5 minute read
Investing in the Future
Investing in the Future
by Michael Dhar
DR. MATTHEW A. HORNEY MEMORIAL FUND
A deep love of learning helped make Matthew A. Horney, PharmD ’17, not only an outstanding pharmacist, but also an accomplished woodworker. He built beautiful crafts and furnishings for the friends and family who meant so much to him.
When Matthew passed away in 2021, his sister-in-law Ashley Badgley decided a UIC scholarship would honor both his memory and dedication to learning. “He valued education for everyone,” she said. “I’m sure if he’d have had $30,000 to donate to give other people education, he would have done that himself.”
DR. MATTHEW A. HORNEY
Starting in 2024, the fund will grant roughly $1,000 annually to a UIC Rockford student, with preference for those from nearby McHenry County, where Matthew grew up. That proximity helped sway Matthew toward UIC Rockford, said his wife, Abby Horney. “Matthew was very close with his family,” she said, and Rockford kept him near home.
A sterling math and science student, he also and appreciated that UIC helped him forge a STEM career. “Matthew was an incredible pharmacist," Abby said. He was brilliant."
He turned that STEM aptitude to develop woodworking skills after shifts at Phillips Total Care pharmacy in Wisconsin, where worked. “He could build things out of nothing,” turning “scraps of wood . . . into these absolutely beautiful things,” Ashley said.
But memories of Matthew’s gentle nature and dedication to family stand out most for Ashley. “He was firm in his love of the people he really cared about,” she said. That family includes two sisters, two brothers, and parents still in McHenry County. Abby and Matthew’s son, Isaac, arrived in 2020, spurring even deeper devotion to family.
“Watching him go from husband to also a father was the most amazing transition I’ve ever seen,” Abby said. “He’s never loved someone quite like our son.”
SANDRA AND TAE PARK FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP FUND
When Sandra and Tae Park came to the United States from South Korea in the 1970s, immigrants needed sponsorships. Sandra got hers from nursing friends who helped the young nurse establish her own career here, while Tae was sponsored by his brother and set up a life as an auto body shop owner.
SANDRA AND TAE PARK FAMILY
The two would face many more challenges in the new country where they met and started a family. Their daughters, Drs. Caro and Sharon Park, PharmD ’05 and ’04 respectively, hope to honor that struggle for a new life with the Sandra and Tae Park Family Scholarship. First awarded in spring 2023, the $1,000 scholarship goes to immigrant or first-generation UIC PharmD students. “We were looking for a way to give back to the
college,” Caro said, “and we wanted to acknowledge . . . what our parents did for us.”
For Sandra, who passed away in 2022, and Tae, the challenges of immigration included language barriers and losing the support systems of close-knit families. “But overall, the main challenges [are that] you're in a different place . . . navigating a foreign country and making your living there,” Caro said.
Like many immigrant parents, the Parks placed tremendous value on education, making a scholarship the perfect tribute, Caro said. And like many first-generation children of immigrants, the Park sisters inherited solid work ethics. Honoring that work ethic and love of education with a scholarship thrilled their parents, including Sandra, who knew about the fund before she passed away. “She was super-happy that we were doing a scholarship with her name and my dad's name on it,” Caro said.
As that scholarship helps cement her parents’ legacy, Caro said she hopes it also helps bring success to more immigrant families. “The goal is to get as many people across that finish line as possible.”
DEAN ROSALIE SAGRAVES STUDENT TRAVEL FUND
Travel played a significant role in the impressive career of dean emerita Dr. Rosalie Sagraves. With the Dean Rosalie Sagraves Student Travel Fund, she hopes to make the enriching opportunities of professional travel available to more pharmacy students.
The fund will help students attend national pharmacy and healthcare meetings as officers of professional
organizations or to deliver research presentations. These meetings provide students opportunities to learn and network, boosting their careers while they also represent UIC Pharmacy. When deciding on gifts for various institutions, Sagraves and her husband, Arthur Kameshka, gravitated toward travel funds because both had experienced those same benefits.
Rosalie Sagraves
“One of the things that helped our careers was getting to know pharmacists across the country, getting to network, going to national meetings,” Sagraves said. “He and I decided that one of the areas [we supported] should be for students, and it would be a travel fund.”
Before establishing this fund, Sagraves made a tremendous impact on UIC Pharmacy beginning in 1995; she served as dean until 2006 and professor until 2008. Under her leadership, the college doubled research funding and revamped its curriculum to offer more clinical opportunities, among many advancements. When she joined UIC, Sagraves became the first female dean at a Big 10 pharmacy school. Her husband, who passed away, dedicated his career to community and hospital pharmacy.
Reflecting the fund’s values, Sagraves has traveled broadly herself, visiting 50 states and 36 countries. She thrived in advancing pharmacy globally, including helping Kuwait establish a PharmD curriculum.
Sagraves said she hopes her fund inspires UIC students to similarly make connections far and wide—and strive for leadership positions. “What I want to see come out of this is that . . . some of these students would become pharmacy leaders or leaders in health professions in general.”
