Your Legacy
Your Legacy
GIFT IN ACTION
The Planned Gift that’s Shaping Generations of Teachers and Preparing Future Leaders
As the second largest engineering college in the country, Grainger Engineering is currently preparing nearly 10,500 undergraduate students for a successful future. To ensure our Grainger Engineers are equipped to handle the challenges of our world in the future, they must be trained and guided by outstanding faculty and instructors. A planned gift has allowed our faculty to strengthen an existing program and expand creativity in original pedagogy, curriculum design, and learning technologies through the Collins Scholars Program.
The Collins Scholars Program was developed specifically for new engineering faculty and instructors. The program provides a culture of support for teaching, research and service to better deliver personalized educational experiences at scale. The program is partly supported by a gift from the late W. Leighton Collins (Civil Engineering, BS ’28, MS ’32), as a collegewide award for teaching excellence and is a part of Grainger Engineering’s Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education (AE3), which has provided teaching resources since the mid-1990s. Leighton, who taught Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from 1939 until 1965, became the first Executive Director of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).
OVER 200 SCHOLARS
have graduated the program since 2012
The program is built on a foundation of mentorship and observational learning. First-year faculty observe senior teaching faculty, receive feedback from student consultants, and meet weekly with senior faculty to discuss best practices and troubleshoot approaches to teaching.
Theresa Saxton-Fox, who began teaching at The Grainger College of Engineering’s Department of Aerospace Engineering in January 2019, enrolled in the Collins Scholars Program to gain invaluable lessons in educator training with an informal and accessible approach. She explains, “Having role models for what teaching can look like makes the path towards excellence much clearer. The program has been a great opportunity to reflect on my teaching, learn about evidence-based teaching practices, identify positive role models, and connect with my peers.” She will “graduate” from the program in Spring 2020.
The power of planned giving is seen throughout our engineering campus. In our students’ ability to learn through the Collins Scholars Program.
“I did not have much formal training in teaching before coming to the University of Illinois; so having this program was like boot camp, but better because it’s fun. Before Collins Scholars, I mainly focused on how well I communicated engineering concepts. Now, I am more equipped to think about different levels of learning, use different tools to engage students under different settings, and set and enforce expectations with students.”
Wayne Chang
Mechanical Science and Engineering lecturer
Collins Scholars Program Graduate, Spring 2019
Establishing a planned gift helps ensure that engineering students have access to the tools and faculty they need to become elite engineers, allow our researchers to tackle the world’s toughest challenges, and help shape the future of innovative engineering education.
The power of planned giving is seen throughout our engineering campus. In our students’ ability to learn through the Collins Scholars Program.
Establishing a planned gift helps ensure that engineering students have access to the tools and faculty they need to become elite engineers, allow our researchers to tackle the world’s toughest challenges, and help shape the future of innovative engineering education.
“Having role models for what teaching can look like makes the path towards excellence much clearer.”
Theresa Saxton-Fox
Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering
The Planned Gift That Pays Income and Helps Future Grainger Engineers
Grainger Engineering alumni Carolyn and Gino Primus have chosen to leave a planned gift to support scholarships through a charitable gift annuity (CGA) established at the University of Illinois Foundation. This unique vehicle allows you to make a gift and in exchange receive a fixed annual dollar amount for life. The principal remaining at your death will then benefit any U of I Foundation program that you choose.
Learn More About why Carolyn Decided to Give:
Why did you choose to support The Grainger College of Engineering?
Illinois gave me the tools I needed to excel. Due to the broad impact that materials science engineering has on the world, I have been able to work in the field of material sciences for government labs and then for corporations making consumer products and dental materials. We felt that it was time to help others.
Why did you choose to give through a charitable gift annuity?
We wanted to do some good for future engineers through The Grainger College of Engineering. A CGA allowed us to help provide for others’ engineering education.
Why did you choose to support scholarships?
[My scholarship support] made all the difference to get through school. My father had retired and supporting a woman’s education was “iffy”. I worked in the engineering library, took a heavy class load, used my academic success to get summer jobs at national labs and was able to finish in three years on
campus with some scholarship support.
What impact do you hope your planned gift will make at The Grainger College of Engineering?
I grew up in a segregated part of Chicago. I saw bright kids that didn’t get the opportunities that I did for college. We wanted to contribute to change that. [Our gift] contributes to the common goal of Grainger Engineering providing the best opportunities and training for students.