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The Hodson Trust Grants $3 Million
With its 2015 gift to Washington College, The Hodson Trust is hitting all the high notes: scholarships, student/faculty research, internships, and an endowed faculty chair.
Washington College’s most generous long-term benefactor, The Hodson Trust, has answered President Sheila Bair’s call for more scholarship funding with a $750,000 gift to endow her George’s Brigade initiative, as well as $500,000 for the Hodson Trust Merit Scholarship Endowment. The merit scholarship grants are part of Hodson’s annual gift—this year totaling $3 million.
The Hodson Trust is also directing funds toward collaborative student/faculty research, internship stipends, and an endowed faculty chair in economics.
During her inaugural address, President Bair described “George’s Brigade” as a way to enable high-achieving students from low-income families to afford a Washington College education. In its first year, the College hopes to meet the full financial needs of 20 students accepted through the George’s Brigade initiative. Admissions officers are targeting high schools nearby in Baltimore and Newark, New Jersey, as well as schools in California, Florida, and Georgia.
“We are so grateful that today’s leadership of The Hodson Trust remains committed to that remarkable spirit of generosity toward Washington College first exhibited by Colonel Clarence Hodson in 1928,” remarked Bair. “The most enduring and vital support from The Hodson Trust has been through gifts that create and sustain student scholarships so that every kind of student has access to a life-changing education at Washington College.”
The Hodson Trust Merit Scholarship Endowment provides four-year awards to students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement, character, and citizenship.
A grant of $750,000 will augment the Hodson Trust Undergraduate Research Scholars Fund established last year. The endowed fund, now topping $1.6 million, supports collaborative faculty-student research in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
In addition, $600,000 is earmarked for the Hodson Trust Internship Endowment, established in 2012 to remove the economic barrier that prevents financially strapped students from accepting unpaid or low-paying internships, despite their long-term career benefits. Hodson Trust Internship Grants help cover costs such as transportation, housing and food.
The remainder of the 2015 gift, $400,000, will further endow the Hodson Trust Chair in Economics, currently held by associate professor Lisa Daniels.
Since bestowing a grant of $29,884 in 1936, the Trust has given nearly $73 million to Washington College.