The daughter of Aggie billionaire George Mitchell, Sheridan Lorenz, gave $50,000 for a scholarship for women undergraduates in Texas A&M's physics and astronomy department. In an effort to double it, then-department head Ed Fry set out to find matching funds.
Fry called his dean, the president, the A&M System's chancellor and others, but his search was fruitless because the university was dealing with state reductions.
"Everybody said, 'We just don't have any money.'" Fry said.
So Fry did something unusual.
He sent an email to his faculty members, explaining that $100,000 would permanently endow the scholarship named for Cynthia Woods Mitchell, George Mitchell's philanthropist wife, who died in 2009.
"I am asking," Fry wrote in November 2010, "for 10 volunteers to agree to give $1,000 per year for 5 years towards this endowment."
Within a week, out of their own pockets in all but one case, nine faculty members -- including Fry himself -- committed to donating $5,000 each, and a pair of non-tenured faculty members each chipped in with $2,500 each.
"It's just a great example of how committed the college's faculty are to excellence in this university," said Joe Newton, dean of the College of Science, which has five departments including physics and astronomy.
Mitchell, an oilman and major donor to the physics and astronomy department, was so impressed by the effort that he tossed in $50,000 himself for a total endowment of $150,000.
The scholarship is expected to begin benefiting students in the fall.
"Isn't that a beautiful story?" Fry said. "We probably have one of the most collegial departments on campus."
Physics professor Peter McIntyre said he was reminded of another scholarship he donated for in honor of Chia-Lai Wang, an undergraduate who died in a crash just before she was about to earn her degree. He also knew Cynthia Woods Mitchell, whom McIntyre called "an inspiration."
McIntyre said it's not that the department's faculty are rich. In fact, department salaries are around average, he said. He attributed the effort to the community spirit that has taken hold among his colleagues.
"I think we developed a sense of purpose to the department and a feeling of belonging to it," McIntyre said. "It's the sort of thing that does bring people to do things that are for the greater good."
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