EMS Development

The Office of Development in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences works with alumni and friends who are interested in furthering the mission of the College by making annual gifts and establishing endowed funds.

Endowed funds allow the College to provide special programs, resources and financial assistance to our students. Endowments appeal to many people because they exist in perpetuity. The initial gift is invested and only a portion of the average annual investment return is spent. The remaining income is added to the principal as a hedge against inflation, which ensures that a gift made through endowment will grow and continue to support its intended purpose for many years to come.

Over the next four years, we will focus our attention on raising funds to support four key initiatives in the College:

• Trustee Scholarships
  A university-wide program, launched in 2002, the Trustee Scholarship Program is a unique matching scholarship initiative aimed at keeping a high-quality college education accessible to all qualified students, regardless of their financial means. The program's goal is to raise $100 million in private support for new undergraduate scholarships across the university by June 30, 2007. To underscore its commitment to this effort, the Board of Trustees agreed to match 5 percent of the gift with University funds, and to make these matching funds available to assist students as soon as the donor completes pledge forms and guidelines. The matching funds continue in perpetuity and combined with income from the endowment increase the impact of the scholarship.
  
  
• Academic Initiatives
  Two examples of exciting new academic initiatives taking place in EMS over the next few years include TOTEMS and AESEDA:
  
  As part of Dean Barron's vision of making EMS the most student-centered college in Penn State history, the college is seeking to build its outdoor orientation program for new students, TOTEMS (Total Orientation Trip for EMS). The purpose of this program is to help new students build a sense of community and friendships prior to stepping upon the large Penn State campus, to meet and learn from junior and senior students, and to get to know an EMS faculty member before the first day of classes.
  
  We will also direct efforts to build funds to support AESEDA, the College's new Alliance for Earth Sciences Engineering and Development in Africa which has the potential to make EMS truly a global college. AESEDA is designed to use faculty expertise to solve a wide variety of problems in Africa and other developing nations. The Alliance encompasses a new undergraduate minor, new avenues of graduate education as well as interdisciplinary research involving earth sciences, engineering and human-environment interactions.
  
  
• Deike Building Renovations
  To further develop a sense of community, the College has transformed the ground floor of Deike Building to create an active and engaging environment for our undergraduate students. An expanded EMS Student Center houses EMS advisors, our highly regarded tutoring center, ample space for advisors to meet with students and their families, and a state of the art computer lab. Adjacent classroom space will be renovated for the innovative undergraduate research experience in the Center for Advanced Undergraduate Studies and Experience (CAUSE). In addition, the EMS Museum will find its new home on the ground floor of Deike, making the Steidle Art collection and impressive mineral and gems collections more accessible to our students, the Penn State community and to the general public.
  
  
• Faculty Support
  EMS faculty members are known around the world for their quality and leadership in their disciplines, their professions and the scientific community. In the classroom and the laboratory, EMS faculty's commitment to their students and their passion to their disciplines foster dialogue that transcends the most mundane materials. Through the creation of new endowed funds for faculty support, EMS will be able to continue to attract and retain top teachers and scholars and provide resources to allow them to pursue their research and scholarly interests.

  For more information, email one of the EMS development staff members directly or send your questions to development@ems.psu.edu. We will be happy to discuss the various ways you can make a gift to the college or create an endowment in the department of your choice.