Once and Again

Every year, for nearly five decades, Evelyn Murrin, Ed.M.’58, has written a check to the HGSE Fund. Since Frank Fritts, Ed.M.’02, graduated, he has similarly made a contribution every year.

What motivates consecutive-year donors like these to remain so loyal to the Ed School?

The answer for Murrin comes from the impact of research she saw over the course of her career as a Pittsburgh-area school counselor. For example, whereas diagnosis for autism in the 1950s was completely dependent on extended observation, now, new technologies help explain which parts of the brain are governing children’s actions.

“We can never afford to be static in research,” Murrin says. “To support the sort of work the Ed School is doing, we all really do need to contribute.”

For Fritts, who teaches history at Trinity-Pawling School in upstate New York and helps run Camp Arcadia in Maine each summer, the motivation to contribute each year is born of the strong relationships he developed at the Ed School.

“I had equally amazing experiences inside and outside of class,” Fritts says, noting that he remains in touch with classmates. “Gifts allow that to happen.”

Continuous support from alumni donors at all levels is essential to the success of the school and to its mission to develop leaders and knowledge that will improve education, explains Denise Tioseco, Ed.M.’02, director of alumni relations and the HGSE Fund.

“Sometimes there’s a perception that only major gifts matter to HGSE, but that’s not the case,” Tioseco says. “We deeply value participation with the HGSE Fund, regardless of the amount.”

To encourage alumni to become sustaining donors, Tioseco created the Holmes Society, which is named for the first and longest-serving dean of the Ed School, Henry Wyman Holmes. Born in 1880, Holmes served as dean for two decades, from 1920 until 1940. The society recognizes consistent donors to the HGSE Fund at all contribution levels. In addition, those who have donated for five and 10 consecutive years are given annual certificates.

For Fritts, a Holmes Society member, the spirit of this sort of acknowledgement resonates with how he feels about giving. “My philosophy is if you can give a lot, great,” he says. “But if not, give what you can.”