The Campaign for SCholarShipS - UL Lafayette Foundation

The Campaignfor ScholarshipsAT THE

The Campaign for Scholarshipsat the University of Louisiana at LafayetteScholarships transform lives and make a difference. The University of Louisiana atLafayette is undertaking its first campaign dedicated to raising funds specifically forscholarships. The outcome of the Scholarship Campaign for UL will be to increase theamount of endowed scholarship funds available to more students, not just for theirgeneration, but for generations to come. In essence, it is about the future of theinstitution.As the expected student numbers grow on campus so must the number of awardablescholarships. To remain competitive with its rival institutions in attracting and retainingthe brightest and the best, the size of those awards must grow, too.Scholarship funds allow graduates to enter the workplace without an abundance offinancial indebtedness. Likewise, it allows them as students to fully participate incollege life without the distraction of excessive outside employment. It allows them tolearn from experience the power of personal giving.Scholarships help write life stories for students, for donors, for professors and for theinstitution. We invite you to help write those stories by providing opportunities forstudents through your investment in the Scholarship Campaign at UL.

Honorary ChairRebecca Wells“I am a storyteller. My skills as a story teller are rooted deeply in the landand culture of Louisiana, my homeland. My higher education comes from aLouisiana school. I am proud for that to be true. I am Louisiana educated.Through The Campaign for Scholarships at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, ourdonors are growing scholarship endowment…and, the stories of potential and deservingstudents. As an author, stories are what everything is about. To have been asked to helpwith this campaign is indeed an honor.Just as a storyteller develops a character in a book, each scholarship unfolds a tale. Thedonor has a story behind its creation. The recipient has a story based on need. Thescholarship fund itself develops its own story in perpetuity.The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is a fine institution. Like many other fine institutionsacross the country, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette has increasedenrollment standards. Becoming more highly competitive in spite of funding short fallsmakes the gift of scholarship dollars critical to attracting and retaining a bright anddiverse student body. So, I believe we must imagine a future for our state that involves apersonal commitment and private support for higher education.There is no more satisfying gift than helping to write the next chapters in another person’slife. The Campaign for Scholarships at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is aboutstories. My involvement as Honorary Chair is now part of my story. "Rebecca WellsAuthor, Actress, ActivistHonorary Chair, Scholarship Campaign

Rebecca Wells (born 1952 in Alexandria, Louisiana) is an American actress, playwrightand author. She is best known for her Ya-Ya series of novels, which includes Divine Secretsof the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (1996), Little Altars Everywhere (1992), Ya-Yas in Bloom (2005),and The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder (2009).After college, Ms. Wells later moved to New York City to pursue her acting career andbegan studying the Stanislavski method of acting, as well as a depth approach thatintegrates spirituality and performance with Maurine Holbert.Rebecca’s commitment is not only to acting, and writing, but to peace and social justiceas well. Having performed as an actress in regional theaters across the country, and havinghelped organize a major march for nuclear disarmament, she visited Seattle. There, shefounded a chapter of Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament, and began to performand develop plays at numerous Seattle theaters. Charmed by the beauty and grace of TheGreat Northwest, she decided to make it her home. She resides outside Seattle with herhusband, Tom.Her writing so far resides in the heart of Louisiana. While many fans assume her work isautobiographical, Wells work is a result of her imagination dancing a kind ofpsycho-spiritual tango with her own history, and the final harvest is fiction, not memoir.Her first novel, Little Altars Everywhere, won the Western States Book Award, became anunderground bestseller, supported by independent bookstores nation-wide beforebecoming a New York Times bestseller. Her second novel, Divine Secrets of the Ya-YaSisterhood, became a #1 New York Times bestseller and a publishing phenomenonseveral years before the book was made into a blockbuster movie with Dame MaggieSmith. It won the 1999 Adult Trade ABBY Award and inspired Ya-Ya clubs all over theworld. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood has become a modern classic. Her thirdYa-Ya novel, Ya-Yas in Bloom became a New York Times bestseller as it brought Wells’sfans into the early lives of her Ya-Ya gang. The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponderintroduced a wholly new set of characters and Louisiana settings. Her four bestsellingnovels have given Wells a dominant place in American literature. Presently, Ms. Wells isresearching and writing about Lyme’s Disease, an illness near and dear to her.Her two nieces, Emily Wells Moody and Claire Wells, are UL alumnae. Emilygraduated in 2007 with a degree in Public Relations. She is presently enrolled in theCollege of Education pursuing teacher certification. She is married to Hunter Moody,grandson of B.I. Moody. Claire is a 2008 graduate of the Hospitality Managementprogram. Both Claire and Emily reside in Lafayette, LA. Rebecca still has family inAlexandria and looks forward to renewing her ties to Louisiana.

Our StoriesFrank J. (Jay) Culotta, Jr., M.D., a Lafayette Ophthalmologist, takes great pride in helping UL students. As partof The Campaign for Scholarships at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Jay has pledged to establish a$100,000 endowed First Generation Scholarship.“My education at USL, now University of Louisiana, gave me the strong foundation and excellentpreparation I needed to accomplish medical school. There were no students from any other universities betterprepared than those of us from USL. UL continues to provide tremendous education to those willing to applythemselves. Having a scholarship to UL allowed me to concentrate on my studies and alleviated the need forme to work so much to be able to get through school. Scholarships are important to allow those who may nototherwise be able to get an education to do so. And scholarships also allow students to focus on what is reallytheir most important job during those years-their education. I believe in the importance of this University tothe community. It is important to help our brightest students.” Jay CulottaMrs. Dolores C. Bess is a beloved UL nursing instructor who taught many of today’s outstanding medicalprofessionals from 1960 to 1985. In 1994, Mr. William and Mrs. Dolores Bess established the Dolores C. BessEndowed Scholarship in Nursing to continue her good work. Recently, the Besses added a gift of $100,000and made a provision in their will for the endowment so that their gift will forever help UL nursing students.“We really want to help students who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to receive a college degree forthe university,” Mrs. Bess says. “We enjoy seeing the benefits of our gifts during our lifetime. This makes usfeel like we’re doing a little bit of good.” William and Dolores Bess“The scholarships that I have been granted as a student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette havehad an immeasurable impact on my success. Because of scholarships, I’ve been able to dedicate myself morecompletely to my studies and maintain a perfect average. Without the added stress and demand of carryingfull-time employment, I am able to participate in extracurricular activities and work toward becoming awell-rounded individual.Scholarships are vitally important. Some students are only able to pursue a college education with financialassistance. I truly believe that UL’s success is bound to its students, and those students are, per myobservation, much more likely to succeed when they are not concerned with the cost of their education.One of the reasons for my deciding to attend the University of Louisiana at Lafayette was the quality andthe affordability of the education I would receive. As I stated earlier, I believe this university’s potential is tieddirectly to its student body. If we want to continue to see our school succeed, we must continue to attracttalented and outstanding students with the gift of an affordable education made possible throughscholarships. The quality of that education will position them well to compete in any industry orendeavor in the future.” Daniel Manuel , Class of 2012

First Generation Endowed Scholarship at UL LafayetteA donor who wishes to provide permanent support for first-generation college students, i.e., students froma family where neither parent earned a college degree, may do so through a first generation endowedscholarship. This endowment provides the donor with a permanent naming opportunity and can beestablished with an outright gift of $60,000. Alternatively, this endowed scholarship can be establishedwith a pledge that can be contributed over a period of 3-5 years.The donor’s $60,000 gift will be matched with $40,000 by the state of Louisiana through the Board ofRegents Support Fund (BORSF) to create the $100,000 First Generation Endowed Scholarship. Thestate of Louisiana guarantees only 1 of these matches per university per year (with a possibility of 2matches per year), so donors who choose to establish this type of endowed scholarship should know thatthe state match will be received only after their portion ($60,000) of the endowment is complete and allother such endowed scholarships that were established prior to theirs have been matched.Other Matching Gift OpportunitiesCorporate Matching Gifts – More than 1,000 corporations and their subsidiaries have matching giftprograms that match gifts made to universities by their employees (and sometimes by retired employeesand employee spouses). Please check with your company’s human resources office to see if your gift wouldbe eligible for a corporate matching gift. You can also check the UL Alumni Association’s website at www.matchinggifts.com/ul/ to see if your company has a matching gifts program.Note: Please visit the UL Office of Development’s website at www.louisianagifts.org for moreinformation about scholarship endowments and other ways in which you can assist students at theUniversity. For questions, please call (337) 482-0922 or send an e-mail to gift@louisiana.edu.

Office of DevelopmentP.O. Drawer 43410Lafayette, LA 70506337.482.0922gift@louisiana.eduon the web at louisianagifts.org