Oregon Sen. Cliff Trow and JoAnne Trow have sponsored outstanding students like Aaron Kau, ’04, since the Presidential Scholarship Program began in 1983.

Recruiting the best and the brightest
Donor-funded OSU Presidential Scholarship Program
By Steven Lont

Imagine for a moment that you are a high-achieving high school senior
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You’ve taken the SAT and done well; you’ve written your college application essays; and you’re sure your GPA is good enough to get you into some of the very best schools in the country. You’ve already visited your top choices, and those schools have followed up with phone calls reassuring you of the quality of their programs and their desire to have you attend. Your applications are in the mail.

Now, you’ve got nothing to do but wait. And what an agonizing wait it is. But slowly, responses come in. You learn that a big envelope is good news; a small one is bad. Yale said yes, but so did Stanford, Michigan, Washington and Oregon State. Some offers are accompanied by big financial aid packages; some come with very little.

You begin to realize there is a difference between schools that really want you and ones that merely accept you. What good is admission to an Ivy League school if you can’t afford to go?
If you’re like a lot of high school students, scholarships become the principal deciding factor. And Oregon State’s Presidential Scholarship Program takes aim at helping these students choose OSU.

But OSU is not alone in its recruiting efforts. Colleges and universities across the nation are competing for Oregon’s top high school seniors, students like Douglas Van Bossuyt, ’05 (A-dec, Inc. Presidential Scholar), who excelled at Newberg High School and came to OSU on a Presidential Scholarship.

He began the college application process by visiting some of the best engineering schools in the country. Initially, he thought he’d go to Cal Poly, like his uncle. He visited the school and then made a trip to MIT. Both schools actively recruited him with letters and phone calls. The Rochester Institute of Technology (where he didn’t even apply) heard about his potential from his participation on the Newberg High School robotics team and made him an offer out of the blue.

All to no avail — Van Bossuyt chose OSU.

Why? Two reasons: While visiting OSU’s College of Engineering, Van Bossuyt discovered its excellent programs and, on top of that, OSU offered a superb financial aid package. Simply put, OSU’s scholarships (the bulk of which was a $24,000/four-year Presidential Scholarship) in conjunction with OSU’s modest in-state tuition means he can study what he wants at virtually no cost.

"The other schools could have meant accumulating up to $35,000 in debt, and for what?" Van Bossuyt said. "With the OSU scholarships, I can get the same level of engineering education and graduate with no debt."

Similarly, OSU recruited Becky Thomas, ’05 (Hawkin & Dorothy Au Presidential Scholar), a top student from Tualatin High School, with a Presidential Scholarship offer before college applications to other schools were due. For her, this meant she had little incentive to apply to the University of Washington, Willamette University and Linfield College, as she had planned.
"The cost of those schools is so much higher. Now, because of the Presidential Scholarship, I’ll be able to consider graduate school much sooner because I won’t have to worry about student loans." Thomas is majoring in business administration and plans to earn an MBA.

Admissions officials say thousands of others like Bossuyt and Thomas include OSU among their top college choices, and OSU is enticing many with Presidential Scholarships.

This is what the program is designed to do, says Oregon State University President Paul Risser. "We need to attract the very best students as part of our overall effort to continually boost the quality of the university. The Presidential Scholarship Program is an important aspect of that effort."

Risser says these scholarships have helped drive the high school GPA of the incoming freshmen class to 3.53, which is thought to be an all-time high for an Oregon public university.
"Top students bring more than good grades and good study habits," Risser says. "They, in a very direct way, push others in their classes to achieve. When you teach a class with a few exceptional students, you find that the level of discussion of the entire class rises. High achieving students lift the bar, and their peers rise to meet the challenge. These students are as important as having excellent professors in the classroom."

He notes that private donors are greatly responsible for this positive change. "I thank our donors," he says. "Their commitments to scholarships and to the Presidential Scholarship Program in particular are transforming this campus."

The program transforms lives as well. The growing number of alumni who came to OSU on Presidential Scholarships consistently say their studies at OSU have made all the difference in the world.

OSU Presidential Scholar and Rhodes Scholar Debra Walt Johnson, ’95	Presidential Scholar and U.S. Air Force Maj. William Danskine, ’88

Debra Walt Johnson, ’95 (E. G. Drew Memorial Presidential Scholar), an engineering graduate who received the Rhodes Scholarship, quickly climbed the corporate ladder, becoming a senior manager for two leading technology companies, Nortel Networks and Solectron, Inc. "I wouldn’t have received the Rhodes Scholarship and gone on to such a successful career without having gone to OSU," Johnson said. "I had the opportunity to attend Ivy League schools and I know that OSU offered me many more rich experiences than those schools could have. At OSU, I designed and taught a freshmen class, played in the symphonic band, and participated in Mortar Board and in other honor societies. These experiences were key in shaping me into who I am now."

Hundreds of other Presidential Scholars have taken their OSU education and soared — in some cases, quite literally.

Currently stationed in Stuttgart, Germany, former Presidential Scholar Maj. William Danskine, ’88 (Earle A. Chiles Memorial Presidential Scholar), oversees the Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Office of the United States European Command Headquarters. Prior to this assignment, he flew the RC-135 "Rivet Joint" reconnaissance aircraft on missions all over the world. Maj. Danskine, who is scheduled to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in May 2002, says he owes a lot to OSU and the Presidential Scholarship Program.

"Without the OSU Presidential Scholarship, it is doubtful I would have attended OSU or their outstanding ROTC program, and I could not have taken that first step along this wonderful career I now enjoy. I owe my donor, Mr. Chiles, many thanks."

For some, the opportunity of attending OSU through a Presidential Scholarship fostered relationships that last to this day.

Presidential Scholars Anne Talbott Goetze, ’87, and Michael Goetze, ’88	Anita Summers with her Presidential Scholar Shari Fluter, ’01, at the 1998 Donor-Scholar Dinner

Michael Goetze, ’88 (Norm & Delores Winningstad Presidential Scholar), the operations manager for DW Fritz Automation in Portland, knows his life would have been very different without the Presidential Scholarship. He had been accepted to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and already had his dorm assignment when the letter announcing his Presidential Scholarship came.

"That made me stop and think," Goetze said. "I could have traveled to New York and paid lots of money or stay here for almost nothing. Because I stayed here, I’ve made lots of contacts professionally and with other Presidential Scholars — those connections have really paid off. I work for a family-owned company with OSU ties, and I even married a Presidential Scholar!"
His wife, Anne Talbott Goetze, ’87 (Nancy & Robert Chandler Presidential Scholar), a registered dietitian for the Oregon Dairy Council, agrees with his approval of the program.

"The personal approach and mentoring, which the Presidential Scholarship Program offers, are valuable and unique for students and donors," she says. "It’s a great way to keep people involved with the university, and it’s great for the students. The Presidential Scholars I have known have gone on to become leaders in their professions and are making valuable contributions to society."

These leaders include Daren Coppock, ’90 (Eric Lindauer Presidential Scholar), CEO of the National Wheat Growers Association; Josh Gray, ’95 (Earle A. Chiles Memorial Presidential Scholar), vice president of engineering for Centricity Software; Elizabeth Boge Jensen, ’90 (Don & Jane Moore Presidential Scholar), a food scientist for McCain Foods USA; and Letrisa Miller, ’90 (John T. Babcock Memorial Presidential Scholar), president and CEO of the Cat Clinic of Norman, Oklahoma, PC. And there are hundreds of others.

The OSU Alumni Association funds "Legacy" Presidential Scholarships for students with family ties to Oregon State. Pictured with OSU Alumni Association President Nancy McCoy and Executive Director Dwayne Foley are Alumni Association Presidential Scholars (front, left to right) Megan Sundahl, Kevin Moser, Holly Tuchscherer, Ryan Kuenzi and (back) Ben Legg.

Their success means the Presidential Scholarship Program is doing what it needs to do: matching great minds with a great university.

But clearly, if OSU could offer more of these scholarship, more top students would choose OSU. And more of those students would go on to become outstanding citizens.

In the spring of 2001, more than 310 entering student applicants qualified for the scholarships. OSU was able to award Presidential Scholarships to the top 76, bringing the total number of currently enrolled Presidential Scholars to 207.

With undergraduate tuition at $3,987, the scholarship covers tuition, books and fees, leaving funds to help cover room and board.

Private donors are the driving force behind the Presidential Scholarship Program. Thousands of people, passionate about quality education at OSU, have contributed at all levels, from modest checks to gifts of stock and large bequests. Donors include individuals, families, foundations, corporations, and groups such as the OSU Alumni Association, OSU Bookstores and the OSU Student Foundation.

The OSU Foundation and the university established the program in 1983, and it has been growing ever since. Currently, the program’s endowment stands at $8.5 million, but university officials hope to build the endowment to $23 million to fully fund the program with investment earnings.

"When you realize that the nation’s top universities attract top students, you can see why fully endowing our Presidential Scholarship Program will be the single most important accomplishment for ensuring the high quality of our students," President Risser said.

Besides its reliance on private funding, the Presidential Scholarship Program is different from other scholarship programs in another way: The OSU Foundation has made financial aid more than an impersonal funds transfer from donor to student. It has, in fact, made the donor- scholar relationship a priority.

Oregon Sen. Cliff Trow and JoAnne Trow, former OSU vice president of student affairs, have supported the program since its inception. "We always get to know our student," Sen. Trow said. "The interaction has been rewarding and satisfying for us."

The Trows believe different types of scholarships should be available for different students.
"In the legislature I have supported the Oregon Opportunity Grant, which is need-based financial aid," said Sen. Trow. "We feel both need-based and merit-based financial aid are important. Through the Presidential Scholarship Program, we are able to support the latter."
Over the years, the Trows have watched "their" students grow. Some have gone on to careers in human health, education and the medical profession. "These students are highly motivated and go on to do interesting and productive things for society," JoAnne Trow added.

Their current student, Aaron Kau, a sophomore, plans to become a high school English teacher. "The Presidential Scholarship was the determining factor in my decision to come to OSU," he said, noting that USC couldn’t match OSU’s overall financial aid package. I know I’m not the only person who came to OSU almost entirely because of the Presidential Scholarship Program," he says.

Kau says over the past year he has become friends with the Trows, having had lunch with them several times.

"It’s been really nice to meet the people who have made my education possible — I realize the money had to come from somewhere. The Trows and other donors to the program really care about OSU, education and the intellectual atmosphere here. I look forward to spending more time with them as I continue my degree."

To encourage these important relationships, the OSU Foundation sponsors an event each fall and spring. At "Pizza and Prose," the scholars get together to write thank you notes and letters to their donors. For the freshmen in the group, this is the beginning of a correspondence that lasts throughout their college careers and, in some cases, beyond.

Each March, at the Donor-Scholar Dinner, donors and the students they sponsor gather for a formal presentation by President Risser, remarks by a selected scholar, and an evening of musical performances and fellowship.

Donors and scholars alike look forward to the time together.

"I appreciate the Donor-Scholar Dinner more than any event on campus," says Anita Summers, who with her late husband, Herb Summers, ’34, endowed a Presidential Scholarship 15 years ago. She says that the family style dinners help to encourage conversation at the tables because people are prompted to interact when passing each dish.

"It breaks the ice, making it easy for us and easy for the students. We learn so much about the students’ interests and how they are doing. It’s really good conversation."
For the past decade and a half, Summers has received many letters and phone calls from scholars. Last summer, one of her current students was studying abroad and sent her postcards from New Zealand.

"I enjoy corresponding with my students. It gives me great pleasure," she says.
Summers adds that the program makes business-sense for people wanting to invest in the university.

"The OSU Foundation endowment is very well managed," she says. "Over the years, the principal of our endowed scholarship has grown and now supports two students instead of just one.

"This is one of the best ways to support education for young people," she says. "What better investment could you make?"

Matching gifts bring bonus dollars to OSU
	Colisse Franklin, matching gifts coordinator for the OSU Foundation

Any university lucky enough to have a generous donor who annually ponies up gifts in the $300,000 to $500,000 range would make certain that donor received lots of thank- you notes, lots of recognition, and large-type font listings in the donor honor roll.

Oregon State University does that with all of its donors. Except, perhaps, one.
This donor is actually a combination of many donors and encompasses thousands of alumni and several corporations. The donor is OSU’s Matching Gifts Program.

Originally intended as an employee benefit — "come work for us and we’ll match your charitable giving" — and as an incentive for employees to expand their charitable giving, matching gift dollars today make up some of the largest examples of corporate philanthropy.

Last fiscal year, $618,402 flowed through the OSU Foundation to the university thanks to matching gift programs. The figure is more than double what it was a decade ago ($294,170).
This increase resulted from a new emphasis on the program. Colisse Franklin, gift processing specialist for the Foundation and matching gifts coordinator, recently identified potential unclaimed matching gifts of $300,000, if only those alumni already giving had requested matching gifts from their employers.

According to Franklin, a key factor in the program is donor initiative.
Nonprofits, like Oregon State, cannot simply call a company and ask for matching gift dollars. The employee/donor must initiate the process, securing the matching gift forms from his or her employer.

To increase OSU donor use of matching gift opportunities last year, a "notice" sticker was attached to the receipt for each gift made by a donor eligible for matching gifts. Franklin and student workers managed to get the attention of hundreds of donors who previously were unaware their gift qualified for a match.

This year, Franklin and her colleagues are stepping up the pace, sending a reminder postcard thanking donors for their gifts and reminding them that their gifts can be doubled or, in a few instances, even tripled, if they will secure matching gift forms.

But, according to Franklin, there are also limits. Some companies have policies whereby gifts to athletics will not be matched (although many will match gifts to athletic scholarships like the Beaver Athletic Scholarship Fund). Some will not match retired employees. Others will only match an employee’s giving up to a certain level, and still others will only match unrestricted gifts.

One of the great challenges is tracking alumni employment. "When an alumna or alumnus changes employers and doesn’t let us know about the change, we may be missing matching gift opportunities that came along with the job change," says Franklin.

Frequently changing regulations also provide a boon to Oregon State. Intel Corporation, a company employing as many as 750 Oregon State alumni, parents and friends, recently changed its program to allow for a 2-to-1 match for gifts made in memory of deceased Intel employees, and it has increased the limit to $20,000 for those gifts. As a result, Oregon State University has already received $105,706 in Intel matching gifts this year, compared to the entire previous year’s total of $53,765.

At the same time, Franklin points out, other companies, facing economic downturns, sometimes cut back on these programs. J.C. Penney, Westinghouse, and Prudential, for example, have discontinued or suspended matching gift programs. "I guess when it comes to having to lay off employees or put an end to matching gift programs, all of us understand the choice that has to be made," says Franklin.

According to Foundation records, more than 770 companies that currently offer matching gift programs have been identified as employing OSU alumni. "That figure represents about 8,000 potential donors to OSU. If they each made an annual gift of $100 and had it matched 1-to-1, that would provide $1.6 million in giving to Oregon State. Now wouldn’t that be something?" says Franklin.

	August 26, 2001 CASCADE FESTIVAL OF MUSIC DINNER AND RECEPTION Guests of the Oregon State University Foundation gathered at the Bend, Ore. home of Dick Gervais, ’56, and his wife, Polly Helweg Gervais, ’56, for dinner prior to the annual Cascade Fesatival of Music events. OSU-Cascades Campus was one of the sponsors of the 2001 festival.
	Linda Johnson, associate provost for community relations and administration at the OSU-Cascades Campus (left), talks with Central Oregon resident Connie Worrell Durliner during the Cascade Festival of Music dinner event.
September 21, 2001 THE PRESIDENTS CLUB DONOR RECOGNITION DINNER Left: Members of the OSU Presidents Club donor recognition society gather prior to the 2001 annual banquet. Left to right: former Foundation Chair Sen. Tom Hartung, ’50; current Foundation Chair Tom Usher, ’70, with his wife, Ann Usher; OSU Foundation Trustee Sue Wilson Poorman, ’61; and former Foundation Chair Martin Kelley, ’50. Right: Benjamin R. Whiteley, ’51, was recognized at the Presidents Club dinner as "Most Honored Member for 2001." Whiteley anad his spouse, Elaine Yunker Whiteley, ’53, have long been involved in the life of the university, including service by both as members of The OSU Library Campaign Leadership Committee.
DEDICATION OF THE H. DEAN PAPÉ BELL TOWER Some of the 130 guests at the Papé Campanile dedication reception stepped out of the tent area to witness the late H. Dean Papé’s children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren pulling the ribbon on the new bell tower.
	September 28, 2001 DEDICATION OF THE INDOOR ATHLETIC PRACTICE FACILITY Wade Harrison, ’64, and his wife, Elaine Allen Harrison, ’64, (left) talk with Mike Truax, as donors who helped make the new $9 million Indoor Athletic Practice Facility possible are honored at a dinner party inside the gigantic new building.September 28, 2001
September 28, 2001 THE TRUSTEE LEADERSHIP SUMMIT OSU President Paul G. Risser with former presidents Roy Young and John Byrne (left to right) during the OSU Foundation’s Trustee Leadership Summit held in the John & Shirley Byrne Reading Room of the Bob & Betty Lundeen Rotunda in The Valley Library on Sept. 28. The three presidents, along with Foundation President and CEO Rebecca Cole, reviewed the history of leadership that Foundation volunteers have provided over the years on behalf of the university.