William F. Scandling, chief benefactor and champion of the University of Rochester's Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development, has made a new $4.75 million gift to the School -- $1 million of which has been matched by an additional $1 million from other donors.
These new gifts follow more than $7 million in gifts over the years to the Warner School -- named in 1993 after his late wife, University alumna Margaret Warner Scandling.
"I've seen an enormous return on investment for my previous gifts," Scandling said. "I am happy to make another gift to help the school achieve even more."
He noted that he believes that the strengthening of primary and secondary education -- chief areas of focus for the Warner School, along with higher education -- "is the most pressing social issue of the day, and this is my way of acting on my concern."
Scandling is the co-founder and retired president of Saga Corporation, which grew from a small institutional food services business into a major national corporation.
"Bill Scandling is both an extraordinarily generous individual and an astute businessman," said President Thomas H. Jackson. "He will expect us to be as focused and creative as possible in putting his wonderful gifts to their best use. We believe that we can make even greater contributions to the local community, and to the national conversation on education -- and we intend to do so."
The gifts, primarily through new endowment, will help to support:
Warner graduate students, through graduate stipends and faculty/student scholarly programs.
expansion of Warner School interest in research and teaching on special education.
Warner School collaboration with the Frontier Corporation on family-school relationships -- a reflection of the school's interest in the social context of urban education.
"It is an extraordinary pleasure and a privilege to have the support and partnership of someone like Bill Scandling," said Philip Wexler, dean of the school. "It is through his generosity that we increase our school's contribution to research and scholarship on education and human development in society, and to preparing knowledgeable, thinking, and critical educational professionals and researchers."
Wexler said he expected that future school efforts "will certainly include an intensification of our relationships with the Rochester community and the city school district." He noted that the University has recently established an Institute for Urban Schools and Education within the Warner School to encourage those partnerships.
The Warner School, established in 1958, has been especially committed to bridging the gap between educational research and practice -- that is, between those who teach in the nation's schools, and those who study how education has been and should be done.
Its programs include those in teaching and curriculum, counseling and human development, higher education, and educational administration. Those programs lead to master of arts (M.A.), master of arts in teaching (M.A.T.), doctor of education (Ed.D.), and doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees.