Anita Aldrich was a pioneer in expanding involvement in college athletics as well as health and education. Her original plan didn’t involve becoming an educator. She graduated from high school in 1936 during the Great Depression. Because of bank closures, Aldrich was unable to secure funding to attend a private college like she had planned. Instead, she attended Northwest Missouri State Teachers College where she found a passion for education and earned her degree in English and physical education.
Aldrich went on to earn her master’s degree from the University of Missouri in Kansas City and her doctorate of education from Pennsylvania State University. She worked for a time as a school teacher and later as an administrator in public schools in Missouri. In 1961, Aldrich was appointed as an advisor to President John F. Kennedy’s Fitness Council. In 1964, she began her career at Indiana University.
During her time at IU, Aldrich served as a Professor and Chair of Physical Education for Women at the IU School of Public Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. Aldrich served as Acting Dean for the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation from 1975-1976. She was an advocate for women’s sports and physical education and was inducted into the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1996.
After her passing in 2012, funds established by her estate continue to further her legacy and passion for accessible education. Three of these funds were established to philanthropically support the IU School of Nursing.
“She wanted to advance research, she wanted to advance health, and she had a very small group of trusted people that helped make her wishes happen,” said Greg Carter, PhD, RN, AACRN, who serves as the interim associate dean at the School of Nursing at IU Bloomington.
The Dr. Anita Aldrich Community Health Promotion Project brings social and emotional learning as well as substance abuse prevention education to elementary and middle schools in rural Indiana communities. Initially led by IU School of Nursing Professor Emerita Joyce Krothe, PhD, RN, Clinical Associate Professor Kim Decker, PhD, RN, CNS, has been leading the program since 2016.
The Aldrich Project is an interdisciplinary program that involves students from multiple schools at the Bloomington campus, including nursing, the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, public health, social work, and education. The students work together to teach health and wellness programs to elementary and/or middle school students in Brown, Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, and Morgan counties.
Specifically, Decker says the purpose of the Aldrich Project is, “to build self-esteem and resiliency to prevent substance use and promote mental health in school-age children.”
Starting in fall 2016, the program taught the Say It Straight program, which teaches school-age children healthy communication assertiveness methods. In 2020, the project began implementing the Second Step curriculum, which teaches children how to deal with emotions, maintain healthy relationships and communication, learn to set achievable goals, and make good decisions.
The program has been beneficial for IU students, the school-age students, and their teachers alike, Decker says, having seen the impact this relationship has had on her students firsthand. Students have noted that the things they have learned from implementing the program will help them better educate their patients in the clinical setting.
The children they teach, and their teachers alike are excited to see the IU interprofessional students every week. This exposure is part of why it’s important for the program to focus on rural communities that are underserved.
“We give them some resources that they don’t necessarily have access to,” Decker said. “Aldrich’s gifts and passion for education make this possible.”
To date, 237 IU students have participated in the Aldrich Project. The Say it Straight curriculum has been taught to approximately 2,819 school-age children in five counties. Since the beginning of the Second Step program, it has been taught to approximately 5,000 school-age children in this same region.
Carter recognizes how this mutually educational program goes beyond the time that the students are in a classroom together.
“Not only are we sending students out to impact the lives of thousands of people throughout Indiana, which in and of itself is a feat, but what we’re also doing is giving the students that experience, the live continuous interaction with the students, with the teachers, with the school, with the built environment, that they’re taking with them to the bedside,” he said.
Aldrich’s gifts have also funded scholarships and professional development support for nursing students. The Dr. Anita Aldrich Nursing Scholarship has provided $46,000 to 25 nursing students.
Three nursing students at IU Bloomington received the scholarship in 2025–Madisyn Schultz, Bella Engledow, and Allyson Carney. All three students have been able to use the freedom this scholarship has given them to further dedicate themselves to their nursing journey.
“This scholarship will help with my tuition and alleviate financial pressure,” Carney said. “I will also have more freedom to put extra time into my volunteer work around the Bloomington community.”
Carter has also seen how recipients of this scholarship have been empowered.
“I think that this scholarship is an extension of her legacy, because it really helps students gain confidence and self-advocacy in their work,” he said.
Additionally, the Dr. Anita Aldrich Conference Fund has provided $23,000 in professional development support to nursing students. Carter remembers his first time presenting at a conference and thinks it’s important to give that same experience to current students through this fund.
“I can sort of remember going and presenting at my first conference. It was something that, you know, growing up in a rural area as a first-generation college student, I didn’t know it was on my list of possibilities,” he said. “That travel might seem like small things to some people, but it is so huge, and that’s how we make change, when people hear these stories.
“What we’re doing in the School of Nursing is an extension of really everything she stood for in her life - to elevate students,” Carter said.
