Awards
- Partners in Philanthropy - 2019
- Keystone Award
- Presidents Circle Laurel Pin - 2018
- Fellow
About Donna D. Shoemaker
Donna completed her undergraduate degree at San Francisco State University and after 8 years as a classroom teacher, she completed graduate work at Stanford University in 1973. Donna's longtime support of IU includes referring countless domestic and international students to IU through her mentoring program at Foothill Community College in Los Altos, California.
Together with her husband, Donna and John established the Shoemaker Innovation Center - a university-wide initiative based in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering that supports student innovation and entrepreneurship across majors and schools. The Shoemaker Innovation Center also houses the Shoemaker Scholars program, which awards ten $5000 scholarships per year to students across the University who have interest in Informatics and Computer Science; the Shoebox, IU's student start-up incubator; the Shoemaker Student Innovation and Entrepreneur Speaker Series; the Shoemaker Technical Skills Development Workshops; and the Shoemaker Entrepreneurship Mentoring Series. Additionally, they established both the Shoemaker Faculty Fellowship in Entrepreneurship and an MBA fellowship at the Kelley School of Business.
The Shoemakers strongly value community service, giving their time to several organizations in California and maintaining active roles with their alma maters. They have mentored hundreds of IU and Stanford University students over the years and are actively engaged with the Shoemaker Innovation Center where John serves on the Advisory Board. Donna and John have maintained a close relationship with Stanford University, serving as directors of CCIS, a community-based volunteer organization supporting Stanford international graduate students. Furthermore, John and Donna have been active with Hanover College, gifting a building called The Shoebox; a student gathering place and restaurant. John worked over a number of years to help create and develop the Business Scholars Program, which replaced the business major at Hanover. John was awarded the Alumni Achievement Award for professional achievement and is a Trustee Emeritus of the College. John has served on the IU Foundation Board of Directors, the Kelley School of Business Dean's Council, the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering Dean's Advisory Council, and the Kelley School of Business Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation Advisory Board. They are both lifetime members of the Indiana University Alumni Association. In 2014, they were inducted into the Presidents Circle and then awarded the Presidents Circle Laurel Pin at the Fellow level in 2018.
Recently, the Shoemakers completed a $50 million building and program campaign for El Camino Community Hospital Foundation in Mountain View, California, to expand the hospital's mental health services, beds, staff, and out patient programs. In 2015, they were awarded the Outstanding Volunteer Fundraisers Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals of Silicon Valley.