Contact: Rick Peterson
Associate Director of Communications/Manager of Media Relations
Communications, Brokaw Hall
920-832-6590
richard.peterson@lawrence.edu
APPLETON, WIS. — As parting gifts go, Terry Franke could not have asked for a more meaningful one.
Franke, the outgoing chair of Lawrence University’s Board of Trustees, received a surprise going away present at the board’s recent Spring meeting: The establishment of the Terry and Mary Franke Scholarship Fund, courtesy of a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor given “in recognition of the amazing job he has done in the past four and a half years as the chairman of the Lawrence board.”
The $1 million gift will go toward Lawrence’s focused student scholarship campaign — “Full Speed to Full Need” — launched last September with a gift of $25 million, the largest in school history. Lawrence alumni and friends since have contributed an additional $21.5 million in matching gifts for a total of $46.5 million toward a goal of $50 million. The funds will be used exclusively for endowed scholarships to help meet students’ demonstrated financial need.
“Terry Franke has led the Lawrence Board of Trustees during a time of immense growth and significant change for the university. I cannot think of a better way to acknowledge his service to his alma mater than this wonderful gift to establish the Terry and Mary Franke Scholarship fund,” said Mark Burstein, university president.
Franke, a 1968 Lawrence graduate, has served on Lawrence’s Board of Trustees for 16 years, including as chair since January, 2011. He spent most of his career at Hewitt Associates, where he was a senior partner. More recently he has served as a senior consultant for Productive Strategies, Inc., a management and marketing consulting firm based in Northfield, Ill.
Susan Stillman Kane, an Oshkosh native and 1972 Lawrence graduate, succeeds Franke as board chair. She has been a member of the board since 2002.
Kane, a resident of Swampscott, Mass., is a long-time community volunteer. She spent 23 years on the board, including several years as board president, of the Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of Marblehead, Inc., which provides scholarships for high school seniors and college students from the community. She also has served as an elected town meeting member in Swampscott.
