Virginia Kettering
Kettering Fund Donates $1 Million to SOM
Virginia Kettering and the Kettering Fund have endowed a $1 million scholarship for geriatric medical education in the School of Medicine.
The E. W. Kettering Family Scholarship for Geriatric Medicine will encourage students to make a two-year commitment to practice medicine in a primary care discipline that provides health care for the geriatric population in the Dayton area.
"Over the years, the Ketterings have consistently identified community needs and initiated ways to meet them," says President Harley Flack. "Mrs. Kettering and the Kettering Fund, once again, have identified a critical issue in our community, and this $1 million gift gives a sense of urgency to the issue and enables Wright State to provide leadership in medical education."
An initial $100,000 from the endowment will provide $25,000 scholarships to four students this fall. Each year thereafter, two $25,000 scholarships will be awarded.
Private Gifts to WSU Exceed Goal for 199596 Fiscal Year
Private support for Wright State University topped the $2.7 million mark last year, surpassing the $2.3 million goal by 16 percent.
"This reflects one of the stronger years for private support of the university over the past decade," says Dr. Jack B. Fistler, vice president for advancement and president of the WSU Foundation. "It represents an important endorsement of the university and its programs."
Private gifts help fund university scholarships, outreach programs, research, and academic and student programs often not supported by public funds. All private gifts to the university are channeled through the WSU Foundation.
"Last year's success is a result of a real partnership throughout the entire year," adds Fistler. "It reflects the efforts of a wide array of individuals: from the president; to the deans and directors across campus; to the volunteers who serve on the Board of Trustees, the Foundation and Alumni Association Boards; and to the faculty and staff."
Highlights of the year include an 11 percent increase in alumni giving, with over 400 new alumni added to the foundation's honor roll. Major gifts included the establishment of three new endowed scholarships and a $78,000 gift will fund renovation of the Celebration Theatre in the Creative Arts Center. Corporate giving activities included the fourth annual Corporate Appeal, launched last April, in which more than 100 volunteers from the business community raised over $500,000 in commitments by soliciting their peers to support Wright State University.
"The results of the 1995-96 year provide a sound platform to move forward in the future to increase private contributions and to plan a major capital campaign," says Fistler. "It reflects the confidence that our supporters have in Wright State and the prominent role it plays in the Miami Valley."
WSU Receives Gift From Schardt Estate for Scholarships
| The Wright State University Foundation received $71,000 this fall from the estate of Truman Schardt, a native of Chicago who spent the last 30 years of his life in Dayton. Schardt, who died in 1995 at the age of 86, stip-ulated in his will that his bequest be used to provide scholarships for needy students. | The Truman O. Schardt Memorial Scholarship will award a minimum of two scholarships a year for the next ten years to continuing students who have documented financial need and are in good academic standing with the university. The first scholarships will be awarded in the fall of 1997. |
J. Lance Cavanaugh
Cavanaugh Named AVP of Development
J. Lance Cavanaugh was named assistant vice president of university development last August. In this post, Cavanaugh has primary management responsibility for the university's fundraising programs, overseeing major and planned gifts, annual giving, corporate and foundation relations, and fundraising efforts of the colleges, schools, intercollegiate athletics, and other departments. In addition, he works closely with the Wright State University Foundation Board of Trustees.
"I look forward to Lance's leadership of the development team," says Jack B. Fistler, vice president for advancement. "With his wealth of talent and 17 years of experience in institutional advancement, he plays a major role in laying the foundation for a major campaign."
Cavanaugh came to WSU from Beloit College in Wisconsin, where he was director of development and gift planning for four years. While he was there, Beloit received over $50 million in gifts and pledges for the college's capital campaign. From 1984 to 1992, Cavanaugh was director of development at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.