Posted on September 1, 2016
Partnering for Success
Gallaudet alumni are helping ensure the University’s students soon will have yet another way to make their Gallaudet education more affordable.
The Gallaudet University Alumni Association and the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation are partnering to create an endowed fund of $200,000 that will offer scholarships to Gallaudet students, in honor of the University’s sesquicentennial.
The Newcombe Foundation earlier this year pledged $100,000, contingent on the University matching that amount. The GUAA stepped up and pledged to match the full amount, to be contributed in $20,000 installments over the next five years.
“When the GUAA learned of the challenge from the Newcombe Foundation for a matching grant of $100,000, we did not hesitate to take up on this challenge,” said GUAA president Alyce Slater Reynolds, ’76 and G-’78. “This is one of the many ways Gallaudet alumni can express our thanks to the University.”
The GUAA has more than 20 funds that support students, alumni, and University operations as well as deaf culture and research. The partnership with the Newcombe Foundation to create a scholarship fund is just another way the GUAA and its alumni support Gallaudet and its mission.
The Newcombe Foundation is a longtime supporter of the University and contributes to three other funds that offer scholarships for students with disabilities, internship support, and students with financial need.
“I am very pleased that the University is continuing its long partnership with the Newcombe Foundation and that our alumni are a part of this. Gallaudet alumni are a vital part of ensuring the University continues to pursue its mission of providing deaf and hard of hearing students with a quality education,” President T. Alan Hurwitz said.
“The Newcombe Foundation has provided so many of our students with the support they need to earn their education here, and I’m thrilled that even more students will get those opportunities thanks to the foundation and GUAA,” he said.
Any Gallaudet student who is deaf and has a 3.0 GPA or better will be eligible for scholarships from the new Gallaudet University Alumni Association/Charlotte W. Newcombe Endowed Scholarship Fund, which are expected to become available in Fall 2015.
Representatives of the Newcombe Fund, including Executive Director Thomas Wilfrid and Diane Wilfrid, came to campus during Charter Day celebrations to sign the memorandum of understanding for the pledge.
Reynolds also signed a giant check for the GUAA’s $100,000 pledge as alumni attendees looked on during a reception to celebrate the GUAA’s 125th anniversary at the Gallaudet Reunion in July 2014.
The GUAA welcomes its members and other alumni to help with its pledge by donating.
The Class of 1964 became the first to support GUAA’s match, announcing at its Golden Anniversary Lunch during the Gallaudet Reunion that it would contribute to the fund.