Donor Profile

Barbara Hill and Ancelmo Lopes

The Hill-Lopes Scholars Program at TU was recently created and funded by Baltimore couple Barbara Hill and Ancelmo Lopes to advance and retain women in the STEM workforce. Each are retired with backgrounds in health care management and administration, and both remain active on various boards.

WHY WE CHOSE TU

While trying to decide which universities to approach with this program, we were driving up York Road and saw the sign for the Science Complex being built. We didn’t know TU had a science program or how much the university already had going on in STEM. It was the construction sign that made us pick up the phone and call. We’re very happy to have connected with TU, to have realized the amount of exciting programmatic work going on and to have met all the talented people here.

WHAT WE ENJOY MOST ABOUT WORKING WITH TU

The faculty didn’t design our program and present it to us; we feel as though we designed it together. It was a very welcoming, positive experience. The excitement and the passion from faculty in support of this program is palpable.

WHAT WE HOPE STUDENTS GAIN FROM OUR PROGRAM

We want to create a community for women interested in STEM that makes them feel supported and encouraged, and introduces them to all kinds of exciting activity. It will be wonderful to see graduates with STEM degrees use this program to propel themselves into interesting jobs or into postgraduate programs.