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Keeping the Promise: Through the UW-Eau Claire Foundation's Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence campaign, 88 new funds were established during the 2004-05 fiscal year to support student scholarships, faculty and staff development, department advancement and equipment and technology needs. Most of these funds were created with gifts received from alumni as a demonstration of their appreciation for the quality of education they received here. The department of economics has actively engaged its alumni for many years and is now realizing the benefits of those ongoing relationships. The department has an alumni mentoring program, department newsletter, alumni gatherings and other activities. The department also regularly seeks information from alumni through surveys and other feedback mechanisms. As a result of this ongoing link, economics alumni have been eager to support the department with new funds. When the campaign was announced in 2002, the department only had one scholarship — the Lynne Oyen Scholarship — that was designated for students majoring in economics. Today the department boasts two more fully endowed scholarship funds and two special purpose funds to support student activities. "Support from our alumni gives us the ability to provide those extra activities that turn a very good program into an excellent one," said Ed Young, chair of the economics department. "It also allows us to assist some students who otherwise might not make it through college." Harry Kaiser, a 1979 graduate and professor at Cornell University, recently created an endowed opportunity fund to expand support of student activities, particularly research and activities for majors interested in pursuing graduate studies. His reason for giving is an example of why alumni choose to participate in the campaign. In a letter to the Foundation, Kaiser wrote, "I would not be where I am today without the excellent education I received from UW-Eau Claire in general and the economics department specifically. I am excited about the prospects of starting and building an endowment so I can give back something to the university." Alumni also give of their time through the economics department alumni mentoring program, Young said. Jerry Jacobson, a 1975 economics graduate and president of Northwestern Bank in Chippewa Falls, volunteers as a mentor. He has extended this sharing activity to include a student scholarship that he and his wife, Mary, recently endowed. "Wisconsin's system of higher education has a tradition of preparing people to lead rewarding lives," said Young. "Alumni helping current students who will then help future students is part of this tradition." Michael Knetter, a 1983 economics graduate and dean of the School of Business at UW-Madison, took this idea a step further and created a fund that provides tutoring awards to economics majors who are tutoring other economics students. Not only does this fund reward students who are exceptionally talented, but it strengthens the program by helping students succeed. The economics department also is the beneficiary of memorial gifts received from around the country to establish an endowed scholarship honoring Mike Reinke, a 1972 UW-Eau Claire economics alumnus who worked for Kraft Foods and died in a bicycle accident in August 2004. Reinke was nationally recognized in the dairy industry. When he died so tragically, his colleagues at Kraft and in various professional associations made memorial gifts to endow a scholarship at UW-Eau Claire in Mike's name. "It is particularly appropriate to remember a man who built on his education here at UW-Eau Claire by helping today's students get through college," Young said.
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