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by Sally McCay
Record
50th Reunion Gift To Fund Lecture Series, Scholarships
My memories are so vivid of my school years that it is truly hard
to believe fifty years have gone by,
Dan Burack 55 writes to his former classmates as their 50th Reunion
celebration approaches. It has been my pleasure and distinct honor
to serve UVM in various capacities through the years and now to be in
a position to give something back.
That something, it turns out, is a major gift from Dan and
Carole Burack, the largest individual 50th Reunion gift in UVM history.
The bulk of the gift will be used to endow the Dan and Carole Burack Distinguished
Lecture Series, and the remainder will endow a scholarship fund, probably
in the College of Education and Social Services, says Burack,
whose son Adam graduated from UVM in 1985 and is currently a high school
teacher. Im a believer that the best legacy we can leave to
the next generation is a good educational system. Ensuring that were
educating excellent teachers is essential. Carole Burack is also
a former teacher.
The Distinguished Lecture Series was started by President Daniel Mark
Fogel during his first year as UVM president in 2002-2003 and was included
as a naming opportunity in the ongoing Campaign for the University of
Vermont. I thought immediately of the Visiting Professor Program
that Professor Milton Nadworny helped bring to the Economics Department
during my years at UVM and how that helped to expand our perspectives
as students, Burack says. Carole and I thought that endowing
the lecture series would be a good way to ensure this kind of intellectual
enrichment will always be a part of students experience at UVM.
Burack has served the UVM Alumni Association in a number of volunteer
capacities over the years, including three years as national alumni chairman,
and received the Alumni Associations Distinguished Service Award
in 1986. He and Carole have also agreed to serve on the National Campaign
Steering Committee for The Campaign for the University of Vermont.
Burack says hes very much looking forward to connecting with former
UVM classmates at their 50th Reunion in June, particularly those from
the Phi Sigma Delta fraternity, which he says gave me a direction,
a purpose, a maturity, and a group of life-long friends. Many of
them will reunite at Reunion where a healthy PhiSig turnout is anticipated.
Faculty
and Staff Campaign Hitting Its Stride
Participation is the watchword for UVMs Faculty and Staff Campaign,
ongoing throughout the 2004-2005 academic year under the banner of The
Campaign for the University of Vermont. Its not the dollar amount
raised but the number of faculty and staff donors that will measure the
success of this phase of the Universitys largest-ever fundraising
effort.
A Faculty and Staff Campaign Committee was formed early in the year to
guide and promote the campaign, taking as its theme Giving Back
to Our Community. The campaign has undertaken a number of initiatives
in that spirit to keep its goals and priorities before the faculty and
staff community. In the fall, passers-by on the University Green were
treated to free Ben and Jerrys Peace Pops, and one frigid January
morning, faculty and staff enjoyed a free hot cup of coffee, courtesy
of Sodexho food service, served up in a travel mug bearing the campaign
logo. Every faculty and staff member also received printed and email invitations
to participate in the campaign, the latter with a link to an online Faculty
and Staff Campaign video. Another promotion is planned in conjunction
with this springs annual Sugar-on-Snow Party on the portico of the
Bailey/Howe Library (hosted by the Maple History Committee of the Vermont
Maple Industry Council).
As of mid-March, 456 faculty and staff members had contributed to the
Faculty and Staff Campaign, which wraps up on June 30 of this year.
UVMs
Fidelity Family Supports Boston Campaign
The Green and Gold are very much in evidence at Bostons Fidelity
Investments, with about 70 UVM alumni, parents, and friends employed at
the leading financial services firm. The strength of those ties was made
apparent by the generosity of alumni who attended a UVM-Fidelity Networking
Reception in Boston, which kicked off an effort that to date has raised
some $180,000 on behalf of The Campaign for the University of Vermont.
The event was organized by Fidelity employees Chuck Black 82, senior
vice president and head of Consultant Relations ; Amy Carmusin 85,
senior product manager, Brokerage Legal; Tim Cohen 91, portfolio
manager; and Marianne Herlihy 76, vice president, Marketing Strategy
and immediate past chair of UVMs Boston Regional Board.
We knew we had a fairly large contingent of UVMers at Fidelity,
but it was fascinating to see just how extensive a circle it is,
says Chuck Black of the organizing effort. We found connections
throughout the corporation and then went to work on bringing those people
together to benefit the University and the campaign.
Thanks to Fidelitys generous matching gift policy for educational
institutions, up to $4,500 in gifts to UVM can be matched per employee
per year.
Black and his wife Wendy 83 wanted their gift to advance the campaigns
goal for student scholarships, the top priority. They established the
Chuck and Wendy Black Endowed Scholarship Fund to provide annual support
for students in the College of Arts and Sciences or the College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences, with preference to students from the greater Boston
area. We have both been the beneficiaries of scholarships,
says Black. In conjunction with matching gifts from Fidelity Investments
and the Lintilhac Scholarship Challenge, we want to provide access for
deserving students to receive the same high-quality UVM education we enjoyed.
Chuck and Wendy Blacks son Andy will continue the family's UVM connections
when he enters as a first-year student in fall of 2005.
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