This generous gift is part of Elon’s upcoming fundraising campaign to build the university’s endowment.
The Schaeffer Challenge Fund for Faculty Summer Fellowships addresses a key campaign priority for endowment funding by giving busy faculty time and resources to pursue their scholarly activities.
The Schaeffer Challenge Fund, together with matching dollars the university will raise, will establish four $100,000 endowed faculty summer fellowships. These prestigious awards will give faculty significant blocks of time to do research.
The Schaeffers are Parents Council members and recently served as co-presidents. Their son, Turner, participated in the London, Paris and Ghana study abroad programs before graduating in May with a degree in history. He also was a volunteer with the Elon Fire Department. Their daughter, Carolyn, will be a freshman in the fall.
“Our son has had an incredible experience at Elon,” Anne Schaeffer says. “He’s had wonderful relationships with all his professors. Their accessibility and open-door policy are so valuable, and we wanted to help foster that kind of learning. When faculty and students work together, it helps to inspire a continued quest for knowledge.”