About the Bender Memorial Lecture
The Bender Memorial Lecture was initiated in memory of Professor Eileen Bender. Under the leadership of Bender and IU Bloomington’s Anya Peterson Royce, the Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching (FACET) program was founded in 1989 as an all-university initiative supported by then-president Thomas Ehrlich to advance teaching excellence across IU. As FACET’s first director, she brought the program to IU South Bend, which welcomed and housed the all-university program headquarters until Bender turned the program over to her successors at IUPUI in 2001. Her contributions to teaching excellence are recognized throughout Indiana University and this Lectureship honors her dedication and commitment.