Gift Impact

With the help of farsighted gift support from alumni and friends, all of the following programs and activities have been made possible or were greatly enhanced.

MAJOR GIFTS AND BEQUESTS

• In 2012, the Pratt Foundation made a generous gift in order to secure the future of our Refugee Language Program for the next 3 years. Read more about this important and timely donation here.
• The Faculty is proud and grateful to report that it has been included in the estates of several alumni and friends. Mr John Gilbert, a loyal supporter of archaeology, cultural programs and the Fisher Library, bequeathed an extraordinarily generous $1.8M for scholarships and grants for undergraduate and postgraduate students. This endowed gift also provides financial assistance for travel including visits to libraries and archives, critical as students hone their research and scholarship. Ms Eulalia Hsu bequeathed over $100,000 to establish The Raymond Hsu Scholarship, providing support for postgraduate research in Chinese studies, literature and linguistics. Most spectacularly, alumna Miss Janet Hine, BA ’47, gifted $4M for the University. Her legacy will be used to establish a Chair in the Faculty in a relevant area of the humanities and social sciences for the new Charles Perkins Centre, which has been created to help tackle the challenges of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease in new and radically cross-disciplinary ways. We know that obesity and diabetes, for example, are as much cultural and political challenges as they are biomedical ones. Read more about Miss Hine’s extraordinary generosity in this Challis Bequest Society article.
• In 2011, Tom Austen Brown’s generous lifetime gifts culminated in his visionary bequest creating The Tom Austen Brown Fund For Pre-History. At a time when the Faculty is receiving more gifts than ever before, from those who strongly appreciate the value and impact of its academic programs, it is hugely encouraging when especially farsighted donors decide to provide transformational support through a bequest.

ANNUAL GIFTS

Hannah Donnelly

• In June 2012, thanks to gifts for the Student Activity Fund – which is part of The Dean’s Scholarship Fund – International and Global Studies student Daniel Barabas has represented the University at Golden Key’s International Scholar Laureate Program on Diplomacy and International Relations. Over two weeks in Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai, he discussed foreign affairs with diplomats, students and academics from China and around the world. A cultural program enabled him to visit historical landmarks such as Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Terracotta Warriors.
• Earlier this year, support from the same program helped Tom Neale to visit Vancouver for the Harvard World Model United Nations Conference. Describing this experience as “incredibly rewarding”, Tom said that his trip provided “a rare opportunity to debate international relations issues and solve problems with leaders of tomorrow from around the world, while at the same time, developing my own personal skills and networks.”

• Recipient Hannah Donnelly said of the support that this new program provides to undergraduate students, “During my degree, I had the incredible opportunity of seeing how the UN works from the inside by attending the 10th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. The Student Activity Fund will give future arts students the chance to have life-changing personal development experiences just like mine.”
• The International Exchange Scholarships Scheme is helping our undergraduates to access life-changing experiences overseas. More information, including about scholarship winners, can be found at: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/future_students/international_exchange.shtml.

Senthorun(Sen)Raj

• Other gifts to the have helped Arts and Social Sciences students present their research at the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies Undergraduate Conference at the University of Alberta, Canada, and participate in the 180 Degrees International Project and The UN Youth National Conference. Extending our students’ learning beyond the classroom in this way enormously enriches their education. Speaking in 2011 when the Student Activity Fund was launched, Senthorun Raj explained that, "Participating in extra-curricular and community activities while studying helped me broaden my academic perspectives and realise my passions for social justice. This new fund will be an immense help to students by supporting them to actively pursue their interests and become engaged members of the community."

Neha D'Souza

• In addition, alumni gifts have made possible limited scholarship “top-up” payments for the impressive international students studying for our groundbreaking Masters of Human Rights and Democratisation. Read more about one of these students here. In 2012, the inaugural Dean’s Prize was awarded to MHRD student Neha D’Souza.

• Thanks to support from alumni and friends, an announcement about the 2013 Cite Residency awards has been made by the Department of Art History and Film Studies.