Find out what's going on around campus at: |
 |
June 5: Mayer Mall Dedication June 7: Pirates of Penzance Performing Arts Scholarship Benefit June 11: 5th Annual Engineering Alumni and Faculty Golf Outing and Banquet June 12: Terps Take Manhattan June 24: Baltimore Regional Alumni Event |
Join the university as we celebrate the dedication of the William E. and Kathy Mayer Mall just outside of the Smith Business School. To RSVP and learn more, contact Tina Murphy at 301.405.3467 or |
 Building First-Class Learning EnvironmentsRetired Librarian’s Investment Yields Happy Returns
Although Wilson has made charitable gifts to the college in the past, including a gift last year to create an endowment fund to honor former faculty member Mary Lee Bundy, he wanted to make a gift that would assist the college and benefit him in his retirement years. So earlier this year, Wilson made a $40,000 gift annuity to the college. From this, he will receive a significant deduction on his income taxes and an annual lifetime annuity. “When I came to the university, I never thought that I would stay 34 years. And it turned out to be a rather rewarding career in many ways,” says Wilson. A new computer lab on the second floor of Hornbake Library was Wilson’s work area before the college library was closed and new facilities were created. His contribution memorializes his favorite aunt, Bertha K. Wilson, who was a Veteran’s Administration medical librarian for 30 years. Her name adorns a nameplate by the office door of faculty member Ann Weeks, one of Wilson’s colleagues on the second floor of Hornbake Library. “Aunt Bert was a model librarian and a role model for me,” says Wilson. “She was a very warm and friendly person.” Philanthropy is a tradition in the Wilson family. His grandfather, John C. Wilson, a retired Presbyterian minister, became a fundraiser for Jamestown College in North Dakota during the 1930's. The minister’s older son, John L. Wilson, was a successful research chemist who eventually became board chair, then later acting president of Jamestown College. He became the largest donor (approximately $5 million) to the college at that time. The giving tradition continued as Aunt Bertha and her sister Josephine set up a trust for Wilson and his two sisters. He looks back and wishes he had invested more of his funds from the trust, ”but I lived high,” he says. “I took trips abroad and gave a good bit of it away.” Nevertheless, Wilson feels a deep connection with the College of Information Studies, having retired not once, but three times. With more free time in his first retirement from the college, he became president of the Maryland Library Association. But he returned to his old job and has now been fully retired since 2006. For Wilson, his gift represents not only his great love and respect for the university, but it is also to inspire his colleagues to give. Although he is sentimental about the former college library space in Hornbake, he recognizes that new facilities are needed as technology and institutional needs change. “My gift to the college recognizes the need to change with the times while being loyal to an institution, which has been very meaningful in my life,” says Wilson.  | ||||||
