CAMPAIGN UPDATE
College of Medicine receives $6.8 million gift for loan fund
A generous estate gift from Burlington native Elinor B. Tourville Bennett will establish a perpetual, no-fee, no-interest loan fund for Vermont students at the University of Vermont College of Medicine.
The Elinor Tourville Bennett Charitable Trust will provide annual income to the College of Medicine that will be made available as loans to students who are Vermont residents, with a minimum payback period of ten years after the student has completed residency training.
“This loan fund—made possible by the extraordinary generosity and foresight of Elinor Bennett—will impact the education of Vermont medical students in perpetuity,” said UVM College of Medicine Interim Dean John P. Fogarty, M.D. “This will allow students to more easily manage the burden of educational debt during their earlier years as physicians.”
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the reported average 2006 graduate indebtedness at UVM’s College of Medicine was $134,306.
The new loan fund joins the Freeman Medical Scholars Program as a significant form of financial assistance to medical students at UVM. The Freeman program, established by the Freeman Foundation, offers $10,000 annual scholarships to UVM medical students who make a commitment to practice in Vermont after completing medical school and residency training.
Mrs. Bennett was born in Burlington on May 6, 1920, the daughter of the owners of a Cadillac dealership on North Avenue. A 1938 graduate of Burlington High School, she worked for years as a dental assistant in the Burlington area. Her home on the lake on Appletree Point was built by her father in 1930. In 1960, she married Wilfred Tourville, who passed away in 1969. Then in 1976, she married Thomas Bennett, who died in 1979.
Mrs. Bennett was a Florida resident beginning in the 1970s, but she retained a strong affinity for Burlington and considered Vermont her home. She always returned to her Appletree Point property during the summer.
Formerly a member of the Burlington Theater Club and active in her church and community, Mrs. Bennett endured a series of health issues during the twenty years before her death on June 25, 2006. The positive experiences and relationships she developed with the physicians who cared for her during that time inspired her to bequeath most of her estate to the College of Medicine.
Mrs. Bennett’s closest friend, South Burlington resident and Overhead Door Company owner Rita Johnson, first met the former Elinor Bergeron through her sister when they were children. But it was not until Mrs. Bennett suffered a stroke in 1994 that they became close.
“I admired her inner strength,” Johnson said. “She had a lot of faith in her doctors and was very pleased that her gift would help people who wanted to be doctors.”
James M. Jeffords Institute on Educational Excellence
Throughout a distinguished political career spanning nearly four decades, retired United States Senator James M. Jeffords (I-Vt) has been a champion for educational causes in the Senate and an effective advocate for the University of Vermont when it came to funding the educational initiatives he so strongly believes in.
For the past year, Senator Jeffords has served as a James Marsh Professor at Large at UVM, working in affiliation with students and faculty in the College of Education and Social Services and UVM’s National Institute on Leadership, Disability, and Students Placed at Risk.
Now, thanks to a generous gift of assets valued at approximately $1 million from the Jeffords for Vermont Committee, the former senator’s principal campaign committee, the University is establishing the James M. Jeffords Institute on Educational Excellence, to be housed in the College of Education and Social Services on the Trinity Campus.
“The College of Education and Social Services is privileged to be the home for the Jeffords Institute,” said Dean Fayneese Miller. “The Institute will become an integral part of the College and the University’s efforts to develop policy and provide leadership for education initiatives that will improve the lives of children in Vermont and across the nation. There is much work that needs to be done, and the Jeffords Institute will be an active and major contributor in these areas as we move further into the twenty-first century.”
Dean Miller said the purpose of the Jeffords Institute is to engage in activities that promote the preparation of teacher leaders, administrators, and policy makers in developing programs, policies, and practices that lead to positive outcomes for children and youth. Initial emphasis will be on early childhood education, literacy, and youth development. Another major focus will be on the interconnectivity of education with the environment and health.
“Senator Jeffords has been a life-long champion of policy initiatives and investments for the well-being and educational success of children,” said President Daniel Mark Fogel. “Following his exemplary service as U.S. Senator, the University of Vermont is proud to be able to work with him on the next stage of his service to the children of Vermont and the nation.”Vermont Regional Campaign exceeds goal
It seemed a daunting challenge at the outset: $10 million to be raised from Vermont alumni, parents, friends, and businesses during the final twelve months of The Campaign for the University of Vermont.
But as the deadline approached and the number of donors to the Vermont Regional Campaign swelled to 13,000 and beyond, it was clear that the goal would not only be met, but also exceeded by at least $4 million. The final total was yet to be announced as Vermont Quarterly went to press.
“We couldn’t be more pleased by the response of Vermonters to this regional effort,” said Frank Cioffi ’77, co-chair of the Vermont Regional Campaign Committee. “The results add up to a strong vote of confidence by Vermonters that UVM is vital to the social and economic fabric of our communities. Vermonters are proud of their University.”
Gifts were received from every corner of the state and represented the wide diversity of constituents served by UVM.
“We were very fortunate to have an energetic and very effective Vermont Regional Campaign Committee working with us on UVM’s behalf,” co-chair Penrose Jackson ’70 said. “Not only did we have one hundred percent giving participation from the committee, but individual committee members went out in their communities and secured some very significant gifts. I think this is a model we can build on for the future.”
(for UVM staff)