A Benefactor for a Broader Vision
Kathy Stone Kaufmann, Terri Sullivan, and Ivelina Borisova (photo by Ed Malitsky)
by Lee Fuoco
Kathy Stone Kaufmann, Ed.D.'87, maintains that she was "a bit of an oddity" as an HGSE student. "I came to the Ed School not looking for a career in education, but looking for the courses that had the most to do with mental health, mental illness, courses in developmental psychology, and basically the trajectory of human evolution."
Kaufmann had graduated from Wellesley College in 1967, and went on to the Simmons School of Social Work. After earning her MSW, she went on to work in both the public and private arenas until she returned to school in 1982 to further her understanding of the human experience, which took shape as a doctorate in human development from HGSE.
Attending the Ed School for a doctorate of education might seem like a nontraditional choice for a
practicing mental health clinician with no intention of teaching, but it made sense to Kaufmann. "I have these two parts to myself," she says. "I really enjoy getting deeply engaged with another human being around that person's problems. And that part is obviously met by doing individual therapy, family therapy. But the other part of me enjoys working in organizations, working in systems, and making things happen on a systemic basis." Kaufmann satisfied both of these sides of her personality by pairing classes in not-for-profit management with classes taught by Meehan Professor Robert Kegan and former Graham Professor Carol Gilligan. "I didn't know exactly where I might end up after getting my degree," Kaufmann says.
Eleven years later, Kaufmann has ended up, geographically at least, where she started: in private practice in her home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She works with a diverse caseload of "adults through older folks," utilizing an "eclectic theoretical basis" that includes the Stone Center theory (which posits that the self contains two equally demanding but compatible needs, the need for recognition by and the need to understand the other), cognitive behavioral therapy, and family systems. She also serves on various community and educational boards, including Wellesley's board of trustees and Harvard's visiting committee. Kaufmann says, "I'm somebody who really likes to be close to organizations."
Kaufmann put this desire into practice in 1998 when she made an already close relationship with the Ed School even closer by establishing the Katherine Stone Kaufmann Endowed Financial Aid Fund for Adult Development and Integrated School Services. The fund provides important career flexibility for recipients. "It gives them more options to pursue what's really in their hearts and what's really needed," Kaufmann says, "as opposed to simply looking at jobs in terms of 'where can I earn the most money?'" More specifically, it is aimed at "students who are not going to be teachers, who will use the degree in a broader way, [applying] it to ancillary or complementary careers."
This year's recipients of Kaufmann's fellowship certainly embody the donor's vision. Ivelina Borisova, a native of Bulgaria, is focusing her doctoral studies in psychology and human development on international human rights. She is currently exploring the rights of children and war-affected youth populations. Terri Sullivan is studying civic identity in youth: "What it takes to make it more likely that young people will grow up wanting to make their communities better places for all."
"Dr. Kaufmann's support has been of great importance and value for me," says Borisova. As an international student studying in the United States, she has "depended on the generosity and support of individuals like Kathy Kaufmann, who have helped me progress in my education and develop as an individual overall."
Sullivan, who came to the Ed School in 2001 after 20 years in the corporate workforce, is grateful for Kaufmann's gift for other reasons. As "a 47-year-old single person," she says, "this is a time when I'm supposed to be building my retirement nest egg, not stacking up student loans. The Kaufmann fellowship has allowed me to focus on building my own capacity to create the change I want to see in the world, and I am grateful for it."
The recipients got the opportunity to thank Kaufmann in September, when Kaufmann met with Boriskova and Sullivan--"my students," Kaufmann calls them--for lunch. "They're both bright and energetic and passionate and warm and engaging," says Kaufmann. "To meet the students just concretizes the gift and makes it that much more meaningful."
Kaufmann has high hopes for the future of her gift. "I would like it to grow. I would like to help it to grow so that either more students can be benefited, or one or two students can be benefited to a larger dollar amount. You just have this image of this group of students who will benefit from your generosity long after you're gone. I think there's something that is very profound about being part of something larger than yourself, to feel like we have a stake in something beyond our own small worlds."
About the Article
A version of this article originally appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of Ed., the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
