Donors and awards propel academics, athletics forward
Gifts, grants and endowments fuel TU’s ambitious vision for the future
By JAMIE ABELL on October 16, 2023
TU students and faculty feel the impact of donors and grants every day in their work on and off campus. Gifts, like those given during the RISE campaign and grants or endowments awarded from outside organizations, have funded academic innovation and new program development across campus, ensuring students and faculty have opportunities to pursue their passions. Check out the examples below.
College of Business and Economics
Edna Primrose ’84 honored her mother, Barbara Better, with a scholarship named in her honor: the Primrose-Better Scholarship, which supports College of Business and Economics students from Prince George’s County — like Primrose — who need financial aid.
John Eubank IV ’09, the youngest alum to endow a scholarship at TU, got through college thanks to scholarships and grants. Now he offers students the same opportunity with the John Eubank IV Scholarship for Excellence in Business and Information Technology.
College of Education
Leaders in Autism through Interdisciplinary Networking and Shared Competencies (Project LINC) is a $1.2 million grant awarded through the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs. Developed to increase the number and improve the quality of credentialed personnel who serve students with autism, it supplements an interdisciplinary training grant for 13 special education and 13 speech-language pathology graduate students.
The Kahlert Foundation has continued supporting teacher preparation at TU to meet the needs of the state’s growing population of English Language Learners (ELLs). Projects include linguistic diversity minor scholarships, the Emerging Leaders for Writing with Multilingual Students project, peer writing mentors and professional development workshops among others.
College of Fine Arts and Communication
The Rosenberg Distinguished Artist Endowment, a fund established in 1998 by The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation, provides students the opportunities to work with incredible visiting scholars to enhance their crafts and learn from successful artists.
The Kaplan Fund, established by Harold J. Kaplan, supports enriching experiences and professional training for students. Each year, students are supported in national and international travel to professional conferences, fellowships and residencies, where they gain real-world experience and networking opportunities in their disciplines.
College of Health Professions
Generous gifts from Alena and David M. Schwaber and James C. DiPaula Jr. ’86 created annual scholarships for 16 nursing students who serve as testaments to Towson University’s continued success as the leading provider of nurses in Maryland.
TU’s state-of-the-art hub for health care research and practice is opening in fall 2024 thanks to gifts and support from so many. The new College of Health Professions building will be 240,000 square feet, including collaborative classrooms, specialty labs, patient exam rooms, simulation labs and more.
College of Liberal Arts
TU is one of only a handful of higher education institutions nationwide that offers a certificate in Holocaust education, as well as programs and training significantly enhanced by private philanthropy. The certificate program provides students the knowledge and tools they need to understand the importance of the Holocaust, antisemitism, and the State of Israel to all people of modern society to modern society.
Donations from the RISE campaign funded a multiliteracy lab. This digital media laboratory will allow students opportunities to practice creating professional-level, multimodal works including writing, video, interactive presentations, app and website development and explore cutting-edge new media.
Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics
Barbara Hill and Ancelmo Lopes established the Hill-Lopes Scholars program, to improve the advancement and retention of women in STEM fields. The third cohort of Hill-Lopes scholars will complete the program in May 2024, advancing more than 30 women into STEM fields since the program began.
The Bridges to the Baccalaureate program received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, making it the largest grant received for the program. The program aims to change the face of the STEM workforce by supporting underrepresented minority students as they complete their associate degrees and transfer to a four-year institution to earn their Bachelor of Science in a STEM field.
Towson University Athletics
John B. Yingling’s ’71 commitment to TU athletics shines through his generous gifts to the South Campus Fields, Athletics Capital Projects (which support ongoing improvements to athletic facilities) and the TU football team. Understanding the value of academics to student-athletes, the Yingling family also supported additional gifts outside of athletics, including scholarships in the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics, the TU Fund and the College of Business and Economics.
Tom Beyard ’77 established the CSM (Ret.) Thomas B. Beyard ’77 Endowed Athletics Scholarship and also generously supported the Women’s Basketball Enhancement and Athletics Capital Projects funds. Beyard also helped grow the Robert J. Marchanti Endowed Scholarship. Outside of athletics, as a tribute to his mother, he also named the M. Louise Beyard RN Primary Care Clinic Simulation Suite in the new College of Health Professions building.
It’s Grants Season at TU!
Now’s the time to apply for your own grant opportunity. The Tall-Wiedefeld Society at Towson University is a collective of engaged community members who support positive change through philanthropy and education.
The Towson University Foundation (TUF) relies on the generosity of donors to make contributions to scholarships and fellowships, faculty development, research, outreach projects and other programs.