History

Mirsky was the first chair of the IU Indianapolis Geology Department when it was formed in 1967 until he retired in 1993. He observed then that able students often could not attend IU Indianapolis because of finances. In 2001 an anonymous donor gave $25,000 to begin the Academy scholarship program, intending to finance a graduate of an IPS high school to attend IU Indianapolis (The IPS Scholarship). Mirsky was especially interested in students who had to drop out for various reasons and who wanted to come back, seeing them as the especially needy. He then suggested that returning students also needed funds and established a second scholarship (The Returning Student Scholarship). Originally, funds came only from general Academy operations but as a third scholarship was added in 2006 (The General Scholarship), funds were targeted to be endowed, assuring a perpetual funding source.

After retirement Mirsky continued his interest in IU Indianapolis and the Senior Academy Scholarships. He continued to occupy his office in the School of Science for many years volunteering to teach one course a semester in his department. He died in June 2012. He always believed the scholarship program to be the most important of all Academy endeavors and hoped the program could be expanded to include graduate students.

Revised November 2018