Campus Campaign 2003-04:
Scholarships receive faculty, staff support

With careers devoted to serving the students of UW-Eau Claire, many faculty and staff members choose to support scholarships when making their gifts and pledges to the university’s annual Campus Campaign.

Campus Campaign gifts may be designated to support already-existing scholarships or to start new ones, either through one person’s contribution or the pooled gifts of several individuals. Those interested in starting a scholarship fund should call 836-5630 to talk with a member of the UW-Eau Claire Foundation staff.

Lists of all UW-Eau Claire Foundation scholarships can be found online. Faculty or staff members wishing to support an already-existing scholarships can enter the name of that scholarship in the gift designation area of their Campus Campaign 2003-04 pledge cards.

Some faculty and staff members have started new scholarships that others can support through Campus Campaign. A few of those scholarships are summarized here:

Student Support Services Achievement Scholarship
Earl Shoemaker, program coordinator/academic adviser in Student Support Services, and his wife, Kate, recently started the Student Support Services Achievement Scholarship Fund and the Phi Alpha Theta Scholarship Fund. The first $100 SSS scholarship was awarded in January. The annual award will go to a junior or senior participant in the Student Support Services Program with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applicants for the scholarship must document how they have benefited from the Student Support Services program and provide evidence of community or university involvement.

Through the Shoemakers’ annual contributions, the support of another Student Support Services staff member and perhaps gifts from other faculty and staff, Shoemaker hopes the SSS scholarship fund will grow over time, allowing the scholarship amount to increase or making more than one annual award possible, Shoemaker said. Read more about the SSS scholarship and the Student Support Services program.

Phi Alpha Theta Scholarship
A portion of proceeds from on-campus jewelry sales by the Shoemakers’ corporation, Pieces of Kate, will support the Phi Alpha Theta Scholarship. Shoemaker, who received his undergraduate degree in history from UW-Eau Claire, said his educational background led to the decision to support the university’s history honor society. Read more about the Phi Alpha Theta honor society.

Classified Staff Support Fund
Susie Warden, information systems business automation, senior/student records and data systems specialist in the Registrar’s Office, has started a scholarship fund for full-time classified staff members who are pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Warden, who established the fund with a portion of the money she received as the 2003 recipient of UW-Eau Claire’s Classified Staff Excellence in Performance Award, will continue supporting the fund through Campus Campaign contributions. She knows firsthand the challenges of earning a degree while working full time: She graduated in 2000 with a sociology degree after taking six credits a semester over 12 years while working full time as a member of UW-Eau Claire’s classified staff and raising her two children.

Classified Staff Scholarship
Last year, Campus Campaign contributions brought the Classified Staff Scholarship Fund to the endowed level of $10,000. Now additional funds are needed to ensure the fund’s annual $500 scholarship award will not affect the fund’s principal, said Tim Candell, Classified Staff Scholarship Committee chair.

The first Classified Staff Scholarship was awarded last May. Every spring, each classified staff member is eligible to nominate one student who meets the scholarship criteria, and all nominees are entered in a drawing for the scholarship. Each nominee may have only one entry in the drawing. Classified staff members will receive information at the end of February regarding the submission of nominations for this year’s award, Candell said. Read more about the Classified Staff Scholarship.