Investing in Impact: Three New Scholarships Empower Future Leaders
As three new scholarship funds have been established, a commitment to equity and education continues to thrive at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. These scholarships provide financial assistance to deserving students pursuing training designed to create impactful change. Beyond supporting students, each scholarship honors and pays tribute to an alumnus’ family member or a milestone anniversary. Learn more about these scholarships, how our alumni continue a tradition of philanthropy, and how you can be part of this important initiative.
The Scholarship and Student Support Fund: Celebrating a Legacy of Class Unity
- Two members of the Class of 1974, Joanne Medak, AM ’74, and Ronda Franks, AM ’74, established the Scholarship and Student Support Fund as a challenge gift to honor their 50th Reunion. The effort was a remarkable success, raising more than $250,000 in the first year of fundraising. This unrestricted financial aid and emergency fund has already been put to use beginning with the fall 2025 admitted class. The Fund also inspired another reunion classmate, Jerry Wolf, AM '74, to honor his wife, Jan Wolf, AM '74. This scholarship gift celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, coinciding with their Crown Family School graduation. These dedicated members of the Class of 1974 strongly believe in the power of education to transform lives and create lasting change, and their generous contribution will empower the next generation of change agents
The Friedman Family Graduate Scholarship Fund: Championing Excellence in Social Work
- Susan L. Cameron, AB’69, AM’74, and Oliver Gene Cameron, PhD’72, ’74, established a new endowment, the Friedman Family Graduate Scholarship Fund. This scholarship reflects the Cameron family's deep commitment to educating and training current and future social work students. This financial assistance is another way alumni can help students advance their studies and pursue careers that create a more just society.
The Evelyn Appell Lipkin, AM'46 Scholarship Fund: Honoring a Legacy of Service
- Laurel Appell Lipkin has established the Evelyn Appell Lipkin Scholarship Fund, in honor and memory of her mother. Evelyn Appell Lipkin, AM'46, found her career, community, and life-long friendships during her time at the university. She started the first tot lots in Hyde Park, initiated and volunteered in after-school programs at the Hyde Park Study Center, and supported teen mothers on the West Side of Chicago through her work at the Parent/Child Center. Throughout her career, she worked with foster care and adoption programs and placements, maintained a private clinical practice, and taught at the graduate level. She cared deeply about access to the kind of education she enjoyed, which was transformative and profoundly meaningful for her. Her commitment to community service exemplifies the values that this fund aims to promote. This need-based scholarship honors Evelyn’s lifetime of service and will support students who could not afford to attend the Crown Family School. Such financial assistance will support committed students as they further their education and make meaningful contributions to their communities, thereby honoring Evelyn's legacy.
All three of these new scholarship funds represent a significant investment in training exceptional students at the Crown Family School. Alumni have many opportunities to provide meaningful financial gifts that reflect their values and interests. Know that philanthropic support – at any level – has the power to change lives, inspire change, and celebrate the lives of others. Help us cultivate the next generation of leaders who will tackle our time's most pressing social issues. If you are interested in participating in this effort, learning how to establish a new scholarship fund, or creating a challenge grant at the Crown Family School, contact Maggi Steib, Associate Director of Alumni Relations and Development, at msteib@uchicago.edu.