What Gifts Have Done in the Past

Private support has enabled the University to bring the best and most deserving students to the UI -- and keep them here -- by offering merit- and need-based financial assistance. Here are just a few examples of how gifts have helped the University fulfill its goal of enhancing access to Iowa excellence:

• NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw established a scholarship for American Indian students at the UI. Brokaw, anchorman and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News," established the Tom Brokaw Scholarship Fund for American Indian Students through a $50,000 gift. He attended the UI in 1958-59 and has since maintained significant interest in and ties to the University.
• Dr. Cassandra Foens of Waterloo, Iowa, gave $150,000 to endow a Presidential Scholarship, the UI's most prestigious scholarship awarded competitively to first-year students. Presidential Scholars must be in the top 5 percent of their high school class with an ACT composite score of 30 or above. Foens completed a B.A. degree in general science in 1983 and earned her medical degree at the UI in 1987. She completed a residency in radiation oncology at the UI in 1992.
• Kit and Phil Blake of Madison, Wisconsin, created two named scholarships with commitments that will grow to more than $365,000. The first, the Katherine Dower Blake Scholarship, will be given to Iowa residents demonstrating financial need. A second, to aid minority students, is the Dower Opportunity at Iowa Scholarship, honoring Kit's late parents, James and Mary Katherine Dower, and the Dowers' appreciation of diversity at the UI. Opportunity at Iowa scholarships recognize and reward minority students who are top scholars. Kit Blake earned a B.A. degree in English from the UI in 1967.

These are just a few examples of the generosity that has brought best and most deserving students to the UI by offering the financial assistance they need to succeed through merit- and need-based aid.

Join the ongoing efforts in support of student aid by making a gift online.