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‘Great People’ initiative moves faculty, staff

April 8, 2009 By Chris DuPre

The Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, proposed by Chancellor Biddy Martin, has as one of its main planks increased private support for need-based financial aid.

Funds from that giving would complement a percentage of revenue from increased tuition to assist students from lower financial brackets.

UW–Madison faculty and staff have heard that call, and actually anticipated it. Through the Great People Faculty Staff Scholarship Initiative, employees are making peer-to-peer appeals encouraging gifts to support undergraduates.

“While the chancellor’s initiative will provide funds for families with middle and lower incomes to offset these costs, the Great People initiative underlines our message that the cost of a UW–Madison education is steadily increasing, making it harder for students from lower-income families to come to school here,” says Ann Hoyt, professor and consumer cooperative specialist in the School of Human Ecology, chair of the University Committee and co-chair of the Great People initiative. “National trends indicate this will continue to be the case for many years to come. It is important that we begin providing access not only for students now, but for students of the future.”

The Faculty Staff Great People Scholarship Initiative began with a resolution from the Faculty Senate, followed by Academic Staff Assembly and classified staff approval. The UW Foundation is matching gifts for student support for the first time. The match is 1 to 1 for campuswide, unrestricted scholarships, and 1 to 2 for college or school scholarships.

In the first “quiet phase,” the UW Credit Union matched gifts, and the combined total was eligible for the UW Foundation matches. Faculty and staff made gifts of all sizes and established several endowed funds during that period, which ended Dec. 31. So far, the effort has resulted in about $850,000 in contributions from faculty and staff, with matches raising the total to almost $1.7 million.

“This initiative has a goal, and that is that no one’s dream of a quality education at the UW–Madison goes unrealized for want of money,” says assistant chief of police Dale Burke, one of the initiative’s co-chairs. “For 30 years now, I’ve looked into the faces of incoming freshmen and their parents many times and cannot think of any better gift that we could give than the opportunity for more families to experience that same excitement, energy and hope that a UW–Madison education offers.

“The best and brightest should be our only standard, not the best, brightest and most able to afford,” he adds. “A declining economy does not make this a bad time to raise money for need-based financial aid; it makes it the most essential time to do so. Failing to make sure all of our children have access to the best education possible will only serve to magnify the negative effects of today’s economy. We cannot fail in this important effort because our children and our children’s children are depending on us.”

During the “quiet phase,” faculty and academic staff in the Department of Bacteriology leveraged the UW Credit Union match to establish an endowed scholarship, as did faculty and staff in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

“We thought that the gift would help students attend college and serve to send a message about our department,” professor and chair Jo Handelsman says about the Department of Bacteriology’s scholarship. “My colleagues are a very, very generous group of people, so it seemed appropriate to send that message to students. This is a department that cares about students and cares about providing access to all qualified students.”

The UW Credit Union and UW Foundation matches certainly played a role. “If we reached the overall goal of $50,000, the scholarship could have the department’s name on it,” Handelsman says. “If we pooled our resources, we could achieve the double match, which not all of us could do individually.”

She gave encouragement to those who are on the fence about making a gift to the Great People Faculty Staff Initiative. “This initiative engages the entire university community, acknowledges large and small contributions, and supports the most important members of the university: the students,” Handelsman says. “In this era when many families are struggling to send their children to college, it is the responsibility of those of us who know the importance of a college education to provide it as teachers and facilitate it as philanthropists.”

Susan Crowley, director of Campus Health Initiatives and Prevention Services, chair of the Academic Staff Assembly and a co-chair of the Great People initiative, agrees that this is the right effort at the right time.

“Qualified students should not be denied the opportunity to earn a college degree due to lack of financial aid,” she says. “Families are under significant pressure to manage expenses in a difficult financial period. A degree in higher education is not an expendable item. While not all students will need the same amount of aid, need-based financial aid will mean the difference for many students and their families in their decisions to pursue a college degree.

“The quality of life for all of us is affected by the quality of life of others in our communities.” Crowley adds. “Supporting college participation is a community and statewide responsibility.”

As the Faculty Staff Initiative moves into a higher profile, Hoyt says she is witnessing the excitement building.

“It is truly inspiring to see the enthusiasm for the initiative throughout the campus,” she says. “It’s bringing us together as a community of the whole, all committed to assuring access for students. In this campaign we aren’t plumbers, secretaries, police, bookkeepers, coaches, professors, custodians, administrators and many others. We’re all just people who believe in the value of a college education and want to be sure that everyone who’s qualified has a chance to get one.”