Gifts that Keep on Giving

Bolstering the largest fundraising year in HWS history, recent support from alums and friends strengthens the endowment, underwrites faculty research and expands scholarship funding for students.

THE HEATON/FRANKS ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP IN HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENOCIDE

A gift from Dr. Edward Franks ’72 endows a permanent fund in memory of Professor of Religious Studies Richard “Doc” Heaton P’86, in recognition of the late professor’s contributions to awareness of human rights. In his retirement, Heaton guided Dr. Franks’ e orts to initiate the lecture series that became the Human Rights and Genocide Symposium, which Dr. Franks has underwritten since 1999. Established by Dr. Franks in honor of his mentor, the new endowed professorship cements the study of human rights, genocide and social justice as a permanent part of the Religious Studies curriculum. The fund also ensures that the Human Rights and Genocide Symposium remains a permanent component of campus life. As Dr. Franks explains: “This professorship is intended to formalize the Colleges’ commitment to social justice. It emphasizes the importance of these topics to students, graduates and future leaders from the Colleges as well as the wider community that the Colleges serve.”

▲ The curricular focus on human rights dovetails with The March: Bearing Witness, which since 2000 has taken students, faculty and friends from HWS and Nazareth College to important landmarks and historical sites central to understanding the Holocaust. ▲ Roslyn Patel ’20 presenting her biochemistry project at the Senior Research Symposium in 2019.

THE JOHN H.M. HILL SCHOLARSHIP IN CHEMISTRY

Chemist and professor John Hill taught at HWS for more than 30 years, shaping the scienti c education of hundreds of students from 1961 until his death in 1996. In honor of his life and career, his wife Diane Hill recently committed to a $1 million gift to fund the John H.M. Hill Scholarship in Chemistry, which will support nancial aid for HWS chemistry students. The gift was made through the Wheeler Society, established in 1989 to encourage thoughtful planned giving at the Colleges. It is named for Schuyler Skaats Wheeler Sc.D. 1888 — inventor, intellectual and entrepreneur — and his wife Amy Sutton Wheeler, whose bequest was realized nearly 100 years later with the renovation of Gulick Hall. This gift and the people who made it possible serve as the inspiration for today’s planned giving society at the Colleges.

AN INVESTMENT IN THE ENDOWMENT

Austin Hassett ’69 transferred to HWS with an associate degree, eager to expand his education and perspective of the world. The experience exceeded his imagination, proving so consequential that he wanted to preserve the opportunity for future generations. The result is his planned gift of at least $2 million to the Colleges’ permanent endowment. Hassett—who graduated with a B.A. in economics, went