Giving to the Honors College
The University’s commitment to its Honors College
underlines its investment in quality undergraduate education, and it’s
an investment that bears costs. In the Honors College, costs arise from
our small classes, our scholarship programs, our duty to engage in educational
experiment, and our belief that each honors undergraduate should have
the opportunity to enhance his or her education through special programs
like undergraduate research, exchange study, mentoring, community service,
and internships.
We want our donors to partner with us in this public enterprise of providing
a rich and challenging honors program at St. Louis’s urban, public,
research university. How much you give and where are interesting questions,
and if you want to discuss how you might answer them we will be glad to
offer you a private seminar on the subject, or a tour of our facilities
so you can see our needs for yourself (especially appropriate for those
wishing to endow a room or give gifts of equipment or library books).
You might, like Paulette and I, have an educational cause to champion.
When we were undergraduates, we both wanted to study abroad, but couldn’t
afford it, so we give a study abroad scholarship. You might like us well
enough to give, but be unsure of where your investment should go; a gift
to our general fund would be appropriate, and we will respond creatively
and entrepreneurially to your generosity. Whatever: we will work with
you. As with our admissions program, we want our gift program to be true
to our mission, so it is in the best senses a tutorial and partnering
process.
While we welcome gifts from old or new friends, gifts from alumni are
especially valuable, denoting as they do a personal approval of the college’s
work, a user’s endorsement. As well as being special friends, alumni
can be among the best of critics, and can exercise this critical function
through their giving. What, from your experience here, do we most need?
That’s an interesting question, and alumni can answer it by giving
to a special purpose, e.g. a library fund or scholarship fund or common
room subscription fund. But alumni are also welcome just to answer the
question, for good advice has a value beyond price.
That “fund of good advice” brings up another aspect of giving
which might interest both friends and alumni: gifts in kind. These might
be the sort of gifts one can wrap up and bring, or have sent, to the college:
an item of use, so to speak. Or they might be gifts of time, expertise,
support, for instance offering an internship or helping with admissions
or serving on an advisory council or helping with an Alumni Chapter social
event. For those few for whom ready cash is in short supply, giving in
kind offers a satisfactory alternative, which for our students can be
the most expressive of gifts.
For all our gifts, major or minor, in cash or in kind, we would ask those
who are interested in joining our honors partnership—which we think
of as an investment partnership involving students, faculty, staff, and
friends— to contact us directly at 314-516-6870 or the Office
of University Relations at 314-516-5255. We look forward to hearing
from you.