Class Gift Update: Legacy Scholarships Awarded

At the reunion 4 years ago, the Class Agents recommended that the Class Gift be repurposed for a different project. The idea that was agreed upon was to use the funds for Class of ’85 Legacy Scholarships. These scholarships would be available for descendants of the Class of ’85. It took a while, but we finally got the legal issues resolved and the agreements signed. We want to give a great big thank you for all the support we received from Marcy Ullman ’86, the Senior Director of Scholarship Programs with the Teas A&M Foundation, and Delisa Falks, Assistant Vice President Student Financial Aid.

The amount transferred from the ’85 Endowed Art Collection fund was $78,750. This was the amount of interest that had accrued in our art endowment fund since our last purchase 15 years ago. As you know, when the MSC was remodeled the Class Agents were informed that the university did not want to continue to purchase art on an annual basis. They did not have the wall space to display our art (most of which are very large pieces). We did not want all this money to just sit in an account, so we created the Class of ’85 Legacy Scholarships. The initial investment was split into three $25,000 ’85 Endowed Opportunity scholarships with the rest going toward administration fees. The scholarships had to be awarded in two years or they would have been moved into the general scholarship fund. All three scholarships were awarded almost immediately.
The Class of ’85 Endowed Art Collection remains at the original principle of $52,359.80. We signed a new agreement with the university that replaced the amended agreement from March 19, 1991. Distributions from this endowment will be used to support the purchase, display, and maintenance of the Endowed Art Collection at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas in accordance with university guidelines. Nothing in the new agreement changed from the original March 19, 1991 agreement.
The following 3 incoming freshmen were awarded the ’85 Endowed Opportunity scholarships:
• Anna Hughes ’23 from Dallas, Texas
– Intended major: International Studies
• Liam James Stevens ’23 from Broomfield, Colorado
– Intended major: Statistics
• Ryan Andrew Donohue ’23 from Aurora, Colorado
– Intended major: Mechanical Engineering
Good luck to the new Class of ’23 freshmen!