Alumni gifts provide ag sciences students with scholarship, program support

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Students in the College of Agricultural Sciences will benefit due to financial gifts from alumni of the college.

Jay and Joyce Rush, of Boalsburg, created the Jay V. and Joyce H. Rush Family Trustee Scholarship with a $50,000 gift, and William and Margaret Donley, of Pittsburgh, targeted their $50,000 gift to an existing endowment that provides programmatic support for the college’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program.

Program

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program includes entrepreneurship-focused classes, the Ag Business Springboard undergraduate student competition and the Research Applications for Innovation grant program for faculty.

Proceeds from the endowment can be used to cover expenses related to scholarly activities for faculty and students, staff support, travel and other needs.

Scholarship

The Trustee Matching Scholarship Program the Rush’s supported maximizes the impact of private giving while directing funds to students as quickly as possible, meeting the urgent need for scholarship support.

For Trustee Scholarships created through the end of For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students on June 30, Penn State will provide an annual 10 percent match of the total pledge or gift. This level is an increase from the program’s original match of 5 percent, and it is available only for new endowments of $50,000 or more.

The university match, which is approximately double the endowment’s annual spendable income, continues in perpetuity, multiplying the support available for students with financial need.

Jay Rush graduated from the College of Agricultural Sciences in 1968 with a degree in agricultural mechanization, and Joyce Rush is a 1970 graduate of the College of Health and Human Development in Consumer Related Studies.

William Donley graduated from the College of Agricultural Sciences in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in forest science before earning a master’s of business administration from the University of Pittsburgh’s Executive MBA program.

Margaret Donley is a 1979 Penn State graduate with a bachelor’s degree in German from the College of Liberal Arts and a minor in international business.