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Support the Life Span Institute

Join us in our mission to improve human development, health and welfare.

Our work likely touches some part of your life, whether you have a family member with an intellectual disability, a friend struggling with addiction, or you believe that every child deserves a safe and healthy childhood. We urge you to join us as we address complex challenges in disability, equity, language, addiction, human development, community health, education, health policy and more. Your gift can leverage the collective energy and ideas of more than 300 staff and investigators pursuing research in these areas or providing thousands of Kansans with direct services, training and consultations. 

Resources

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Join the Friends of the Life Span Institute

 Give today to join the Friends of the Life Span Institute. Gifts of any size provide vital assistance to our laboratories, graduate students, research programs and community outreach. As a member, you can help us in our efforts to:

  • develop self-determination resources for people with disabilities
  • transform environments and conditions to assure health and well-being for all in the communities we serve
  • search for solutions to reduce violence among youth in Wyandotte County
  • seek to understand the development of and develop new treatments for autism spectrum disorder
  • show how schools can support all students in reaching their potential in the classroom 
  • test and adapt technology to improve quality of life for individuals with disabilities

Schiefelbusch Circle

Gifts of $1000 or more qualify for membership in the Schiefelbusch Circle. Named in honor of Dick Schiefelbusch, who founded the entity that eventually became today’s Life Span Institute, the name commemorates the kind of dedication that Dick showed to quality research that improves people’s lives – and it reflects your support of that work.

Schiefelbusch Circle members help us reward outstanding graduate students who are developing their own research programs and foster the research programs of our faculty. To date, we have presented awards to 27 graduate students and 15 investigators.

Contact us

For questions about giving annually or monthly to support the Life Span Institute, please contact Jen Humphrey, Associate Director for External Affairs, at jenhumphrey@ku.edu or 785.864.6621.

For information on gifts with a broad impact and planned or estate gifts, please contact Michael Arp at KU Endowment Association: 785-832-7460 or marp@kuendowment.org.