News Archive

Honoring a favorite professor, dreaming up a legacy, and helping the next generation of law lawyers prompted three IU McKinney alumni to put giving plans in motion. Here’s why—and how—they did it:

Kristin G. Fruehwald, ‘75, is retired from Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where she was co-chair of the firm's Estate Planning Practice Group. Always community-minded, Kris has devoted her time over the years to nearly a dozen organizations that benefit the Indianapolis community, the law school and the legal profession. Her gift to the law school is a bequest for the Gerald L. Bepko Chair in Law, in honor of the former law school dean and professor. “He was a great teacher,” Fruehwald recalls. “He was always friendly, welcoming, and a source of inspiration.”

John L. Krauss, ‘76, is an adjunct professor of law at McKinney, as well as a part-time senior advisor to the IUPUI Chancellor and Clinical Professor Emeritus in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Through his estate plans, a named chair in alternative dispute resolution at IU McKinney will carry on his legacy of teaching these applied skills.

“As a professor, you ask yourself, ‘How can I plant seeds for future generations?’ As lawyers, we ask ourselves, ‘How can I create opportunities and solve problems for my client?’ Thinking about those questions, I wanted to create a gift that doesn’t focus on me, but creates opportunities,” Professor Krauss says. “Philanthropy is really dream enabling. We all have dreams of the legacies we’d like to leave. Philanthropy captures that through an institution, like the law school, to enable that dream to come true."

Jan E. Kreuscher, ’84, spent the greater part of her legal career in the public sector. She made a planned gift to the law school to establish the Jan Kreuscher Fellowship to fund summer public interest and public sector employment for IU McKinney Law students.

 “Some students may decide they want to pursue careers in public interest or the public sector, and others may pursue different paths, but may have more respect and understanding for these areas and may be motivated to do some pro bono work because of their time spent in the public sector. This is why I established the fellowship,” she says. “We can change lives, and not just the lives of law students; we also change the lives of the people they touch during their careers.”

Contact Assistant Dean for Development, Nan Edgerton to learn more about how to accomplish your philanthropic goals by including IU McKinney Law in your estate planning. She can be reached at nanedge@iu.edu or (317) 274-8147.