CAMPAIGN UPDATE

 

photo by Andy Duback

 

Dodge Family Scholarship
Enhancing the diversity of the student experience is an important UVM priority, and increasing the funds available for student scholarships is a key objective of The Campaign for the University of Vermont.

Both of these vital objectives are served by a generous $500,000 Campaign commitment from Anne and Steven Dodge, parents of senior Benjamin Dodge ’04, to the Dodge Family Cultural Diversity Scholarship Fund.

The Dodges first created the fund several years ago to help attract students to UVM who can contribute to the cultural diversity of the student body and campus life. “Steve and I want to help young people who have so much promise and motivation and who might otherwise not have an opportunity to attend college,” says Anne, who was recently elected to the UVM Board of Trustees.

Anne says she has been keenly interested in fostering diversity in American society for the past twenty years, a commitment she was drawn to by her strong faith. The gift to UVM, she said, was motivated by a very simple fact: “We saw a need.” Helping the University to build its cultural diversity is vital, she says. “The world is a multicultural place, and the opportunity to live and learn in a community of people from varied cultural, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds is an important part of the college experience.”

Nathaly Filion is one of the current group of UVM students who benefits from the Dodge family scholarship. She is in the fourth year of a five-year program of study pursuing a dual degree in Integrated Natural Resources and Vocal Music Performance.

“Music and the environment have been my passions for my whole life,” she says. A gifted mezzo soprano, Filion has given public performances at UVM and elsewhere in Vermont as part of her music major. She spent the spring semester of 2003 studying the ecosystems of the New Zealand archipelago in fulfillment of the requirements for a course in ecosystem management — “just an awesome experience,” she says, during which she developed a curriculum unit for New Zealand school teachers on The Ecology and Mythology of Plants. “The idea was to contribute to the larger effort to bring the indigenous Maori people into the mainstream educational system in New Zealand,” she says.

Filion says the Dodge Family Scholarship has made it possible for her to take advantage of everything UVM has to offer, and she’s done just that. Since 2001, she has worked as an AdvoCat, one of a group of 50 students who assist the undergraduate Admissions Office in recruitment. As a Resident Assistant in Harris/Millis, she helps create community through social events, community meetings, and educational programming. A native of the Dominican Republic, she’s also an active member and past president of Alianza Latina, the student-run organization dedicated to supporting the Latin American community at UVM.

“Finding the right fit in the choice of a college is important,” Filion says. “I really feel that UVM has fostered wonderful growth in me as an individual.”

photo by Sally McCay

 

Simon Family Scholarship
“I feel like I’m making a difference,” says Julie Simon Munro ’86 of her family’s philanthropy. Their Campaign gift of $500,000 to the William E. Simon Family Scholarship Fund, established during the University’s first campaign in 1992, brings that endowment to over $1 million and provides scholarship support for some of UVM’s most able and engaged students.

Making a difference is a family tradition for the Simons. Julie’s father was William E. Simon, United States Secretary of the Treasury during the Nixon and Ford administrations, who founded the William E. Simon Foundation to fund his philanthropic activities after leaving government service. “He was a self-made man and a true leader who impressed on all of us very early on that it’s important to make a difference in the world and give back to your community,” Simon Munro says.

UVM’s William E. Simon Family Scholars reflect those values. They are students in the College of Arts and Sciences selected for academic merit, financial need, and commitment to student leadership and community service. “We want to help UVM to attract students who are top-notch academically and who show they have that extra drive to get involved as student leaders and give back to their community,” says Simon Munro.

A member of UVM’s National Campaign Steering Committee, she's excited about UVM’s Campaign and overall directions, and especially the emphasis on scholarships to attract the best and the brightest.

Coleen McCann ’07 is UVM’s newest Simon Scholar. A first-year student from Trumbull, Connecticut, she is a biochemistry major and hopes eventually to become a pediatrician. The Simon Family Scholarship, she says, “made it possible for me to come here.” As a Simon Scholar, McCann devotes a minimum of ten hours a week to community service, and frequently more. She is active in Volunteers in Action, the student group that operates a variety of volunteer programs in the Burlington community. She has done craft projects with young mothers at the Lund Center for pregnant and parenting teens, and is the coordinator of SOS, or Special-One-Time-Service, which takes on special needs as they arise in the community. A particularly rewarding experience, she says, has been her work with children for the Committee on Temporary Shelter, or COTS, a non-profit that serves the homeless. “I love to work with the kids,” she says. “It makes my day.”

McCann is also an exemplary student and a participant in the John Dewey Honors Program. “I couldn’t have made a better choice,” she says, “The honors classes are small, so you get to know the faculty really well, and I’m getting exposed to subjects I probably wouldn’t have found on my own.” Of the overall UVM experience, she says, “I love it. It’s so interesting that the person you thought you were in high school can completely change.”

$1 MILLION CHALLENGE GIFT FOR ATHLETICS
UVM athletics has always welcomed a good challenge, and an anonymous benefactor has issued one for the University’s athletics boosters and fundraisers: Raise $1 million toward the renovation of Archie Post Field complex, and the donor will match it dollar-for-dollar.

“We’re very excited at the prospect of making a significant investment in upgrading the Post Field complex,” said director of athletics Bob Corran. “With the help of our alumni, parents, and friends, we can meet this challenge and create a wonderful athletics complex at Post Field that UVM students and the entire community will enjoy for generations to come.”

Planned improvements to Archie Post Field are part of the Athletics Department's fundraising goal during the university’s $250 million comprehensive campaign. Proposed new facilities include construction of an open-air, outdoor athletic stadium for soccer; an adjacent all-weather field primarily for lacrosse and field hockey; an outdoor track; permanent seating for 4,000 spectators; and space for concessions, picnicking, and restrooms.

“This is a chance for those who care about UVM athletics to make a real impact on the quality of our athletics facilities and the caliber of the student experience for athletes and non-athletes alike,” Corran said. “Every gift to athletics facilities will have a double impact as we strive to meet this million-dollar challenge.”

For further information, or to contribute, contact Ruth Henry, senior development officer for athletics, 802-656-3225, e-mail Ruth.Henry@uvm.edu.