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Academic Excellence

Endowment

Growing the Springfield College endowment fund remains a priority for the College. With the sound management of the College's leadership and Board of Trustees Investment Committee, and with the generous support of alumni and friends, the endowment is now at $35 million. Specific endowment goals to be addressed by the Campaign include:

Faculty Chairs

A talented and experienced faculty is at the heart of all Springfield College programs. Endowed faculty chairs exemplify academic excellence and honor the Springfield College tradition of academic accomplishment. They permit a talented scholar the opportunity to more fully integrate theory and practice, to inspire a wider audience, and to attract students to the institution.

The Campaign seeks to establish two new endowed faculty chairs in programs that will uphold Springfield College's reputation in to the future. It also plans to strengthen the College's endowment to support academic research and scholarly development.

Campaign Priorities

• New Facilities and Major Renovations
• Academic Excellence
• Student Scholarships
• Support for Current & Future Initiatives: The Annual Fund
• On-Line Giving

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."

Geraldine Helie passed away a year and a half ago and, in her honor and in appreciation for all the life lessons she passed on to him, Peter Helie made a pledge to "Leadership for the 21st Century: The Campaign for Springfield College" in the amount of $6,000 per year for five years to create the Geraldine M. Helie Scholarship. Through it, Helie is passing on a lesson of his own: Students who receive the scholarship each year must be involved in community service, in addition to maintaining their grades. "I think I'm teaching students to give back," he says.

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