Major Gifts
Dorothy Reed Megna ’58 and her husband Nelson J. Megna ’59 have created the Megna Family Endowed Scholarship with a gift of $25,000. The Megna scholarship fund will provide financial support and encouragement to promising students interested in becoming teachers. Through this gift they also wanted express their sincere appreciation to the College for the benefits they received while they were students at KTC – their education, the foundation for their careers, and each other! They have been long-time supporters of the College and active with their class reunions. Sean Gillery worked closely with the Megnas to create this fund which is part of their estate planning.
Jan and Rick Cohen have again shared their generosity with the College through a $40,000 gift to the Cohen Center. While unrestricted for Cohen Center use, this gift comes as a result of conversations around program growth and further outreach by the Center. The gift was made in honor of Jan and Rick’s 40th wedding anniversary and also in honor of Hank and Pamela Knight’s 40th wedding anniversary! Congratulations! Jan is a member of the President’s Council and Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Advisory Council.
Due to the significant support provided by the William T. Morris Foundation and its President, Bruce August P’13, the College has renamed the program the Keene State College Morris-August Honors Program. The commitment shown to Keene State by the Foundation is due to the incredible work by our Honors Program students, effective teaching practices by faculty, and amazing support from Margaret Walsh, former Honors Program Director, and Bob Kostick, current Morris-August Honors Program Director. Advancement staff has worked closely with Bruce August and the Foundation over the past several years, resulting in substantially-increased financial support of our Honors Program. The funds contributed by the Foundation provide students with scholarship assistance, needed resources for travel and high impact learning practices conducted through the program. The College has also been able to direct some of their contributions into a quasi-endowed fund that will ensure longevity of funding for the program. Thank you to all the faculty and students involved in the Honors Program. The connections you have helped us make with the Augusts and the William T. Morris Foundation have made this close relationship blossom.
Additionally, Keene State received notice of a bequest from Ida Goodell, in the amount of $326,000. The funds will be directed toward teacher education and travel, and funding of high-impact practices and academic enrichment for our students. Ida was a lifelong educator both as a classroom teacher and public school administrator in Maine. She loved to travel and have students travel as she felt that travel by itself was a tremendous education. Her gift has been directed to a quasi-endowed fund that will support our education majors with scholarships and travel funding.
The Thorne/Sagendorph Gallery has received a $5,000 gift to from The Friends of the Thorne organization. Dean Andy Harris and VP for Advancement Maryann Lindberg were instrumental in this gift through their work with the Friends organization. This gift will be added to an existing endowment which supports the educational purposes of the Thorne and its exhibitions.
