October 01, 2024
The event was held in the Keith E. Busse/Steel Dynamics Inc. Athletic and Recreation Center.
Earl D. Brooks II, Ph.D., Trine University president, presented the award following a video presentation featuring images of Danic throughout her lifetime.
Danic credited many others for her ability to balance her work at the foundation, community service and being a mother to two boys.
“Any sort of success that you might be looking at up here is because of thousands of people that I get to interact with on an annual basis,” she said. “I am a reflection of this community and the community that we interact with.”
She said the interdependence that helps her succeed is also at work between Steuben County and Trine University.
“Our community needs Trine University,” she said. “It needs the innovation and the opportunity and the facilities and the jobs and the bridge to the greater state and country through its university work.”
“At the same time, Trine University needs the Steuben County community. Trine needs a place to call home. Trine needs a place for people like you, alumni and donors and friends and students to gather and celebrate shared accomplishments. Trine University and Steuben County have a very unique relationship, and I'm fortunate to sit in a role that gets to see that relationship from the front row.”
About Jennifer Danic
Danic has led the Steuben County Community Foundation as president and CEO since 2011, but has been part of the community for much longer.
Her parents met at Tri-State (now Trine) University in the mid-1970s and have lived in Angola since graduating. Their love of Tri-State and Trine rubbed off on Danic, who learned to swim at Hershey Hall and golf at Zollner Golf Course, and took part in tennis camps, gymnastics performances at basketball games and other campus activities.
After graduating from Angola High School, Danic studied at Hillsdale College, where she led a volunteer organization that connected college students with adults with disabilities in the community. Through the encouragement of a mentor, she decided to pursue her passion for nonprofit work.
Danic attended the Center on Philanthropy for her Master of Arts degree in Philanthropic Studies. An internship introduced her to foundations, where she has worked for more than 20 years: first in a family foundation, then an education foundation, the Goodwill Foundation and the Steuben County Community Foundation.
Her family returned to Angola for her husband Dave’s career.
The Steuben County Community Foundation and Trine University partner on many initiatives. The foundation provides annual grants to Trine for community and school programming. The foundation hosts its nonprofit trainings on Trine’s campus and held a two-part 30th anniversary event in the Ryan Concert Hall of the T. Furth Center for Performing Arts last year. It leads and participates in Senior Capstone projects.
Danic is a semi-annual guest speaker in Ketner School of Business classes. Trine professors from all disciplines regularly provide their expertise to the community’s nonprofits through the foundation’s connections and requests.
Readers of Fort Wayne Newspapers have voted Trine University the Best College in the Greater Fort Wayne region for the fourth straight year.
A record number of employers shut down Trine University’s Thunder Drive as nearly 600 students participated in the annual Tailgate for Talent on Sept. 19.
Described as a great friend and a counselor to many, Timothy J. Haffner, a corporate lawyer with Faegre Baker Daniels law firm in Fort Wayne, community leader and a member of Trine University’s Board of Trustees, was honored with the Sagamore of the Wabash following the dedication of the university’s Brooks College of Health Professions on Sept. 27.