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New Gamble Endowment Will Support College of Education

(May 2006)

University Park, Pa.— Penn State alumni Glenn and Nancy Gamble of State College have created a new endowment to support promising initiatives in teaching, research, and service in Penn State's College of Education. The couple established the Glenn and Nancy Gamble Leadership Fund in Education with a $100,000 commitment as part of their estate plans.

“Endowments of this kind are highly desirable because it gives the dean flexibility to allocate funds towards cutting-edge initiatives in a given year,” said David Monk, dean of the college.

“A fund like this can many times make or break the realization of a dean’s vision for the direction of the college.” For instance, Monk has used funds such as this to provide research initiation grants to newly hired faculty members to help them get their research up and running, which also provides visibility for attracting additional grant money.

The Gamble Leadership Fund is the third endowment the Gambles have created in the college. Previously, they established a scholarship for graduate students, as well as the Franklin and Emma Gamble/Mac and Mabel Saylor Scholarship in Education, named in memory of their parents, for undergraduates. The Gambles’ philanthropy and interests extend to many areas of Penn State. They have also established funds in Health and Human Development and the Center for the Performing Arts.

The Gambles also are active volunteers in support of the College of Education. They are members of the Dean’s Development Council, which helps guide the College’s fund-raising efforts, and have served on the College’s Alumni Society board of directors. Glenn was first president of the board. The Gambles are advocates for the Arts-In-Education initiative, a collaborative effort between the Colleges of Education and Arts and Architecture focusing on the transformative power of the arts in the learning process.

Glenn earned a B.S. in agricultural education in 1951 and went on to earn a master’s degree in that field and a doctorate in counselor education from the University. He was director of university career services and assistant professor of education at Rutgers University from 1961 until his retirement in 1990. Prior to his service at Rutgers, he was director of guidance and a faculty member at the University of Florida, and director of career services and a student counselor at Wittenberg University.

Nancy earned a B.S. in home economics in 1952 and later earned a master’s degree in child development and family relations from Penn State, and an Education Specialist degree from Rutgers University. She served for 28 years in elementary and special education, retiring in 1989 as elementary principal from Mendham Township School District in New Jersey.

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The Penn State College of Education serves approximately 2,800 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students each year. The College prepares administrators, counselors, psychologists and researchers, as well as K-12 teachers in 21 different specialty areas. All of the College of Education graduate programs, that are ranked by the U.S. News & World Report, appear at least in the top 15, with six programs in the top ten.The College's Higher Education Administration program is ranked 1st and the Workforce Education and Development program is ranked 2nd. The College is known nationally for its education research and outreach, housing such centers as the Center for the Study of Higher Education, the Center for Science and the Schools, the Mid-Atlantic Center for Mathematics Teaching and Learning, and the Regional Education Laboratory--Mid-Atlantic.

For more information on Penn State’s College of Education, contact EdRelations@psu.edu, call 814-863-1192, or visit www.ed.psu.edu.