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The Generosity of Friends

The annual ECSU Foundation, Inc., Golf Tournament on June 17, 2014, generated just under $70,000 with a full field of alumni, staff and friends in attendance. Chartwells once again served as the title sponsor, with Barnes & Noble College, First Niagara Private Client Services and Webster Bank serving as breakfast sponsors. Charter Business and Savings Institute Bank & Trust Company (SIBT) rounded out the list of lead sponsors.

Leadership Luncheon Recognizes Donors and Alumni
The President's Leadership Awards Luncheon, held in November 2013, recognized four people who have made exceptional contributions to Eastern, their local communities, the state of Connecticut, and beyond.

Marc Freeman '93 received the Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award, which recognizes outstanding leadership or professional success by Eastern graduates. Following an exemplary career at Eastern, Freeman earned his doctorate at Yale University and is now a leading neurobiologist researcher in the country as an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

For the first time since the award was established, the Hermann Beckert Friends of the University Award was presented to a corporation - accounting firm BlumShapiro. This firm has hired more Eastern graduates and provided more opportunities for accounting students than any other firm in the state.

Ann Marie Orza received the ECSU Foundation's Faculty Donor Award. For the past two decades, Orza has been one of the top donors to Eastern.

Edith Prague '65 was the recipient of the Alumni Association's Distinguished Service Award. Prague has been a leader in a variety of capacities, including being a teacher, social worker, state representative, state senator, executive, advocate and philanthropist. She is now the commissioner of the Connecticut Department on Aging.

Alumna Gives Back to Her Eastern Home
Anne Pisarko Mahalawich '44 found a home in Willimantic, when she transferred from the Connecticut College for Women to Willimantic State Teachers College. "I could live on campus and take a full load of classes for the same price that it cost to commute to Conn College." This past winter, Mahalawich established a $25,000 endowed scholarship to assist students graduating from Norwich Free Academy and planning to enroll at Eastern as freshmen.

Ossen Foundation Matches Three Science Scholarships
The Jeffrey P. Ossen Family Foundation has committed up to $30,000 per year for the next three fiscal years to match gift dollars for four scholarships that assist Eastern students planning careers in the sciences. They include the Sidney Vernon, MD, Endowed Scholarship, established in 2000 by Sheridan Vernon to honor the memory of his late father, Dr. Sidney Vernon. The scholarship is for a student with financial need who is studying physical science, biology, pre-professional programs or biochemistry, or in an individualized program related to medicine. The other scholarships include the Dr. Robert N. Horrocks and Dr. Daniel B. Switchenko Founders of HPE Endowed Fund, awarded to a student with financial need majoring in Physical Education or Sport and Leisure Management; the Dr. J. Donald McLaughlin Endowed Memorial Scholarship, established in 2014 by Dr. Robert Jennette, director of Student Health Services, in memory of the first physician at Eastern; and the Student Research Scholarship Fund, recently launched by Marc Freeman '93, a nationally recognized medical researcher and associate professor and vice chair of the Department of Neurology at UMass Medical School, and his wife, Amy Sheehan '93, with their substantial initial gift and multi-year pledge. This fund will support Eastern biology majors for research work or research internships-including room and board, research materials and stipends.

Bob Miller Scholarship
Fifty alumni, family and friends came back to Eastern on Jan. 18 to celebrate the creation of an endowed fund in honor of retired women's basketball coach C. Robert Miller. Earnings from the Robert Miller Endowed Women's Basketball Program Fund will support special travel, equipment and other needs of the women's basketball program.

Eastern Parent Sets the Bar
Barbara Kniffin Lapp, the mother of Eastern alumnus Charles Lapp '76 and a donor to Eastern for nearly 40 years, received the ECSU Foundation Donor-of-the-Year Award in absentia in November 2013. Mrs. Lapp and her husband Howard started the Howard S. Kniffin Scholarship in the 1970s. After Howard's death in the early 1980s and her subsequent marriage to Charles Lapp, Barbara and Charles continued to generously support the fund. The scholarship, endowed in 2002, is to assist students who excel in independent study.

The Office of Institutional Advancement achieved its goals and outcomes for FY 2014, closing FY14 with more than 2,075 alumni donors (highest total ever) and 3,700 total donors (second highest total ever). The ECSU Foundation awarded $600,000 to approximately 325 deserving students, an all-time high. Corporations and Foundations are increasing their support of the ECSU Foundation, Inc. focusing on initiatives aligned with the Strategic Plan including multi-year endowed scholarships; the Dual College Enrollment Program; and literacy initiatives in the Child and Family Development Resource Center. The SBM Charitable Foundation commitment of $234,000 over three years will bring corporate/foundation giving over the $1 million mark for the sixth consecutive fiscal year. A second "Music to Our Ears" scholarship event at Mohegan Sun, held in November 2013, generated more than $40,000 for scholarships. A full field of 132 bowlers participated in the annual March Bowlathon, generating $6,000 for local scholarships. Other Development Highlights in YY14 include:

Major Gifts

Dorothy Carlyle '56 and her husband Ron made a new $102,000 gift to their Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) that was established in 2008. The Carlyle's total giving is now $453,000. Susan and Kent McCray of Los Angeles, long-time supporters of Eastern's Theatre Program, committed to a $270,000 naming in the lobby of the new Fine Arts Instructional Center. Madeline Bernstein, also a loyal supporter of the arts at Eastern, agreeing to a $135,000 naming in the FAIC Black Box Theater. Luva Mead Hoar '42, the most senior ECSU Foundation Board member, gave $20,000 to her endowed scholarship as part of a pledge of $60,000 over three years, while Teresa James '49 made her eighth straight stock gift in the $10,000 range for the Carleton P. and Teresa H. James Endowed Scholarship started in 2006. Steve Watts, a current ECSU Foundation Board member, gave his fourth gift to the Lee B. Watts (Emeriti Faculty) Endowed Scholarship bringing the scholarship balance to $70,000. Steve also made a gift of $25,000 to start the Barbara Daring Memorial Endowed Scholarship for a student majoring in English. Mary Lou DeVivo '60 made a fourth straight gift of $10,000 for the Corbett/DeVivo Family Endowed Scholarship as part of her $50,000 pledge). Anne Mahalawich '43 gave $25,000 to start an endowed scholarship in her name to support students with financial need from Norwich Free Academy. Anne taught for more than 30 years for the Norwich Board of Education. The Nathan K. Williams Memorial Endowed Scholarship fund was started by his parents, Cliff and Susan, at the $32,000 level over four years.

A major multi-year grant of $269,200 in support of the Dual College Enrollment Program was secured in FY13 from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.