Making a Difference

Providing students the opportunity to reach for the stars, Goal: $15 Million

The College’s General Scholarship and General Fellowship Funds are open and able to accept gifts of any size. One hundred percent of your gift to these funds will go to helping students in the College of Chemical and Life Sciences. Awards from these funds are provided for Fall, Spring, and Summer sessions as funds are present in the accounts. 

Examples: 

• Rattner Family Scholarship – Founded by alumnus Steve Rattner, DDS, this scholarship targets undergraduate students from underrepresented groups, transfer students, Shady Grove campus and first generation to go to College.
• Hockmeyer Endowment – With a generous annual gifts, Drs. Wayne T. and Mary T. Hockmeyer are growing a merit based fellowship for one or more graduate students in the College. Wayne Hockmeyer is a former member of the College's Board of Visitors and Mary Hockmeyer holds a PhD in Education from the University of Maryland.
• Hokenson Endowment – Edna O. Hokenson Ph.D. '66 created an endowed fellowship before her death in 2005. Having lost both her husband and her son to cancer, Hokenson became dedicated to her fellowship students in microbiology and immunology.

Ensuring our Faculty are Competitive with the Best,
Goal: $10 Million

The College’s existing faculty funds for Drs. Higgins, Jarvis, and Denno-Steinhauer are open to on-going donations. Endowed faculty funds are the crown jewels of any university as they enable the best faculty to have the resources to complete ground breaking research and teach with enthusiasm and cutting edge tools. Supporting faculty funds helps the entire university thrive.

Examples:

• Higgins Fund – Founded by alumnus Julius Hyatt, DD S, (Zoology ’80), this fund honors the legacy of Dr. William J. Higgins (pictured at right) by endowing a professorship in the Department of Biology. During his 34 years (and counting) as a faculty member in the Department of Biology (formerly Zoology), Dr.Higgins has guided countless students into successful careers through his teaching, advising, and mentoring.
• Nathan Drake Endowment – A generous seven figure pledge bequest from an anonymous donor will be used to create the Nathan Drake Endowment in Organic Chemistry. Dr. Nathan L. Drake was head of the university’s chemistry department from 1940 until 1959. He founded the Institute for Molecular Physics at Maryland in 1950.
• Bruce Jarvis Fund in Chemistry – founded by alumna Catherine North in honor of a favorite faculty mentor. Dr. Jarvis, who arrived at the University of Maryland in 1967 served as chair from XXX and impacted the lives of thousands of students as a researcher, teacher and mentor.

Creating an Environment of Excellence, Goal: $10 Million

The College has environment and facilities projects of all sizes. Smaller environmental projects that can be funded with Colonnade level donations, such as benches, laboratory equipment, and other capital projects are very important. Consider a gift in honor of a loved one that will progress the research and education of a Maryland student. The naming of spaces is an option in a range of levels from $1,000 to $15,000,000.

Examples:

• Doug Shaffer Analytical Chemistry Lab - The Douglas Kent Shaffer Analytical Chemistry Laboratory will benefit from the sustained support of a $50,000 endowment. “When professors apply for grants, they usually get money for big ticket items,” says Shaffer. “But they often don’t get funding for basic supplies and equipment that the students really need. I saw this as an area where my contribution would make a real difference.”
• Chemistry Courtyard Dr. George Helz – Enabled by a very generous contribution from Professor Emeritus George Helz, the courtyard outside of the Atrium was turned into a veritable garden. What was once dirt and gravel, is now a comfortable space for studying and outdoor gatherings.
• G. Forrest Woods Atrium – The Atrium was conceived as a place where students and faculty could gather. It has become a reality as a result of generous gifts from Anita Frazer, the widow of Professor G. Forrest Woods; the estate of Dr. and Mrs. Mark and Ruby Keeney; Dr. Catherine North; Drs. Paul and Dorothy Mazzocchi; Professors Millard Alexander, Philip DeShong, George Helz, Bruce Jarvis, William Walters and several other faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; and many others.

Supporting Innovation to Change the World Around Us, Goal: $5 Million

The campaign will raise needed funds to stimulate "big ideas" and support entrepreneurial programs and innovation, as well as provide the flexible, venture funding that enables the university and its schools, college, and programs, to act quickly and seize new opportunities.

Examples:

• Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder Research – The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees is a charitable research and education foundation organized with a mission of preserving and protecting honey bees to ensure a quality food supply and environment. A primary goal of the Foundation is to support studies in scientific and technical matters related to bees and their impact on agriculture. They provided their first ever grant to the Entomology Department in the wake of Colony Collapse Disorder in honeybees, an urgent national threat.
• The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Undergraduate Research Program – HHMI has selected the College of Chemical & Life Sciences at the University of Maryland as the recipient of four awards since 1992, totaling $6.7 million. Maryland was identified as an institution "with a demonstrable record in preparing students for graduate education and careers in research, teaching, or the practice of medicine.
• The Cohen Foundation of Maryland – The Cohen Foundation, established in 2006 by Brad and Margo Cohen, Smith School of Business Maryland alumni, to support worthy scientific research. The Foundation particularly focuses on heart disease and cancer research. Margo lost her father to sudden cardiac arrest in 2000. Brad's mother survived cancer, but his grandparents did not. The Cohen Foundation of Maryland chose a research program at The University of Maryland, College of Life Sciences to direct their funds, The Center for Biomolecular Structure and Organization directed by Dr. George Lorimer, a member of the National Academy of Sciences.