Wabash College has always held a special place in Joe Impicciche’s heart.
Raised in Montgomery County, Joe spent a lot of time at the College as a kid.
“I played basketball throughout school, so during the summers I would ride my bike with my brothers over to campus and play pickup games,” said the Crawfordsville High School graduate. “The College was very generous and kept the gym doors open to local kids. That was really a nice experience, and left a lasting impact on me.”
Like many other kids at that age, Joe initially wanted to attend school away from home.
But after earning the Lilly Scholarship, the College’s most prestigious award, Joe spent the next four years studying political science and playing intramural sports at Wabash until graduating in 1980.
After Wabash, he went on to earn a juris doctorate and a master’s degree in healthcare administration from Indiana University. Joe was a practicing attorney in Indianapolis for more than 20 years before becoming general counsel at Ascension Health in 2004 where he now serves as the chief executive officer.
Joe was presented with the Clarence A. Jackson award by the National Association of Wabash Men in 2021. He has been blessed with three children and two grandchildren.
“I’m 100% convinced I wouldn’t be where I’m at today if it weren’t for my education at Wabash, and I wouldn’t have made it to Wabash if it weren’t for the Lilly Scholarship,” said Joe, a first-generation college student. “My family would have never been able to afford sending me to Wabash College. The scholarship made all the difference in the world.”
As a way to show his gratitude and to give back to future generations, Joe and his wife, Tammy, established the Alan L. Impicciche ’82 Scholarship. The scholarship provides support to a Wabash student preferably from Montgomery County, Indiana, with first preference given to a graduate of Crawfordsville High School.
The scholarship is named in honor of Joe’s younger brother, Alan, who died in 2012 after battling leukemia. He attended Wabash as part of the Class of 1982 and later graduated with a degree from Indiana State University.
Alan worked at Eli Lilly and Company in the role of manager, data solutions, global data delivery, was a huge Chicago Cubs fan, and loved playing golf—a passion he shared with his children.
“I want Alan to be remembered,” Joe explained. “He wasn’t at the College very long, but he did love Wabash. He made lots of friends during his time there as a student and was very passionate about the school. I thought it would be important to honor his legacy at the place that meant so much to the both of us.”
Joe hopes the Alan L. Impicciche ’82 Scholarship will help show students and parents worried about the cost of higher education that earning a degree is possible even in their own backyards.
“Living in a community where there is a college, sometimes you don’t appreciate that kind of opportunity because you’re like I was. I was so hell-bent on getting out of Crawfordsville that, at first, I didn’t realize how important the College was going to be on my life,” Joe continued.
“Attending Wabash had a major impact on my career and family. It was a game-changing event not only in my life, but in my children’s lives and grandchildren’s lives,” he said. “If I can change somebody’s mind about Wabash (with this scholarship), help them receive a liberal arts education, and be able to have that kind of generational impact, that’s pretty exciting.”