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- Icons By Maria Maldonado
Striving for Excellence
Fund changes lives, one opportunity at a time
In this photo taken by UM student Kaci Felstet, Suhani Vithar fills up the water buckets for the day. Her family lives in a slum called Wadarvadi in Pune, India. The water is only turned on for a couple of hours in the morning, so every morning is spent making sure they have enough water to get through the day. Suhani was one of the many people Felstet and other UM students met on their study abroad trip.
This past spring, the University of Montana took home the first-place cup at the eighteenth International Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl. It was UM’s first ethics bowl victory in seventeen years.
The win came thanks to hard work and strong preparation—and donors to the University’s Excellence Fund.
The Excellence Fund, UM’s unrestricted gift fund, sent the team of four students to Jacksonville, Fla., to compete in the finals.
“It is likely that we would not have been able to go without the travel grant,” says Neil Bennett, a UM graduate student in economics and the team’s coach. “Receiving the money meant a lot to us, and we are very grateful for it.”
Bennett and her team aren’t the only ones to benefit this year. The Excellence Fund supports UM students and faculty in myriad ways. In the past year, funds have helped:
• Kaci Felstet, a photojournalism major, who traveled to India for a winter-term study abroad program.
• A group of five students in Missoula College’s Department of Applied Computing and Electronics, who competed in the 2014 Shell Eco-marathon in Houston under the guidance of Assistant Professor Bradley Layton.
• Cara Saxon, an undergraduate who presented research at the national meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society in Seattle alongside her graduate student mentor, Kevin Trout.
• Clary Loisel, a Spanish professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, who conducted research in Rio de Janeiro for an anthology on Brazilian theater.
When you give to the Excellence Fund—or any UM unit, program, or department—you help UM grow. You help students learn, explore, and create. So many more programs and opportunities are available because of private support.
To say thank you to our most generous donors, the University of Montana Foundation recognizes those who have given $1,000 or more in a single year as President’s Club members.
The President’s Club began in 1988 as a small group of 300 supporters. Today thousands of alumni and friends have joined this community. President’s Club members are key partners for UM success because they provide the additional resources that help UM students thrive.
You don’t have to write a $1,000 check to join the President’s Club. Giving is cumulative, meaning smaller gifts during the course of the year will count toward membership. It’s as easy as setting up a monthly direct debit of $85.
President’s Club membership includes many benefits. Each year, UM President Royce Engstrom hosts the President’s Club and Heritage Society dinner during Homecoming, and each spring members mingle at the President’s Club brunch. The University also invites members to events around the country. Members receive our exclusive UM concierge service and monthly communications filled with UM news.
You can be part of this special group. Make a difference at UM with your gift today. Visit SupportUM.org/presidentsclub or contact Amy Heller, director of donor relations, at 800-443-2593.
