32301
New scholarship program announced for accounting and music majors
The Fort Lewis College Foundation is pleased to announce The Gene and Sally Bradley Scholarship. The award will be available in fall 2015 with preference given to accounting and music majors.
“Fort Lewis is such a valuable asset to this community. We’ve been here 20 years and always been supporters of Fort Lewis,” says Gene. “We’ve had the scholarship on our mind for four or five years and just finally decided to go ahead and get it done.”
Gene, who serves as chair of the FLC Foundation Board of Directors, worked as a certified public accountant and he’d like to help students who want to pursue a similar career path. He sees the Fort Lewis College School of Business Administration as a good investment.
“Fort Lewis has an outstanding business school,” he says, “and a good accounting curriculum.”
In fact, the FLC accounting program is ranked in the top three bachelor’s degree programs in the state for earnings five and ten years after graduation. This past fall, the FLC chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, the national accounting honors society, was ranked as a Superior Chapter for its excellence in preparing graduates for careers.
On what seems like the opposite end of the academic spectrum, the Bradley’s new scholarship is also open to music majors. This is because of Sally’s lifelong love of music, both as a performer and a patron.
“Within 6 months after we moved [to Durango], I started coming to concerts and recitals at Fort Lewis and it was like gold to me,” she explains.
Sally works with the FLC Music Department’s Artist in Residence program, which brings musicians from all over the world to Fort Lewis College to teach and perform. The master classes and performances by these guest artists are open to the public.
Gene and Sally’s gift is the latest in a recent string of new scholarship programs at FLC. A few of the other scholarships created this year include the Stan Rabbe Memorial Cycling Scholarship for FLC cycling students and the Walter Dear Scholarship, which is open to any student with a financial need.
Gene hopes that this giving trend will continue and the FLC Foundation will welcome more endowed scholarships in the future.
“The minimum amount for an endowed scholarship is $25,000,” he says, “but for people who want to set up an endowed scholarship they can do it over a period of five years, so it’s a simple way to help students.”
The FLC Foundation, Inc. exists solely to encourage, receive, invest and administer private funds in support of Fort Lewis College's mission, projects and initiatives as approved by the FLC Board of Trustees. Founded in 1969, the Foundation Board of Directors manages nearly $25 million in assets. The Foundation provides nearly $1 million annually in scholarships to deserving students, has provided philanthropic funding for capital construction and improvements, and provides funds that develop and enhance the Fort Lewis experience for students, faculty, staff and the region.