Meredith and Elsa McKinney are awarded the College of Arts and Sciences inaugural Old Crescent Award of outstanding alumni contribution. Their generous support established the McKinney Visiting Artist Series, a permanently endowed program in the School of Fine Arts. Each year, the series brings 10 internationally known studio artists to the Indiana University Bloomington campus, and in doing so ensures that students have continuous access to a broad range of artistic techniques, perspectives, and ideas. The McKinney Visiting Artist Series will continue as part of the School of Art and Design, which will be officially launched on July 1 of this year.
Meredith and Elsa first met as freshmen at Indiana University, where Meredith earned his bachelor’s degree in Medical Science and Elsa earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology. They were married in 1963, and they both graduated in 1965. Meredith went on to receive his Doctor of Medicine degree from the IU School of Medicine in 1968 and spent the next six years pursuing a general surgery residency at the University of Florida as well as a tour in the military.
With two young sons, Meredith and Elsa then returned to the IU Medical Center for Meredith to pursue a two-year residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery. In 1976, they moved to Tallahassee, Florida, where their daughter was born shortly thereafter. Elsa received a law degree from Florida State University while raising three children, and Meredith operated a practice of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Meredith now restricts his part-time practice to skin cancer reconstruction and is an associate professor of medicine at the Florida State University School of Medicine.
The McKinneys have two grandchildren in Greenville, South Carolina, two in Boulder, Colorado, and a son in Tallahassee. “We profoundly believe that a sound education in the liberal arts is essential for everyone, no matter what career a student eventually pursues,” the McKinneys write. “We are delighted to be able to make a small contribution to help uphold that ideal. Indiana University continues to maintain the very highest of standards through the dedication of their instructors and administrators, and their students’ ideals. May it always be so.”