Donors

Without scholarships, a lot of ‘super smart’ students would not be able to attend or finish college, CU Boulder students and philanthropists note.

Political science is the degree that Kreps earned from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1993. And it’s for that interest which Kreps, who passed away last April at the age of 45, is memorialized in the newly renovated Ketchum Arts and Sciences Building.

To Christopher Eagan, growing up in Levittown, N.Y., America’s first and most famous suburb, was nirvana. But after 18 years there, Eagan was ready for a change, and he knew just where he wanted to go: the University of Colorado Boulder.

It was during a summer-long family trip to Europe that 13-year-old Mary Ann Casey cemented her career plan: diplomacy. "You embark overseas as a citizen of a single country; you return home as a citizen of the world," says Casey.

When you pick up the phone, you speak with a bright, enthusiastic student from your alma mater. Soon, you find yourself giving the caller career advice, learning about the latest developments on campus, laughing, and yes, talking about the importance of private donations to CU Boulder’s mission.

When Meghan Dulsky heard that she was going to study abroad, she was elated. Later, when she learned that most of her experience would be funded, she was brought to tears. Dulsky, a senior majoring in classics, is the recipient of the Ann Nichols Scholarship and the Herodotus Travel Grant.

Legendary political-science Professor Edward Rozek was born in Poland, fought with the British against the Nazis, immigrated to the United States, went to Harvard, became a conservative icon at CU Boulder and passed away in 2009. He lives on in the newly renovated Ketchum Building.

Statistically speaking, you wouldn’t expect Alma Hinojosa to do a study-abroad program in Israel while studying English at CU Boulder and working to become a lawyer dedicated to improving the U.S. public-education system. She was born in Durango, Mexico, and reared in Aurora, Colo. She was brought here at age 4 by parents who “every day invest sweat and tears” to give their daughters a shot at the American Dream.

Dale Grant’s career and travel have spanned the world—and included jobs in eastern China and Saudi Arabia—and now his geology training helps quickly alert the world where, how big and how damaging severe earthquakes are. Now, the man who says he’s “always been a Buff” has moved to establish a significant scholarship for geological sciences students with his estate.

Take a pinch of serendipity, add a dash of coincidence and top it with a smidgen of good fortune, and you have the recipe for Janet Romberg Pollack’s life. The University of Colorado Boulder alumna and donor is now a narrator at the giant panda exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. But how she got there is a tale of unexpected twists and surprising turns.