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The Springfield College Transformation Experience

He arrived a volleyball player. He left a physician. Dr. Dan Phelan'94 calls that "the Springfield College Transformation Experience."

"The Humanics Philosophy stays with you," says orthopaedic surgeon Phelan. "I believe you owe something back to a place like that . I know there are other high school students out there who will come to visit Springfield and somehow sense that on that campus, they will find out who they are, and they will be right. Springfield College will be the perfect match for them, the way it was for me."

"Everything Dan has told me about his Springfield College years made it clear that his time there was a life-altering experience for him; it was a vital part of his becoming the person he is today. It gave him some real friends, gave him mentors, and gave him a way to live," says his wife Donna, a cardiologist. "It also gave him that sense of mission that we both share, that we are supposed to spend our lives providing for, caring for, others."

Read more about Dan and Donna Phelan's David Allen Reed Society gift.

Still in the Game: Former Football Player Makes Generous Gift to the Field House Project

Mike "Condo" Daly '93 only played on Springfield College's football team in his freshman year, but football still has been an integral part of his relationship to the College.

Of his 13 off-campus roommates, 11 were football players. He's maintained close ties with many of them, but especially with Mike Cerasuolo '93, who is now the offensive coordinator for the College's football team, on which Daly's nephew, Davis Marocchini '08, is a player.

Learn more.

Helping to Grow Minds Patent Lawyer Makes $130K Campaign Gift

Herb Jervis '64, G'66 and Mary, his wife of 31 years, both give to various charities in their community, but it is Springfield College that holds a special place in Jarvis' heart, and so it is to Springfield that his largest gifts-and a bequest-will go.

Retired, Jarvis still teaches a law school class in intellectual property law and also tutors high school AP Biology students. And he responds when he is asked to talk to students about his thriving career as a university-professor-turned-lawyer. Why? Because now it's his turn to teach others how to learn and grow.

Read more.

Giving Something Back: The Right Thing for People Like Us to Do

“If you attended Springfield College, and took advantage of everything they offered, and built a life from it, when you are done enjoying the benefits of all that, they deserve to get something back,” says Art Farnham, Jr. ’54.  “It’s only right. They were very, very good to me, and I know they will take this gift and turn it into something that is good for many others. Giving something back. It’s just the right thing for people like us to do.”

Learn more about Art and his support of Springfield College.

Campaign Profile: Gail Gillespie

Gail (Emanuelson) Gillespie '76 says her decision to attend Springfield College, made while touring different campuses as a high school senior in the fall of 1971, was an easy one.

“I knew I wanted to attend a small school, I knew I wanted to feel like part of a community,” she recalls. “On that first visit to campus, when I immediately felt so ‘at home,' it all came together in an instant.” She never looked back. She ended up graduating with a bachelor of science in health education and became a health education teacher in Somerset, Mass. She went on to get a master's in health education from Bridgewater State, and then discovered the fates had another career in store for her.

Learn more.

Campaign Profiles: Peter G. Helie

Peter G. Helie ’72 grew up with a mother who was a real go-getter. While raising four children primarily on her own, Geraldine M. Helie worked in the fashion industry of the 1950s as a buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue and as the owner of several innovative businesses. “She was a value-driven person,” says Helie. “There were values on how you behave, how you work, how you treat people.” His mother also had this mantra: “Learn to do everything yourself because no one’s going to do it for you.”

Learn more.

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