In 2008, when Dana Hamel established a scholarship program aimed at helping to keep New Hampshire’s best and brightest students in the state, his generosity was hailed as visionary — a key component of UNH’s efforts to improve access and affordability for talented students.
A decade later, the Hamel Scholars and Scholarship Program has helped fund the UNH educations of more than 180 talented students and provided a template for other generous donors inspired to support student success through CELEBRATE 150: The Campaign for UNH. In January, Hamel increased his support with an additional $5 million gift to the program, bringing his overall funding of the initiative to more than $22 million. The gift was one of several exciting recent campaign contributions made in the area of student scholarships — one of CELEBRATE 150’s central priorities. Hamel was joined by J. Morgan Rutman ’84 and his wife Tara, in partnership with the Jane and Daniel Och Family Foundation, and Brian McCabe ’91 and his wife Loren ’90, ’91G, who made separate gifts of $3 million and $400,000 respectively.
“We’re confident this gift will help reduce some of the barriers that women face and help equip them to become leaders in their fields.”
Hamel has long described his investment in the Hamel Scholars and Scholarship Program as an investment in the state of New Hampshire. “UNH is our state’s greatest asset,” he says. By making a compelling case for the state’s top students to attend UNH rather than going elsewhere, Hamel’s hope is that many Hamel Scholars will stay in the state after graduation and serve as mentors for the students who come after them and as leaders in every area of New Hampshire life, from culture and the environment to business and politics. Alumni of the program have indeed gone on to work throughout the state, helping to meet New Hampshire’s skilled workforce needs.
The majority of the Rutmans’ gift is focused on a specific workforce need, providing scholarships and supporting the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics’ efforts to attract more women of diverse backgrounds into business and economics education. “As the parents of three daughters, Tara and I feel strongly about addressing gender inequity,” says Morgan Rutman, noting that there are still many more men in senior positions than women, despite the fact that they enter the workforce in equal numbers. “We’re confident this gift will help reduce some of the barriers that women face and help equip them to become leaders in their fields.”
In addition to encouraging gender equity in business, the Rutmans’ gift builds on their existing support of the Shoals Marine Lab, providing additional scholarships in marine biology and expanding the Shoals artist-in-residence program to include all visual and written arts. A final portion of the gift will fund an endowment to provide ongoing support for the Distinguished Lecture Series on the American Presidency, which Rutman established in honor of his parents. His father, Darrett B. Rutman, taught history at UNH from 1968–1984, and his mother, Anita H. Rutman, was a historical researcher.
Like the Rutmans’ gift, Brian and Loren McCabe’s generosity will benefit a specific group of UNH students: those studying education through the College of Liberal Arts. The McCabe Family Scholarship will provide need-based scholarships for both undergraduate and graduate students.
“We are incredibly grateful for gifts like these that allow us to address one of the university’s top priorities, providing the support and scholarships that make UNH more affordable and accessible for our best students,” says Debbie Dutton, president of the UNH Foundation. “With their support, we will continue to make a difference in the lives of our students and their families.”
Celebrate 150
The Campaign for UNH
Thanks to gifts of every size from nearly 42,000 donors since July 2011, UNH’s CELEBRATE 150 campaign is charting new territory. At the close of February, with four months remaining in the campaign, the total raised was more than $300 million. Recent gifts for student support and scholarships totaling $8 million helped the campaign surpass its original $275 million goal by more than $25 million.
More important than the total raised is that alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends have united in a desire to support UNH and made a collective investment in the university. Indeed, 35,000 donors have supported the campaign through annual gifts of less than $500, and annual giving donors at every level have together made the largest contribution of all to CELEBRATE 150. Every gift, and every dollar, matters.
Your philanthropy inspires innovation and the pursuit of excellence across the university and helps make a UNH education more affordable for students and their families. CELEBRATE 150: The Campaign for UNH ends on June 30, but its cumulative effect on UNH is just beginning.
Campaign Celebrations
Their love for UNH and curiosity about the world we live in brought alumni, parents and friends together at several East Coast receptions.
1 On Nov. 16, more than 500 alumni and guests filled The Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for a reception and an exciting display of talent from a range of student performers.
2 At a reception at the Buckhead Club in Atlanta, Georgia, on Nov. 30, featured speaker Michael McCann, J.D., director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at UNH Law, discussed what the concussion crisis means for the future of sports in America.
3 UNH alumni and parents in Florida gathered in Venice on Feb. 9 and in Vero Beach on Feb. 11. Jim Ramsay, chair of the department of business, politics and security studies at UNH Manchester, discussed the challenge of taking advantage of modern digital conveniences while minimizing our exposure to harm.
4 Nearly 200 Wildcats assembled at the Boston Executive Forum on Feb. 15 for an exclusive conversation with Anne Finucane ’74, vice chairman of Bank of America, who spoke about repositioning a global brand after a financial crisis. Susan Mercandetti ’75, editor-at-large at Random House Publishing Group, facilitated.
