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The College of Liberal and Fine Arts

Your Gifts Make a Difference


Friends who are making a difference

Department of Music

What do piano, strings, and the sciences have in common? The answer is Mary Pat Stumberg and her love of music. COLFA and its Department of Music are grateful for a recent gift made by Mrs. Stumberg through the Stumberg Foundation. Mary Pat’s generous gift not only honors the role that music, especially strings and piano, played in the life of her mother, Marjorie Powell Zachry, but also recognizes the important role that music plays in intellectual development, even for students of science. The gift endowed a keyboard maintenance fund and two new scholarships. The Stumberg Keyboard Maintenance Endowment will help care for the department’s new Steinway D concert grand piano and other keyboard instruments. The Marjorie Powell Zachry Memorial Endowed Scholarship for Strings will attract and retain talented string musicians, and the Stumberg Endowed Scholarship for Interdisciplinary Studies in Music and the Sciences will benefit students whose course of study combines musical and scientific learning.

Drs. Rajam and Somayaji Ramamurthy

May and Victor Lam

Drs. Rajam and Somayaji Ramamurthy have made a commitment to establish the Rajam and Somayaji Ramamurthy Endowed Visiting Artist in Indic Dance, Music and Culture at UTSA. The Ramamurthys have long been advocates for the college through Rajam’s service on the Advisory Council. And the couple’s record of giving, which over the years includes support of the Dean’s Circle, the COLFA Performing Arts Fund, and scholarships in Art and Art History, demonstrates their strong belief in the importance of fine arts education and creative activity. The Ramamurthys have been champions of dance in San Antonio for many years. Their endowment will help the Department of Music as it plans to develop a dance program at UTSA.

May and Victor Lam support the arts at UTSA in a variety of ways: May founded the annual Asian Festival held at the Institute of Texan Cultures, Victor serves on the COLFA Advisory Council Advancement Committee, and they are members of the UT System Chancellor’s Council. In 2007, the Lams were instrumental in bringing Australian aboriginal art to the UTSA Art Gallery with an exhibition of The Lam Collection of Aboriginal Art. Recently, the couple created the Wai Ching Lam Endowed Art Prize in honor of Victor’s mother, herself an accomplished artist. Each year funds from the endowment allow the Department of Art and Art History to award a competitive prize to an outstanding student artist. The student whose work is judged “best of show” at the annual juried art exhibition earns the Wai Ching Lam Art Prize. The 2009 recipient was Jessica Ramirez, a student in the M.F.A. program. Although the Lams are not UTSA alumni, they feel a permanent connection to the University and are strong believers in the vital role it plays in the economic and cultural development of San Antonio and the region.

COLFA Alumni Giving
During 2008-2009, over 280 alumni designated gifts and pledges to the COLFA Annual Fund. As UTSA grows, alumni support is crucial to the success of the college. On behalf of COLFA’s students, faculty and staff, we extend our appreciation to each of our loyal alumni supporters.


Making a Difference Through Giving

COLFA students, faculty, alumni and friends are working together on UTSA’s progress toward becoming a premier national research university. Your gifts are helping the College of Liberal and Fine Arts reach its goals. Here are a few opportunities for strategic investment to consider when planning your gift:

Access to Excellence: Scholarships and fellowships to attract and retain deserving students and help them realize their fullest potential.

Creating New Knowledge: Endowed faculty positions allow COLFA to recruit distinguished senior scholars and artists to provide leadership in instruction and research and to bring national visibility and recognition to programs in the college.

Unrestricted excellence funds like the COLFA Dean’s Circle and the COLFA Annual Fund provide flexibility in assisting academic departments in funding special projects, student scholarships, and research, and in providing enrichment opportunities that enhance the learning experience of our students both in and out of the classroom.

There are many options for making your gift to UTSA College of Liberal and Fine Arts, and depending on your philanthropic goals, you may find one method more attractive than another.

Outright gifts can be made via cash, securities, personal property and real estate and may be claimed as charitable tax deductions for the year in which they are made.

Planned gifts are specially arranged gifts to the University made through various instruments such as wills and trusts and can have specific tax advantages for you and/or your heirs. Individuals who include UTSA in their estate plans through bequest, trust, gift annuity, life insurance or other means become members of the Sombrilla Society, one of UTSA’s most cherished groups of alumni and friends. Whether you choose to make an outright gift or a planned gift, please consult your tax or legal adviser for information about the specific benefits of each method of giving.

To learn how you can make an investment in UTSA College of Liberal and Fine Arts that will inspire future generations, please contact:

Helene Benitez, MBA ’06, CFRE
COLFA Development Officer
The University of Texas at San Antonio One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249-0641
Phone: (210) 458-4404
E-mail: helene.benitez@utsa.edu
UTSA GIVING ON THE WEB: www.utsa.edu/development


College of Liberal and Fine Arts 2008‑2009 Advisory Council

Mission Statement: The COLFA Advisory Council is committed to promoting excellence in the arts, humanities and social sciences and developing support for the scholarly and artistic efforts of the college.

2008–2009 Executive Board

Chair: Maria-Eugenia Cossio-Ameduri

2008–2009 Council Members:

Betty Lee Angle
Allen Bennett
Robert P. Braubach
Ollie Bryant
Maria-Eugenia Cossio-Ameduri
Yolanda Crittenden
Lisa Dollinger
Bjorn Dybdahl
Albert Estrada

Alfredo L. Flores Jr.
Mary Ann Franzke
Robin Hogue
Angelika Jansen

Mary Q. Kelly
Victor Lam
John McFall
Sally Hoffman McNeel
Joaquin G. Mira

Amparo H. Ortiz
Jane Cheever Powell
Rajam S. Ramamurthy
Marianne C. Reuter
John Santikos
Ernstine Studer
Linda Winston
Frank Villani
W. Gregory Wojcik
Clinton Wright

Annual Career Expo

COLFA’s annual Career Expo, an advisory council–supported event, provides an opportunity for COLFA students to explore life opportunities including employment and continuing education.

More than 150 students and 22 employers attended the 2009 Career Expo on April 15.

In addition to meeting those recruiters, students learned about résumé-building techniques such as volunteering or completing internships for class credit. COLFA representatives were on hand to discuss the college’s student-related organizations and certified programs. Also, graduate and law school admissions representatives provided information about continuing education opportunities.

Attention COLFA Alumni

Have you been in touch lately? The UTSA College of Liberal and Fine Arts is building its alumni network. Please send your name and current contact information to deborah.thomas@utsa.edu.

We also are interested in your unique or fascinating stories or those of other COLFA alumni you may know. Please share them with us for possible publication.

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