Honor the Wiggins Legacy

Great teachers do so much more than instruct - they guide, they encourage, they inspire. For 34 years, Indiana University Professor Bill Wiggins was the epitome of a great educator and so much else. "For many of us who partnered with him as students, he was more than a great teacher," writes IU Senior Lecturer Fernando Orejuela. "He was a very necessary mentor."

The good that Bill did lives on within his students and within all those who knew him. He was deeply involved in the academic community in Bloomington and was a compass for many African American students as they navigated the sometimes challenging waters of southern Indiana.

The impact that Bill had at IU is paralleled by the incredible impact that his wife Janice had. In a career that spanned more than 30 years, Janice mentored thousands of colleagues and students at IU, as both an academic advisor and as the associate director of the Career Development Center. Before retiring, she served as the director of the Groups Program, which admits first-generation, low-income and physically challenged students to IU.

To honor the incredible impact that Bill and Janice have had, a group of their friends have created an endowed graduate fellowship to be awarded to a student who has completed qualifying exams and is working on a dissertation in either the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies or the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology. With leadership gifts from these friends and colleagues already in place, the Bill and Janice Wiggins Graduate Fellowship will celebrate their incredible legacy and provide support for the next generation of students.

Coordinating Committee:

Janice Wiggins, Retired Director, Groups Scholars Program, Indiana University

Curt Simic, President Emeritus, Indiana University Foundation

John McCluskey, Professor Emeritus of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Indiana University

Charlie Nelms, Professor Emeritus and Retired Vice President for Institutional Development and Student Affairs, Indiana University

Ruth Stone, Professor Emerita of Enthnomusicology, Indiana University