CAMPAIGN UPDATE
Theresia Hoeck, Hank Schaefer, Wolfgang Mieder
photo by Sally McCay
Schaefer Endowment: A Fitting Tribute
German was a first language for Hank Schaefer, who grew up near New York City the son of German immigrant parents. “My first English lesson was the day I started kindergarten in 1941,” he says. “It was a necessity.”
Schaefer’s parents had come to the United States seeking economic opportunity in the depths of the Great Depression, never intending to stay. But World War II changed that, and their son grew up a first-generation American. He never lost sight of his German heritage, however. Decades later, after a career in finance with IBM in Essex Junction, Vermont, he began taking German classes as a nontraditional-age student at UVM. “I spoke some German, but I couldn’t read or write it very well,” he says.
Schaefer, who earned his degrees at New York University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, says he’s been very impressed with his experience at UVM and everyone he’s met in the Department of German and Russian. So when he began to think about a way to honor the memory of his parents, he decided that providing support for the department’s top priorities would make for a fitting tribute. Schaefer shared his thoughts with his teacher, senior lecturer Theresia Hoeck, who put him in touch with the chair, Professor Wolfgang Mieder. Shortly thereafter came his $250,000 commitment establishing the Henry and Rosa Maria Schaefer Endowment Fund “to honor the memory of my parents and to promote the study of German language, culture and literature at the University of Vermont.”
“This was almost like lightning had struck us,” says Mieder of the department’s reaction to the gift. “It’s a dream come true.” Mieder says the Schaefer Endowment can be used in any number of ways, but “the most exciting part is that it will enhance our ability to provide scholarships for students to study abroad in one of the German-speaking countries.” When the endowment is fully funded over the next several years, Mieder says, it will roughly double the department’s capacity to offer that kind of support to students. Other possible uses of the funds include student attendance at German cultural events, support for student research projects, the purchase of instructional materials, student travel to professional conferences, and support for faculty research, publications, and other scholarly activities.
In addition to enriching the UVM experience for individual students, Mieder points out, by showcasing the extraordinary opportunities available to students in the Department of German and Russian, scholarships and research grants can help to recruit excellent students into the University and the department. “It helps us to be able to demonstrate that there are alumni and friends who provide this kind of support to a small but excellent program like ours,” he says.
Senior lecturer Theresia Hoeck says Schaefer’s “wonderful gift” will ensure that generations of UVM students can experience the transforming impact of study abroad and immersion in a culture other than their own. Another of Schaefer’s gifts, she says, is the simple fact of his presence in the classroom. “It is a very positive experience for students to learn along with someone outside their own age group,” she says. “Having Hank in class sends a wonderful message that learning never ends.”Beitzel Family Answers the Lintilhac Challenge
“There’s no better time to be affiliated with UVM than right now,” says Skip Beitzel ’76, who together with his sister Tish Beitzel Vredenburgh ’77 and brother David Beitzel ’80 established the Beitzel Family Scholarship as their family's gift to The Campaign for the University of Vermont.
“We’ve all been giving to the University right along, but we decided it was time to step it up a bit at this stage of our lives,” Beitzel says.
The Beitzels are making their Campaign gift in response to the Lintilhac Scholarship Challenge, which provides matching funds for donors who want to establish named, endowed scholarships. “The scholarship challenge really spurred us on,” Beitzel says.
The Beitzel Family Scholarship will be the first to carry the family name, though it is the second major scholarship gift from the family. Together with their parents Spike and Mary Lou Beitzel, the three Beitzel siblings also established the Ronald D. Suiter Endowed Scholarship Fund in 1990 to honor the memory of UVM’s former vice president for development and alumni relations.
Given the Campaign focus on scholarships, the Beitzels decided to direct their gift toward general scholarship support.
“The most important thing from my point of view is affordability,” says David Beitzel. “I’m a big supporter of unrestricted giving, especially when it comes to scholarships, given the cost of attending the better colleges today. We all had very positive experiences at UVM, and we’re happy to be able to help make that experience accessible to others.”
Tish Beitzel Vredenburgh points to the power of education to transform lives as one of the satisfactions of the family’s giving. “We all appreciate the value of the great education we received at UVM and its importance throughout our own lives,” she says. “It’s an honor to be able to help others realize the value of a high-quality education.”
McCree Family Scholarship Focuses on Leadership
For Don McCree ’83, it’s leadership that matters most in organizations. He should know. As a member of the Executive Committee at JPMorgan Chase, he has a key role on the leadership team for an organization with assets of more than $1 trillion and operations in more than 50 countries. Leadership has been a consistent theme in McCree’s life going at least as far back as his days as a student at UVM. He held a number of leadership positions with the Student Government Association and was one of a group of ’80s students to participate in a Leadership College that focused on helping students to develop their leadership abilities.
Today, McCree wants to help a new generation of UVM students to emerge as leaders in their chosen fields. He and his wife Gabrielle have made a gift to The Campaign for the University of Vermont establishing the McCree Family Scholarship Fund, which will provide annual scholarship awards to students with proven leadership potential.
“I’ve always been interested in what makes people develop into the broad-based leaders we need to run our organizations and institutions,” he says. “It’s an exciting thing to be involved in, and Gabby and I are thrilled to be doing it.”
McCree says today’s University of Vermont provides an excellent example of the benefits of effective leadership. “I think President Fogel has done an absolutely fantastic job reinvigorating the University with a strategic focus reaching across a wide range of issues,” he says. “The most impressive thing has been the clarity of strategic thinking and a long-term vision married with a strong communications plan to move the University forward.”
Charting our progress
through April 2006
(for UVM staff)