Awards

IU Indianapolis Spirit of Philanthropy Award - 2007

IU Indianapolis Spirit of Philanthropy Award - 1990

About Barbara E. Zimmer

Barbara Zimmer completed her undergraduate education at the University of Chicago in 1949. It was at Chicago that she met and married Karl Zimmer, her husband of 61 years. The couple, and eventually their three children, lived for several years in Denmark and the Netherlands, before returning to the United States in 1963. After moving to Indianapolis in 1964, Zimmer earned her Secondary School Teaching Certificate and an M.A. in History from Butler University in 1970.

For 16 years, Zimmer taught in the Writing and ESL Programs in the English Department at IUPUI. She was an original staff member of the Writing Center and Visiting Teacher from the Writing Center to other schools and departments. In 1994 she was selected to initiate and teach expository writing at Ikatan University in Kajang, Malaysia, in a program of the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, whereupon she and Karl moved to Malaysia for two semesters. Prior to that, she had been appointed Staff Writer for the Indiana Department of Education Curriculum Advisory Council documents on education reform, and was the editor of Indiana Schooling for the 21st Century.

Zimmer was an engaged member of the Indianapolis community. She became active in the Indianapolis League of Women Voters, and later became President of the Indiana League. She was a member of the Unigov Task Force, Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee; Chair of the Indiana Employment and Training Council; President of Crossroads Guild; Member of the Board and later Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the YWCA; President of the Indianapolis Woman s Club; President of the Indiana Women s History Archives Board; and member of several not-for-profit boards including the Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School, Dance Kaleidoscope, and IUPUI University Library.

Zimmer and her husban, Karl, were both stalwart allies of the IUPUI School of Liberal Arts. They co-chaired the IUPUI Comprehensive Campaign for the School of Liberal Arts, helping to more than double the school's original goal. Leading by example, the Zimmers endowed the Barbara E. and Karl R. Zimmer Chair in Intercultural Communication. It is the school's first endowed chair. They also endowed a professional development fund for writing lecturers. In 2015, Professor Ulla Connor and her husband, Purdue Professor Emeritus John Connor, created the Barbara E. and Karl R. Zimmer Graduate Scholarship in English to honor the Zimmer couple.

Zimmer earned many honors during her distinguished career. Those honors included the IUPUI Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching; the Don Mobley Award for Associate Faculty; the Distinguished Faculty Service Award of the IUPUI School of Liberal Arts; and the Outstanding Service to the Malaysia Program Award from the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology. She was proud to have been appointed a Sagamore of the Wabash.