![Andrew Siebengartner
'03 excelled in the John Dewey Honors program and hopes to share his love of classical languages with the next generation of students and scholars.
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Dan '55 and Carole Burack
04.10.05 RECORD 50th REUNION GIFT TO FUND LECTURE SERIES, SCHOLARSHIPS
"My memories are so vivid of my school years that it is truly hard to believe fifty years have gone by," Dan Burack '55 writes to his former classmates as their 50th Reunion Celebration approaches. "It has been my pleasure and distinct honor to serve UVM in various capacities through the years and now to be in a position to give something back."
That "something," it turns out, is a major gift from Dan and Carole Burack, the largest individual 50th Reunion gift in UVM history. The bulk of the gift will be used to endow the Dan and Carole Burack President's Distinguished Lecture Series, and the remainder will endow a scholarship fund, "probably in the College of Education and Social Services," says Burack, whose son Adam graduated from UVM in 1985 and is currently a high school teacher. "I'm a believer that the best legacy we can leave to the next generation is a good educational system. Ensuring that we're educating excellent teachers is essential." Carole Burack is also a former teacher.
The Distinguished Lecture Series was started by President Daniel Mark Fogel during his first year as UVM President in 2002-2003 and was included as a naming opportunity in the ongoing Campaign for the University of Vermont. "I thought immediately of the Visiting Professor Program that Professor Milton Nadworny helped bring to the Economics Department during my years at UVM and how that helped to expand our perspectives as students," Burack says. "Carole and I thought that endowing the lecture series would be a good way to ensure this kind of intellectual enrichment will always be a part of students' experience at UVM."
Burack has served the UVM Alumni Association in a number of volunteer capacities over the years, including three years as National Alumni Chairman, and received the Alumni Association's Distinguished Service Award in 1986. He and Carole have also agreed to serve on the National Campaign Steering Committee for The Campaign for the University of Vermont.
Burack says he's very much looking forward to connecting with former UVM classmates at their 50th Reunion in June, particularly those from the Phi Sigma Delta fraternity, which he says "gave me a direction, a purpose, a maturity, and a group of life-long friends." Many of them will reunite at Reunion, where a health PhiSig turnout is anticipated.
2005-2006 Lecture Series Schedule