New Gifts, Endowments, and Bequests

Richard (AB ’90) and Tanhya Schimel have established The Schimel Family Fund for LEAPS. The fund will provide flexible support for the SOE’s new undergraduate major: Learning, Equity, and Problem Solving (LEAPS) for the Public Good. This support may cover initial expenses for infrastructure, student scholarships, or other needs deemed critical by the dean to ensure a successful program launch. “We wanted to support LEAPS after learning about the innovations the School of Education is creating within this program,” said the Schimels of their gift. “It will bring many professions together and integrate them into the surrounding communities and their education programs.”

Through a planned gift, former School of Education dean Cecil Miskel, and his wife Marjorie Barritt, have established The Cecil G. Miskel and Marjorie A. Barritt Scholarship in support of future secondary English or science teachers. This scholarship represents the couple’s passion for encouraging future educators and, in particular, educators who plan to teach science or English, subjects that Cecil and Marjorie taught, respectively.

Cynthia L. Cook (ABEd ’71) of Tampa, Florida recently established the Cynthia Cook Education Scholarship Fund, which will provide support to teacher education students who graduated from public high schools. Cook, herself a public high school graduate from Kalamazoo, Michigan, served as a Latin teacher for many years after obtaining her degree and teaching certificate from the SOE. Cook enjoys returning to Ann Arbor each fall to root on the Wolverine football team and enjoy tea at the Martha Cook Building.