Inspired By Penn State Dickinson Dean, Faculty And Staff Give $27,000 For Law Students

Penn State News, Dickinson Law Establishes Educational Equity Scholarship:

When Penn State Dickinson Law Associate Dean for Academic and Student Services Jeffrey A. Dodge heard about the generous gift made to the Dickinson Law Future Fund and Penn State Student Care and Advocacy Emergency Fund by Dickinson Law Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle Conway, he was moved. Then he felt inspired to give back as well.

In just a two-week span, Dodge mobilized a group of Dickinson Law faculty and staff to make their own gift in honor of Dean Conway, one that Penn State will match through its $10 million commitment to create the Educational Equity Matching Program.

Faculty and staff raised nearly $27,000 to establish the Dickinson Law Faculty and Staff Educational Equity Scholarship, focused on increasing student diversity and providing for those with financial need. The amount will be matched 1:1 by Penn State’s Educational Equity Matching Program, which was announced in June and gives donors the opportunity to double or triple their support for new scholarship endowments to benefit undergraduate or graduate students whose gender, race, ethnic, cultural, and/or national background contribute to the diversity of the student body.

“We learned about Dean Conway’s $125,000 gift during a faculty meeting. It was the largest gift I’d ever heard of a dean making, and I’ve worked at three different law schools with at least ten deans,” said Dodge. “It was quite inspiring to me how selfless her gift was.”

After the faculty meeting, Dodge approached Kelly Rimmer, Dickinson Law’s director of development and alumni affairs, to inquire about the matching program and how much would need to be raised to access available funds.

Creating a scholarship offered an opportunity to combine two things important to Dodge: uniting faculty and staff to show appreciation for Conway’s pledge while also advancing the causes addressed in recent Dickinson Law resolutions on racial justice and eliminating inequality.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Penn State Dickinson Law Dean Danielle Conway Makes $125,000 Gift For Student Aid During COVID-19 (Aug. 5, 2020)
• Pepperdine Caruso Dean Follows Lead Of Penn State Dickinson Dean In Giving $125,000 To Help Law Students With Emergency Needs (Aug. 11, 2020)
• Deans Double As Donors (Aug. 18, 2020)
• FIU's Antony Page Is Third Law School Dean To Make Major Gift To Students During COVID-19 (Aug. 21, 2020)