>newground
Ralph Gray's research subjects include Elwood Haynes, seen above in his 1894 invention, one of the first 'horseless carriages'.
Professor Ralph Gray sees the future of the past. He has a long history of it.
First, the professor taught history for more than three decades. Knowing how important knowledge of the past is to our future, he continued the tradition outside of class—by writing books, and by establishing an endowment for graduate students in history at IUPUI.
He was born to teach. He taught first at IU Kokomo, and later joined the faculty of what would soon become Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. After retirement from 33 years of teaching in the IUPUI history department, he spent the next five years writing IUPUI: The Making of an Urban University, published by IU Press. Other works include a biography of Elwood Haynes, the Kokomo man who manufactured the first automobile in Indiana (the second in America), editing the scholarly journal The Journal of the Early Republic, and compiling Indiana History: A Book of Readings.
But his generosity of spirit didn’t stop with teaching and writing. Through a donation to the Campaign for IUPUI, Professor Gray and his wife Beth endowed a graduate student fellowship with a gift to the history department at IUPUI. Philip Scarpino, chair of the history department, offers, “Ralph's dedication to researching and writing the history of IUPUI demonstrates how much IUPUI has meant to him over his long and productive career.”
Beth and Ralph GrayProfessor Gray says, “I hope that the Gray Fellowship will attract quality graduate students who can make a mark for themselves and IUPUI.”
>Cary Boyce
Learn more about Ralph and Beth Gray’s gift.