Pritzker Family Pledges $10 Million to Maintain Access for Needy Chicago Students

Issue 1 n Volume 10 n Summer 2010 Arelys Villeda, ’10, is one of more than 90 Chicago-area students who received need-based aid from Stanford this year. Raised only by her mom, a housekeeper, she has studied in Chile and Spain, conducted research in sociology, and graduated in June with a dream of someday leading her hometown public school system. In years to come, students like Villeda will benefit from the Pritzker family scholarship gift. PHOTO: Steve Gladfelter and Eric Koziol Pritzker Family Pledges $10 Million to Maintain Access for Needy Chicago Students The Pritzker family of Chicago, founders of the Hyatt hotel Currently, one-third of the 90-plus undergraduate students from group, has pledged $10 million to help Chicago-area students the Chicago region who receive need-based aid from Stanford are PHOTO: Eric Koziol who attend Stanford. The university will use the gift to create from families earning less than $60,000 a year—qualifying them a scholarship fund dedicated to supporting students from the for full support under the university’s financial aid program. Chicago region who come to the university with considerable Beginning in the fall of 2010, the Pritzker Scholars Fund will financial need. help underwrite financial aid for these students and succeeding The gift is timely. As families struggle with the impact of the generations. It will be one of the university’s largest endowed recession, the need for financial aid has grown. Nearly half of scholarship funds, supporting a growing cohort of talented Stanford undergraduates now depend on scholarships from the recipients. university, up from 40 percent prior to the recession. And while “Part of the reason the family chose to partner with Stanford is its the university’s financial aid budget has doubled in the last five deep commitment to need-blind admission and efforts to ensure years, endowment losses have sharply reduced available resources. that top-quality higher education is accessible and affordable to all In fact, the university currently faces a significant shortfall capable students,” Gigi Pritzker Pucker, ’84, adds. between scholarship endowment funding and student need. Stanford’s financial aid program is one of the most robust in The Pritzker Scholars Fund will help close that gap by providing higher education. Students from families earning less than an infusion of support to cover a portion of the financial aid $100,000 a year and with assets typical for their income level typically awarded to needy students from Chicago. The gift attend tuition-free. Parents making less than $60,000 are not represents a key commitment to the university’s redoubled The Pritzker family’s gift was made expected to pay tuition or contribute to the costs of room, board, scholarship fundraising efforts. The Stanford Challenge goal for and other educational expenses. Aid packages do not require through the Pritzker Foundation, endowed scholarships now sits at $300 million—three times the students to take out loans, though students are still expected to which is committed to improving the target at the outset of the campaign (see related stories on pages help finance their education by contributing from earnings or two and three). quality of life for residents of the savings, or from outside scholarships, if available. Chicago region and to sustaining “Our family believes firmly in the transformative value of “We are extremely grateful for the Pritzker family’s leadership and higher education,” says Penny Pritzker, JD/MBA ’84, a Chicago the vitality of the city. Members generosity,” says university President John Hennessy. “Stanford is business executive. “Scholarships are a powerful way to level of the Pritzker family with ties to committed to keeping its doors open for students from all walks the playing field for promising students with financial need. It’s of life, and this gift helps us reinforce that pledge—especially in Stanford include Gigi Pritzker Pucker, our way of giving back to the community by inspiring Chicago this economy. The real effect of their investment, however, will be who earned her undergraduate students to reach their highest potential.” felt beyond Stanford and the students from the Chicago area who degree from Stanford in 1984; will benefit, as generations of Pritzker Scholars go on to become Penny Pritzker, a 1984 graduate of leaders in their communities and in the world.” n both Stanford Law School and the university’s Graduate School of Business; and Nicholas Pritzker and Thomas Pritzker, both parents of Stanford students and graduates. thestanfordchallenge.stanford.edu A Defining Commitment …to undergraduate The university’s bold commitment to educating the most talented students in the nation, regardless of their financial scholarships circumstances, is fundamental to Stanford’s excellence. Yet it’s a costly promise to uphold and presents a significant funding challenge at present. In the face of the economic recession, more students need more aid than ever before. At the same time, Stanford’s endowment—the principal source of scholarship funding—has declined sharply. For the next three to five years, the university projects an annual shortfall between need-based scholarship endowment funding and student need of approximately $40 million. Similarly, Stanford’s athletics scholarship program—key to our ability to attract top student-athletes—faces a budget gap of $3 million for each of the next few years. Nonetheless, the university’s pledge to deserving and exceptional students stands firm. TO BOLSTER SCHOLARSHIP RESOURCES: • The Stanford Challenge goal for endowed need-based scholarships has been increased to $300 million—three times the target established at the outset of the campaign. • In addition, the campaign includes a new $25 million goal for endowed athletic scholarships. STANFORD CHALLENGE • The university will rely increasingly on annual gifts, which can be put to work immediately to meet the needs of today’s ENDOWED NEED-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS students. Donors who make five-year pledges to The Stanford Fund or the Buck/Cardinal Club of at least $25,000 per year PROGRESS AS OF MAY 31, 2010 will be connected one-on-one to the students who benefit from their support. $150.4 M $300 M For more information, please visit scholarships.stanford.edu. RAISED GOAL “We believe there is no better investment than to support the students who will become tomorrow’s leaders.” –John L. Hennessy Stanford University President Honoring Professor and Pioneer Science brought Allan Campbell and Alice del Campillo Campbell, now the Barbara Kimball Browning Professor in together nearly 60 years ago. He was teaching microbiology at the School of Humanities and Sciences, was indeed a pioneer, the University of Michigan; she was working toward a PhD in renowned for discovering how viruses insert their DNA into host biochemistry. Their research took them from Ann Arbor to Paris chromosomes. What became known as the Campbell Insertion to Rochester, and eventually to Stanford, where they have worked Model explained this fundamental process at a time when researchers side by side since 1968. were still figuring out the basics of genetic structure and helped to lay the groundwork for the biotechnology industry. His insights and Science also brought Richard Beleson, ’76, into the Campbells’ achievements have earned him many honors in the scientific world. orbit, as he began his sophomore year at Stanford in 1973. “It was the golden era of discoveries,” Beleson explains. “I wanted to “My general method of approaching science is to look at the work in a research lab, particularly in molecular biology, and I saw information we have in the field, try to construct the simplest most Professor Campbell as one of the pioneers in the field.” satisfying picture of it, and then test it—over and over again—to make sure it’s really true,” he says. It was the beginning of a lifelong relationship, which Beleson recently commemorated with a $1 million gift to establish a Professor Campbell is quick to point out that his wife made her own scholarship in honor of the Campbells. His gift will be matched mark in research. “When we were married in 1958, Alice had a much 1-to-1 by the university to create a $2 million endowment. more impressive publication record than I did,” he says. Most of her Karen Cheng, ’10 (profiled below), is the first recipient. research had been done in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Severo Ochoa at New York University, where she met and sometimes worked beside leading biochemists of the era. At Stanford, she stepped back Karen Cheng, ’10 to focus on raising their children, Wendy, ’82, and Joseph, ’84. But she served as a research associate, and Beleson often found himself RECIPIENT, Richard Beleson Scholarship Fund in Honor of Professor Allan Campbell and Dr. Alice del Campillo Campbell working alongside her during his three years in the Campbell lab. It was a close-knit group: “Allan never liked a big lab because he liked MAJORS: Biology and Philosophy to interact with the students,” says Alice Campbell. Occasionally, Beleson and the other students were invited home for dinner. WHAT MOTIVATES YOU? My parents moved to the United States from Hong Kong. My father is a cabinetmaker. My mother is a checker at a Beleson went on to combine his background in molecular biology grocery store. They always stress doing your best. Seeing how hard they work is a strong motivator for me. with a master’s in business and became one of the first stock analysts to focus on biotechnology—just as the industry was getting off the WHY TWO MAJORS? ground. “I saw a lot of companies go from just a dream to a reality,” Biology is typically very focused in one area of one specific problem, whereas philosophy looks at the bigger picture he says.

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