Indiana State graduate's $250K gift to create cancer center

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - An Indiana State University graduate who went on to a decades-long career in manufacturing has donated $250,000 to the western Indiana school for the creation of a new cancer research center.

School officials said the gift from Rich Porter and his wife, Robin, will provide a 'œtransformational boost'ť to the university's cancer research. It will support five research fellows - internationally competitive graduate students - and allow them to focus on research.

The research center will be named after the Porters and located in laboratory space in ISU's Science Building, the Tribune-Star reported.

The couple's gift is 'œincredibly generous," said Christopher Olsen, dean of ISU's College of Arts and Sciences.

'œTheir generosity will allow us to advance cancer research by recruiting top graduate students from around the world," he said.

The Porters' gift comes after they learned about cancer research being done through ISU's genomics program. Rich Porter said the donation will boost that program and allow ISU 'œto be competitive with other national programs to recruit the best and brightest minds.'ť

'œCancer will be cured one discovery at a time, and our hope is that one of those discoveries will be made by an Indiana State University student,'ť whether the discovery takes place at ISU or at some future point in the students' careers, Porter said.

He and his wife have been involved in similar efforts at Ohio State University, where Rich Porter serves as chair of the board of directors for that school's James Cancer Center.

Rich Porter graduated from ISU in 1977 with a business management degree. He has had a 40-year career in the manufacturing business and is President of TE-CO Manufacturing in Union, Ohio.