Awards

IU Indianapolis Spirit of Philanthropy Award - 2009

About Elsa Maschmeyer Iverson

Elsa Maschmeyer received her Bachelors Degree at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, where she was a botany major and received her secondary teaching certification in 1966. She got her Masters in Social Work degree from the IU School of Social work at IUPUI in 1969. She began a career as a school social worker in Indianapolis in 1970. In 1971, however, she received a request to fill a one-year teaching vacancy at the School of Social Work. Following her first year there, she was offered a full-time faculty position.

By the late 1970s, Elsa was asked to develop a program for international field placements for social work students. As a starting point she began working with government social work officials in Camden, England, a borough of Greater London. Her efforts soon placed the School of Social Work ahead of what other social work schools were doing at the time. Elsa never lost her conviction the program was an invaluable teaching tool to help students gain a broader perspective of the world around them whether in a field placement or independent studies program.

Elsa was so committed to the program that on occasion she used her own money to make the mid-point liaison visits to students abroad, which reassured students and field instructors that they were on the right track with the placement and answered their questions and concerns. She usually made at least one professional presentation during those visits.

Following the sudden death of an English colleague, Michael Wallace, who along with his wife Muriel, had helped Elsa with placements in London, she felt moved to create a scholarship to assist social work students who might not otherwise be able to go abroad. Elsa started a letter writing campaign to build an endowment for the Michael and Muriel Wallace International Scholarship. The fund assists students who might not otherwise be able to afford to travel abroad.

From its initial efforts to send students to London, the program has expanded to send students to field placements in at least 15 countries, including Argentina, Chile, Romania, India, Ireland and Kenya.

Beyond her work at the University, Iverson served in volunteer capacities over the years with Exodus Refugee Immigration, Family Service of Central Indiana, Butler Tarkington Neighborhood Association, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Planned Parenthood and others.