It is the largest planned gift in the school’s history, and will affect the lives of generations of students who otherwise might not be able to afford a college education. By supporting math and science education for New York state students, the gift will potentially lift the whole area economically.

But, at the donor’s request, his identity will remain anonymous.

“This is a transformative gift that will make individual dreams come true and can help boost the economy of our state,” said President Deborah F. Stanley.

An anonymous donor has announced his intention to bequeath $5 million to benefit the Possibility Scholarship program. The initiative supports students in the science, technology, engineering and math fields.

“With this gift, our generous donor is opening the door to a college education and a better life for many of our future students.”

The Possibility Scholarship provides talented students from New York state who want to study in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, with the financial help they need to attend SUNY Oswego.

The alumnus made clear that his intention is to promote the study of math, which he feels is crucial to success in most fields. “Math is a universal language and supports every other subject,” the donor said. “Regardless of what career path one takes, a strong math background is important to excel.”

As a soldier toward the end of the Vietnam War, he used his math skills to help the Pentagon determine which troops to bring home first. After his service he began a career in real estate, where math again helped him succeed. “I made most of my money from real estate investing,” he said. “Math was very instrumental in helping me to evaluate investments.”

The donor wants to keep America more competitive in the global economy, he said, by reversing a trend toward the acceptance of poor math skills in this country’s students.

The alumnus focused his generosity on the Possibility Scholarship program because it covers all tuition, fees, and room and board, in coordination with any other grants or scholarships awarded, for qualifying students for four full years.

The donor knows how important such aid can be. A Regents Scholar, he worked hard to pay his way through college. Scrubbing pots and pans in the dining hall, serving as resident assistant in a Lakeside residence hall, and bartending at a local establishment helped him pay for his college degree.

The Possibility Scholarship’s tuition benefit “takes away one more fear or impediment to concentrating,” he said. “Most people, when they have problems in life, it is usually financially originated. Remove that element and it makes people’s lives more stress-free.”

The alumnus said he wants to give back to Oswego because of the great experience he had at the college, and he wants to help others — who might not otherwise be able to afford higher education — to have the same great experience.

He made the most of his time at Oswego as a very active student, taking part in varied and enriching experiences, including student media.

A third-generation American, he formed a bond with a foreign language professor, Dr. Joseph Wiecha, who helped him get a scholarship to study one summer in the land of his ancestors. “I considered that the highlight of my life, going over there,” he said. Possibility Scholars travel to one of several Global Laboratory partners that Oswego has on every continent to study and work on science projects with researchers in their fields.

Despite wanting his name kept private for now, the donor said he hopes that his gift will inspire others to support Oswego and its students with an estate gift,

Julibeth Saez ’12 aims for a career as a veterinarian.

especially since state budget support for the college is diminishing.

“You have to give back, especially if Oswego’s been good to you,” he said.

He also pointed out that bequests to a charitable organization given during or after a donor’s lifetime reduce the taxable portion of the estate, thus avoiding the maximum potential 55 percent estate tax. “I would rather give a dollar than pay 55 cents to Uncle Sam,” he said.

The bottom line for this savvy investor and philanthropist is investing in the next generation.

“It all starts with an education. That’s the foundation of any life,” he said. With his generous bequest, he will provide that foundation for countless students who follow in his footsteps at Oswego.

—Michele Reed

As they prepared to return this summer, they had a chance to share their stories with representatives of the international partnership that is supporting a Brazilian research experience for them and 13 other SUNY students this year and another 15 next year.

Officials from Sovereign Bank/Banco Santander, the State University of New York system and Brazil’s State of Alagoas visited SUNY Oswego in May to preview the work that 15 SUNY students will do this summer at Oswego’s global laboratories in Brazil under the first phase of a $160,000 Santander-funded project.

Officials from Sovereign Bank/Banco Santander, the State University of
New York system and Brazil’s State of Alagoas visited SUNY Oswego in May and heard Bellinger’s and Buckner’s presentations. Banco Santander awarded $160,000 to SUNY to support student participation in ongoing research at Brazilian sites in Oswego’s new network of global laboratories.

“We strongly believe that future leaders will be global leaders,” said Eduardo Garrido, director of the Santander Universities program at Sovereign Bank, a U.S. subsidiary of Spain-based Banco Santander. “This has to be fostered.”

Emerging scientists

Buckner gave an illustrated presentation of her work in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands with Cleane Medeiros of Oswego’s biological sciences faculty. She participated in a survey of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, gathering data that will help protect the habitat.

“I’ve had dreams of being a scientist forever,” the senior zoology major said. This summer she returned in search of ideas for her doctoral research. A McNair Scholar at Oswego as well as a participant in the college’s Honors Program, Buckner has been accepted to pursue a doctorate at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Bellinger reported on his work last summer studying the period luminosity relationship of Cepheid stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, working with Shashi Kanbur, Oswego’s faculty fellow and a member of the physics faculty. “You can’t see the Magellanic Cloud from the northern hemisphere yet it holds all the data that I’m researching,” Bellinger said.

This summer the junior double major in computer science and applied mathematics worked on computational quantum physics at the Federal University of Alagoas in Maceio.

‘Tight-knit collaboration’

SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley last year traveled to the Brazilian state of Alagoas, the fast-developing northeastern region of Brazil, to sign three agreements that established some of the first global laboratories in Oswego’s planned world-spanning network, including agreements with the federal university and the state of Alagoas.

In turn, Eduardo Setton, secretary for science, technology and innovation for the state of Alagoas, came to Oswego and heard Buckner’s and Bellinger’s presentations. Setton spoke of the tech park in Maceio and the opportunities for international collaboration there through such agreements as SUNY Oswego has established.

Kanbur described Oswego’s network of global laboratories, which he is helping to develop, as “absolutely unique,” and Bellinger added that his experience supports that claim: “My friends at private universities have expressed envy that we have such fantastic opportunities at our public university.”

Josh McKeown, Oswego’s director of international education and programs, agreed. “We have built something special,” he said. “Our students can so seamlessly enter into a research program in another country because of the close relationship of our international faculty with researchers abroad.”

Oswego’s agreements in Alagoas are among nine the college has with universities and states in Brazil. “That’s really a tight-knit collaboration. I’m proud of Oswego for forging these alliances with such an important country,” said Sally Crimmins Villela, SUNY’s assistant vice chancellor for global affairs.

President Stanley noted that Oswego is deepening the relationship as it sends more students to the country to participate in hands-on research while gaining understanding of another culture, and she said she hopes to bring students from Brazil to Oswego. “Banco Santander’s support is helping our global laboratories come into full blossom,” she said.

Mark Baum ’81, co-chair of the Possibility Scholarship subcommittee of the Oswego College Foundation Board of Directors, and his wife, Cathy, aren’t just urging others to support the new initiative, they are leading by example.

The Baums have endowed a possibility scholar in perpetuity. Their gift will fund the full tuition, room and board; Global Laboratory experience; and summer research experience for a new scholar every four years.

Cathy, right, and Mark Baum '81

“For us, philanthropy falls into three buckets: professional, practical and personal,” said Mark Baum. The Possibility Scholar program met their criteria on all three counts.

He noted that, according to the Daily Beast.com, by 2020, the United States will need 120 million workers for highly skilled technical jobs, but will have only 50 million trained.

“In part, that’s why Oswego’s Possibility Scholar campaign is so
important,” he said.

The second bucket is practical. “The Possibility Scholar campaign is at the intersection of the two great planks of public higher education: accessibility and quality. The Possibility Scholar program is geared to students who have the academic credentials but lack financial means,” Baum said.

“It’s literally global in scale,” said Baum. “We have an energized and enthusiastic faculty to drive the program, and willing partners around the world to
create a high quality comprehensive experience in the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields.

“So it‘s really in that respect at the heart of the mission of public higher
education,” he said.

Finally, for the Baums, the third bucket of their philanthropy is personal, with their earlier giving coming from very personal experiences at Oswego.

He said he and Cathy donated to the Campus Center because they viewed it as “the heart and soul of the revitalization of the Oswego campus and campus life, and worthy of that kind of support.”

Their scholarship for a fallen friend and support of the 9/11 Memorial Garden was based on friendships formed at Oswego.

“Now we want to endow a part of a program that gives us great satisfaction, knowing that this Possibility Scholar intitiative will last into perpetuity and will give present and future students the very best of those opportunities,” he said.

— Michele Reed