EIU Hosts Annual Endowment Tea for Donors, Recipients
Apr-29-2009
Eastern Illinois University recently held its annual Endowment Tea to recognize endowment donors and to allow them to meet with those who have benefited from their gifts in the past year.
“This annual event is highly anticipated by our endowment donors,” said Karla J. Evans, EIU executive director of philanthropy. “It offers them the opportunity to see the tangible outcomes of their philanthropy.”
Jill Nilsen, EIU's vice president for external relations, welcomed guests and introduced the emcee, Jennifer Ketchmark, a 2006 graduate of EIU who is now a weather forecaster on WCIA-TV in Champaign.
Tresica Davis, a senior management major from Newman, spoke on behalf of scholarship recipients. During her career at Eastern, the first-generation college student has received several scholarships and worked in the Office of Philanthropy.
Tim Gover, a professor emeritus from the EIU School of Business who is now president of the EIU Foundation, spoke about being honored with a scholarship endowment by one of his former students.
Jacqueline Joines, director of philanthropy for the Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences, spoke about a new endowment fund created by C. Roger Sorensen, a 1949 graduate of EIU. Sorensen, who had already created three scholarships at EIU, recently created a new scholarship endowment (the Sorensen Completion of Degree Scholarship) and a new fund endowment (the Sorensen Supplemental Instruction Program Endowment).
Kenneth Hadwiger, a professor emeritus from the Department of Communication Studies and dean emeritus of the Graduate School, spoke about his recent establishment of the Kenneth E. Hadwiger Ph.D. Graduate Scholarship. Hadwiger, who is CEO of Hadwiger Consulting, previously established the Kenneth E. Hadwiger Ph.D. Undergraduate Scholarship.
EIU President William L. Perry also spoke to attendees about the importance of scholarship endowments.
The event was held in the concourse of the university's new Doudna Fine Arts Center.
