About the Life Span Institute

The Life Span Institute (LSI) is named for Dick Schiefelbusch, long-time director of KU's Bureau of Child Research, the original organization from which the LSI was formed. Dick always attributed the success of the Bureau and of the institute named in his honor to "a cluster of miracles." Perhaps the most important of the "miracles" experienced at KU was the success of the science conducted here. That science toppled conventional thinking about the potential of people facing a wide range of challenges and disabilities. Our scientists have also made pioneering and seminal discoveries in understanding how we develop, learn, think, and age. All of these contributions have brought the Life Span Institute international recognition and unprecedented growth.

The growth of the institute from a two-room office into a world-famous research center has required the efforts of hundreds of individual stakeholders and supporters for more than fifty years.

Through the support of its Friends, the Life Span Institute looks to maintain its continued growth and evolution, and continue its influence in discovery, innovation, and impact that allows it to influence social policy, disciplinary practice and the quality of individual lives across the life span and in communities throughout the world.

Friends of the Life Span Institute

The Friends of the Life Span Institute was founded in 2004 to further our collective impact on problems of human and community development, disabilities and aging.

Membership for an individual or couple is $1,000 per year. This annual membership contribution is put to work immediately in our effort to assure that the work of the Life Span Institute has an even greater impact in the future. In addition to the regular membership, we have recently instituted a Young Scientist Membership for $500 per year. This reduced rate is for graduates or postdoctural students who have been part of LSI programs or projects in the past and who are within 10 years of receiving their terminal degrees. Both memberships are tax-deductible.

What will your membership in the friends of the Life Span Institute bring you? First and foremost, we will keep you abreast of recent events in the Institute, with newsletters and special mailings, including the LSI Annual Report. You will be invited to our annual Friends dinner weekend in the spring of each year to celebrate awards and to reconnect with friends and mentors. Finally, you will have the comfort of knowing that you are contributing to the continuing innovation and discovery that is characteristic of the work done at the LSI. You will be helping our scientists attain research-based solutions for the challenges of human and community development, disabilities and aging for the benefit of future generations of Kansans, of our nation, and of people all over the world.

We hope that, as a Friend of the Life Span Institute, you will share information on the important work of the Institute with your friends and colleagues. We are confident that increasing our circle of friends will provide opportunities for greater fund raising success in the future.

By joining the Friends of the Life Span Institute, you will be joining us in a journey of discovery and in creating a living legacy of making a difference in countless lives.

For further information: please contact Rob Hileman: 785-864-1997, rhileman@ku.edu,
or Dale Slusser at KU Endowment Association: 785-832-7458, slusser@ku.edu

Friends of the Life Span support annual awards for graduate students who show exceptional promise. These awards are called the Discovery Grants. Past award winners are listed here.