Purdue News
Purdue News
|
|
December 21, 2000
Parents, pets , pride inspire donor gifts to PurdueWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- 'Tis the season of giving, but people loyal to Purdue University give financial support year round for reasons ranging from Boilermaker pride, to honoring their parents -- and even out of love for their pets. The number of scholarships has increased approximately 40 percent since 1992, and the amount of scholarship funds is expected to exceed $11.9 million this year, a 27 percent increase over 1999-2000. And Purdue announced in November, in a program to attract top Indiana students, that it will award 150 full-tuition academic merit scholarships beginning in the fall of 2001, growing each year to total 600 by 2004. Here's a holiday sampler of recent gifts: Elizabeth Ricci said she and her four siblings successfully kept a special Christmas gift under wraps this year since they all agreed to endow a scholarship in their parents' honor. On Sunday (12/17), Ricci and her siblings gathered at the Canterbury Hotel in downtown Indianapolis to announce that they are establishing the John K. and Verna L. Merrell Scholarship at Purdue. Gifts totaling $250,000 will fund two scholarships annually. The scholarships will help students from their father's company, Industrial Dielectrics, or Noblesville High School, to attend Purdue. The first two scholarships will be awarded for the 2001-2002 school year for students with high academic achievement who might not otherwise be able to attend Purdue. John Merrell founded Industrial Dielectrics, which manufactures fiberglass insulation for electronic circuitry, in 1964. Daughter Elizabeth Ricci said she and her siblings -- John D. (Jay), Carrie Houchin, Thomas and Amelia -- simply wanted to share their blessings in honor of their parents' accomplishments. The genesis of the scholarship came as the senior Merrell began the transition toward retirement and the children began to reap the dividends from his successful company. "We're all very blessed," Ricci said. "We wanted to give something back for the great things our parents have done for us." Following the family announcement, the Merrells shared the news with Industrial Dielectrics employees as part of company Christmas events. The Merrell connection to Purdue is a family affair. Both parents attended Purdue, with John earning a bachelor's of science in mechanical engineering in 1950. Verna earned a bachelor's degree in consumer and family sciences in 1949. Three of the five Merrell children hold degrees from Purdue, as does a son-in-law. The Merrells' oldest grandchild is now a freshman. All are active in supporting the university. Ricci does recruiting at Purdue for Proctor and Gamble. And the Merrells' reaction to their children's special Christmas surprise? They were, said family spokesperson Ricci, "simply overwhelmed." Every scholarship tells a personal story that reveals something about the donor through the educational opportunity each gift provides. The Shady and Wuffy Clark Memorial Scholarship is named for a West Lafayette couple's cats. Established by Purdue physics professor Tom Clark and his wife, Nancy, the pledged endowment provides $20,000 for students pursuing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in the university's School of Veterinary Medicine. The Clarks' appreciation for the care their pets received at the school's Veterinary Teaching Hospital led them to establish the scholarship as a memorial to the cats with whom they shared 20 years of their lives. The school's dean or a representative will select recipients -- fourth-year students from Indiana -- who are enrolled in the small animal track curriculum. To be eligible, a student must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. The fund is expected to continue into perpetuity. Purdue graduate and former astronaut Gary E. Payton served as the payload specialist for the space shuttle program's first military mission in 1985. Today, his mission is to help out-of-state students earn their engineering degrees in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics through the Gary and Sue Payton Engineering Scholarship. The Payton Scholarship was endowed with a gift of $20,000 and will yield $1000 annually. This year Payton's financial assistance, and a supplemental gift provided by Payton, allowed a student from Texas to return to Purdue following a family emergency that would have otherwise aborted his sophomore year. Jay Wiley, retired Purdue economics professor, and his son Jay Wiley Jr., a 1968 Purdue graduate, have honored the life and work of the late Eleanor Breemes Wiley with a $200,000 scholarship in the School of Liberal Arts. The endowment will generate $10,000 annually. The scholarship will support its recipients for four years. Eleanor Wiley graduated from high school in 1933 during the Great Depression. Though her grades were excellent, her college application was turned down for lack of resources. Her high-school principal found a benefactor who enabled Mrs. Wiley to attend Purdue, where she earned her degree and later served as director of the Liberal Science Program for Women. The scholarship is aimed at "exceptional high-school seniors" -- ideally young women like Mrs. Wiley -- who need financial support to attend Purdue. In the School of Liberal Arts' newsletter, Wiley acknowledged his wife's loyalty to Purdue and said he and his son hoped the scholarship would help some student "enjoy the same success and happiness that Eleanor knew through her Purdue experience." According to Joyce Hall, Division of Financial Aid director, both merit- and need-based scholarship programs at Purdue are growing as the university reaches out to recruit and retain top academic achievers. The number of scholarships has increased approximately 40 percent since 1992. Funding has increased from $6.2 million in 1997-1998 to $9.4 million in 1999-2000. Funding is projected to exceed $11 million in the 2000-2001 school year. As director of financial aid since 1990, Hall said she has seen a spectrum of human interest stories behind the more than 900 private-gift scholarships her office oversees. "Donors are inspired to give for scholarships for different reasons," she says. Some want to 'give back' to Purdue. They may want to make another's education a little easier or to reward academic achievement." No matter the reason, the dollars involved or the restrictions placed on the scholarship, Hall said Purdue works hard to honor donors' wishes. A minimum of $20,000 will establish an endowment at Purdue, which will yield about $1,000 per year in income. These investment proceeds are then awarded to the scholarship's recipient. The Council for Aid to Education reports that alumni, their families and other individuals account for the more than $4 billion given each year to support higher education nationally. The private support surpasses that of corporations, foundations and other organizations. In addition to private gifts, Purdue builds its budget through state funding, student fees, research contracts and sale of services. Since 1995, Hall said Purdue also has made it a priority to coordinate and fund academic merit scholarships. The new "Indiana Resident Top Scholars" program announced in November by Purdue President Martin C. Jischke exemplifies the initiative to expand the university's academic merit scholarships. The scholarship targets Indiana's top academic achievers, including National Merit Scholarship finalists. In light of major universities' national competition for top students, the program is geared to attract Indiana's best and brightest students to Purdue and keep them here, Jischke said. In the fall of 2001, the first group of 150 high-school graduates will be awarded $4,000 per-year scholarships. By 2004, the top scholars program will grow to award 600 renewable, full-tuition scholarships per year. Scholarship recipient selection and administration is conducted by each school within the university as well as the Division of Financial Aid, Hall said. Due to the growth in scholarships, and the need to coordinate information and payment to students, scholarship coordinators were appointed by the deans of each school. These coordinators will work with the Division of Financial Aid, the University Development Office and Business Services to manage the scholarship awarding process.
Writer: Grant Flora, (765) 494-2073, gflora@purdue.edu Sources: Elizabeth Ricci, (513) 791-3571, ricci.em@pg.com Joyce Hall, (765) 494-5090, jjhall@purdue.edu
Other source: Mary Jo Bartolacci, (765) 494-0515; bartolac@purdue.edu
Related Web site:https://purdue.edu/UDO/welcome
|
