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Ed. Magazine

Giving 100 Percent

(L to R) Beth Schueler, Lisa Utzinger, Janine de Novais, and Liz Hale Rozas

[caption id="attachment_4605" align="alignleft" width="302" caption="(L to R) Beth Schueler, Lisa Utzinger, Janine de Novais, and Liz Hale Rozas"]Students[/caption]

What began last spring with a simple question over lunch with Dean Kathleen McCartney became the inspiration for a major fundraising effort by a group of first-year Ed.D. students.

"We were speaking about all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into making this [Ed School] experience possible for doctoral students and the challenges of fundraising for research-oriented degree programs," explains Ed.D. Candidate Beth Schueler. "So we asked if there was anything we could do to help."

McCartney told them that if every student and graduate of the school contributed $25 each year, the school would meet its annual fund goals. So, with that bit of information — and a shared gratitude for their own doctoral funding — Schueler and classmates Janine de Novais, Liz Hale Rozas, and Lisa Utzinger, Ed.M.'10, began to brainstorm.

Although among the group only Utzinger had any prior fundraising experience, they decided to issue a "cohort challenge" to their Ed.D. peers with the goal of convincing every member of the first-year cohort — 32 in total — to contribute to the HGSE Fund, which seeks to raise resources for many areas of the Ed School including financial aid, Gutman Library, and faculty and student support services. Immediately, their classmates were intrigued.

"The challenge to get 100 percent participation was met with enthusiasm, largely because it was a homegrown idea and it would be a cohort effort," says de Novais. "A few people weren't sure at first, but we emphasized this as a chance to show appreciation for what we were receiving and that got everyone on board."

(Hale Rozas suspects that her promise to host a dinner party for the cohort if everyone contributed probably also helped.)

Within a matter of weeks, all of the first-year Ed.D. students had made gifts.

"I think it's a testament to our cohort's willingness to support each other's initiatives, whether it is the giving challenge, the Student Research Conference, or our independent research projects," Utzinger says.

Having found success with their cohort challenge, the four students decided to reach out to a much larger group — Ed.D. alumni. Working with the Development & Alumni Relations Office, they crafted a letter encouraging alumni to join them in supporting the program now and into the future.

Going forward, the foursome aims to achieve 100 percent participation during each year of their time at the Ed School and hopes to inspire future Ed.D. cohorts to do the same.

"My hope is that future cohorts, by our example, will see giving as a something they do as part of the HGSE community," says Utzinger. "And something they do together rather than individually."

Ed. Magazine

The magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education

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