As executive director of foundation relations for Indiana University, Jen Lawrence manages a team that works with faculty and administrators across IU’s campuses to grow institutional support from private foundations.

Lawrence previously served as director of foundation relations at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and associate director of foundation relations at Northwestern University. She received her early training in fundraising while serving as director of marketing and communications for Northwestern University’s Office of Alumni Relations and Development.

After earning a B.S. degree and an M.A. degree in communications from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Lawrence pursued a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa, completing coursework and exams and leaving ABD in 1999. Lawrence earned an M.F.A. degree in fiction writing at Northwestern University. She has served on the planning committee for the CASE Corporate and Foundation Relations conference.