Professor Emerita Patricia Grogg, who taught in the College of Business for more than 20 years, wanted to create a fund that would allow faculty to do something extra for their students. Maybe pay for new equipment or a field trip that the professor or the college couldn’t afford otherwise.
“I just thought, let’s enhance the dollars the college has for those projects that help faculty and students,” Grogg said.
Mission accomplished. The Wisdom’s Torch Teaching and Learning Award—which Grogg helped start in 2009 and to which she has contributed a $10,000 planned gift—has paid for business professors to attend training, acquire technology, and buy equipment.
The award has been supported by current and former College of Business faculty, staff, and administrators. Besides Grogg, other charter members were Dixie Mills, John and Therese Rigas, Donna and Phillip Zarcone, Charles and Joan McGuire, Elizabeth and Karl Freeburg, and Kimberly and Kenneth Warmbier.
Each dollar that provides professors support directly impacts student learning. Donors who invest in faculty allow for expanded research and continual learning opportunities that strengthens classroom instruction. Private funds allow faculty to travel and present their findings, to acquire tools of their field and involve students in their scholarly pursuits.
This specific award made it possible for Marketing Professor Jeri Beggs to pay for an online test that measures the moral growth of students in her Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Sustainability course.
“One of the things when you teach ethics is that you are wondering if you’ve moved the dial: Have you made students more ethical? And there is actually a pretty well established test out there called the Defining Issues Test,” Beggs said.
She now gives the test to students at the beginning and at end of each semester.
“It is positive for two reasons,” she said. “One is that it tells me that I’m actually having an impact on their learning. And it’s also good for them. It measures what we call moral development. They were able to see that they moved along a continuum of moral development.”
Without the private support, she would not have been able to acquire the test.
“I didn’t have the funding,” she said. “The Wisdom’s Torch Award made the purchase possible.”
