CAMPAIGN UPDATE
Martha Wright '89 and Sally Hackett '56
photo by Sally McCay
First Annual Scholarship Luncheon
“Support for scholarships is the engine that will drive our forward momentum in the decade ahead, ensuring our ability to recruit and retain an exceptionally talented student body and providing the fiscal leverage needed to advance virtually every other aspect of our vision for all that UVM can be. In short, scholarships make everything possible.”
These words from UVM President Daniel Mark Fogel set the tone for the University’s first annual Scholarship Luncheon held October 6 at the Wyndham Hotel during Homecoming and Family Weekend. Approximately 240 guests were in attendance, including some ninety students and their scholarship sponsors.
Emcee for the event was Janet E. Terp ’80, associate dean for administration at Dartmouth College and president of the University of Vermont Alumni Council. Speakers also included students and scholarship recipients Eric D. Little ’07 (James and Judith Pizzagalli Scholar, Vermont Scholar, Vermont Community Service Scholar) and Asenett Rosario ’08 (JetBlue Scholar), alumnus and scholarship donor George E. “Skip” Beitzel ’76 (Beitzel Family Scholarship), and closing remarks by President Fogel.
The luncheon provided an opportunity for donors and scholarship recipients to get together and share their heartfelt thoughts on the value of scholarships to recipients, donors, and to society at large “It meant so much to me just to be there and to have that personal contact with the students,” said Patricia Haron Pizzagalli ’05, who with her sister, Sally Tourville, established the Beatrice H. Haron Scholarship Fund in recognition of their mother's dedication to the nursing profession. I know they appreciate the support, and I hope that eventually, when they’re in a position to give back, they’ll help others in the same way.”
Montana Burns ’08, a recipient of the Barbara Potwin Rhodes Memorial Scholarship, summed up the sentiments of most of the students in attendance. “Encouragement is key to the opportunity and incentive to achieve,” she said. “I must say this relationship of donor to recipient is a special one.”
More than a few tears of joy were shed—by donors and students alike—and the theme “Building the Future Together” captured the spirit that prevailed.
Jan and David Blittersdorf
Scholarships for environmental sustainability
“Technology in service to the planet” is how NRG Systems of Hinesburg, Vermont, describes its wind energy measurement systems for the global wind energy industry. It’s one of a number of earth-friendly themes prominent in the company’s promotional literature and website, which show a company and a management committed to environmental sustainability and the well-being of employees while thriving in a competitive global business arena.
Jan ’84 and David Blittersdorf ’81 are the owners of NRG Systems, a husband-and-wife team who met and married while UVM students and turned their commitment to the environment into one of Vermont’s most-often-told Vermont small business success stories.
Started in 1982 as a continuation of work on wind turbines that formed the basis of David’s senior design project in mechanical engineering, NRG products today are sold to a client base in more than 115 countries, on every continent, serving electric utilities, wind farm developers, research institutes, government agencies, universities, and wind turbine manufacturers. The company’s 46,000-square-foot manufacturing facility recently received gold LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its environmental and energy-saving design. It is the first gold and the highest LEED-certified building in Vermont and one of only four manufacturing facilities in the world to receive this designation. UVM recently adopted a green building policy that commits the University to design all major new construction and renovation projects in conformity with LEED standards.
True to their commitment to environmental awareness and “walking the walk” to encourage the next generation of environmental stewards, the Blittersdorfs have announced that they will establish a scholarship fund through the Lintilhac Scholarship Challenge at UVM. The Blittersdorf Scholarship Fund will provide annual scholarship assistance based on need and merit to students who are studying environmental sustainability at UVM.
“Jan and I had been wanting to do something for UVM for some time,” David says. “We’re very supportive of what the University is doing to become one of the country’s foremost environmental universities, and the scholarship is our way of helping out.”Thanks millions
New York Campaign exceeds goal
The New York phase of The Campaign for the University of Vermont has exceeded its $20 million goal, with some $22,066,125 in gifts and pledges to the Campaign received through November 2006.
Launched with an elegant event at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, in September 2005, the New York Campaign received strong support from some 3,775 members of the UVM community.
“We couldn’t have had a more dedicated and committed group of volunteers to help the University move ahead on a bold and inspiring vision for UVM’s future,” New York Campaign Committee Chair Max Ansbacher ’57 wrote in a letter to New York-area donors and volunteers. “The Campaign’s overall $250 million objective is now clearly in sight, thanks in no small part to the alumni, parents and friends in and around New York who showed their enthusiastic support at the dawn of an exciting new era in UVM history . . . On behalf of the New York Regional Campaign Committee, my sincere thanks go to all who responded to our call to support UVM in its most ambitious fundraising campaign ever.”
The University expressed its thanks to New York-area alumni, parents, and friends with a display ad in the Sunday, October 8, 2006, edition of The New York Times, under the headline, “Vermont to the New York Region: ‘Thanks Millions.’”Charting our progress
through December 31, 2006
(for UVM staff)