Supporting faculty and staff mentoring, and the university’s active learning opportunities was the inspiration behind a $110,000 gift by the Ward family of Baltimore. The gift has established two annual awards to recognize an outstanding student and a faculty or staff member.
Tom and Beth Ward, their sons, A.T. ’05, Christopher ’08 and Chase, and Tom Ward’s mother, Dorothy Mears Ward, worked together to determine what the awards would honor and the characteristics the recipients should exemplify.
The Ward Family Learning in Action Award will support an experiential learning project, including international study, research, internships, service or leadership, for a rising sophomore, junior or senior.
The Excellence in Mentoring Award will recognize a faculty or staff member who has served as a trusted adviser to students in and out of the classroom; demonstrated a sustained commitment to the holistic development of students; provided information or opportunities to help students reach their academic or career goals; monitored student progress toward those goals; and encouraged students to pursue meaningful academic internships, fellowships and post-graduate opportunities.
The Wards feel that their sons have benefited from the university’s experiential learning philosophy and strong faculty mentoring. They saw this as an opportunity to give back to the school.
“I’ve never seen a school that has done so much with so little,” Tom Ward says. “The endowment Elon has is so small, and we’re tying to be a catalyst to increase it. Elon is a success story. I’d love to see a number of other people step up to the plate and help build the endowment for Elon.”
The couple’s oldest son, A.T., a political science major, participated in The Washington Center program and attended the 2004 Republican National Convention.
“Those two experiences were wonderful for him, and he has stayed in contact with many of the people he worked with,” Beth says.
The Ward family gift will be counted toward Elon’s upcoming fundraising campaign.