mom has tried to instill, but also my experience on campus and the relationship between students and faculty. I’ve had that experience at other universities with 100 students in a class where you don’t have that connection with the faculty that we have at IU Southeast.”
Leah, who is a nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs and serves as a mentor for IU Southeast nursing students, has already purchased IU Alumni Associaton life memberships for herself and her daughter.
She hopes their membership in the IU Southeast Alumni Legacy Society is the beginning of a family tradition.
“My hope is that we have started a family tradition that will span many lifetimes,” she said.