A UVM alumnus and his family have pledged $1 million to support scholarships at the University of Vermont and are challenging others to join them in continuing to build a tradition of giving at UVM.

Donald “Don” H. McCree, UVM class of 1983 and his wife, Gabrielle “Gabby” McCree, started their own family’s tradition in 2006 when they established the McCree Family Scholarship Fund with a half-million-dollar gift. The fund provides annual scholarships based on financial need, academic achievement, and involvement in community service. Their goal, they said then, was to “provide an opportunity to students to attend the University of Vermont to receive an educational experience that prepares them to be leaders in their professional pursuits as well as in their communities.”

The couple has now decided to double that commitment with a $1 million gift to be divided equally between their named scholarship and UVM’s general scholarship fund. The latter will serve as a challenge to attract more scholarship gifts from like-minded alumni, parents and friends of the university. Donors will be able to increase the impact of their own general scholarship giving with a match from the McCrees.

“Universities are the incubators of the effective leadership the world needs, and supporting students through scholarships is a very direct way to foster that process,” said Don McCree. “Gabby and I are pleased to do our part, and we hope the university will use our gift to continue to build a tradition of giving to scholarships at UVM.”

As an executive at JPMorgan Chase, Don McCree has a key role on the leadership team of an organization with assets of more than $1 trillion and operations in more than 50 countries. Gabby McCree is a graduate of Mary Baldwin College in Virginia. She teaches English at Manhattanville College and is an active volunteer in Rye, New York, where she and Don reside with their three children.

Leadership has been a consistent theme in Don McCree's life going at least as far back as his student days at UVM. He held several leadership positions while attending UVM and has been involved with a number of philanthropic boards since graduation. McCree has continued his leadership at UVM as a founding member of the UVM Foundation Board of Directors and member of its Finance and Investment Committee. The couple’s gift will be received and invested by the UVM Foundation.

“We are very grateful for Don and Gabby McCree’s generous support of scholarships at the university,” said O. Richard Bundy, III, UVM’s vice president for development and alumni relations. “This gift, and its challenge component, support one of the university’s top fundraising priorities and will significantly advance the university’s effort to keep a first-rate UVM education accessible and affordable.”