Current Challenge Gifts to support CASL Students
July 2022
CASL currently has five challenge gifts to inspire giving to support CASL students! Three of the challenges are in honor of two late Behavioral Sciences faculty with specific challenges for members of the Behavioral Sciences department and another for Women's and Gender Studies faculty, one will benefit SOAR students and is in honor of a late Natural Sciences faculty member, and the third is for the Ottawa Internship Program.
For more information, please read on. We hope you will consider participating!
1. Professors Jim Gruber and Frances Cousens
In the months following Jim Gruber's death in 2019, the Behavioral Sciences Department looked for a way to honor his legacy of teaching, research, service, and mentorship. In an effort led by Jonathan Smith, the department decided to raise funds to name the two new Sociology Research Labs in the CASL Building in honor of both Jim Gruber and Frances Reissman Cousens, who passed in 1980 (when Jim became CASL's first Collegiate Professor in 2012, he paid tribute to Fran by naming his professorship after her, becoming the Frances Reissman Cousens Collegiate Professor of Sociology).
We have three challenge gifts to raise funds for an endowment that will support the research of Sociology faculty and their students, providing much-needed money for research assistants, travel to conferences, and computer hardware and software. Professor Jonathan Smith and his wife, Sarah Naasko, have committed to a challenge gift for members of the Behavioral Sciences Department, Professor Emeritus Christopher Dahl has committed to a challenge gift for Women's and Gender Studies faculty, and Frances's family has committed to a challenge gift for anyone who makes a contribution.
If you would like to support CASL students by making a gift for any of these challenges, please click below.
2. Professor Angela Allen
A new initiative is underway in Angela's memory to support a UM-Dearborn program she was passionate about - the SOAR Program. The initiative's goal is to raise $60K by Angela's 60th birthday on May 6, 2023 and will support the SOAR Program's Laptop Loan/Technology Program for nontraditional adult learners with socioeconomic challenges.
If you would like to contribute to Angela's $60K by 60 Initiative, please click below.
3. Ottawa Internship Program
CASL alumnus, Eric Nemeth ('85 B.A.), who participated in the program while at UM-Dearborn, and his wife, Paula ('85 B.A.) have committed to a $50,000 challenge gift to help ensure the future of the program. According to Eric (pictured left), "support of this unique program (one of the only university-run Ottawa Internship Programs in the United States) not only provides for meaningful experiences but also shows students the community is invested in them."
To learn more, click here to read about one of the Nemeth's scholarship recipients, Eric's thoughts on his experience, and why he and Paula decided to make the challenge gift. If you would like to invest in CASL students and help us meet the Nemeth's challenge, please click below. Thank you!