Why I created The Gloria R. DeSole
Fund for Initiatives For Women
Last summer I had the very pleasant task of planning
a celebration for Gloria DeSole on the occasion of a significant
birthday and I asked her family and friends how we could make this
occasion special. We, of course, wanted to mark the day, but even
more important, we wanted to pay tribute to Gloria's life and work
at the University at Albany, to do something meaningful that would
give Gloria pleasure both on the day of her celebration and
afterwards. It occurred to me that the Initiatives for
Women Program at the University at Albany provided the
perfect opportunity to achieve our goals.
Gloria DeSole with Judy Genshaft
Gloria has an abiding commitment to and a long history
with the University at Albany, dating from her undergraduate days
through her 2 1/2 decades of employment first as a faculty member
and now as an administrator. She has enriched the University through
her work and has made it a more welcoming and inclusive environment
in which people, especially those who have historically been denied
an equal opportunity, can move forward in their academic and career
goals.
Gloria is well-known as an
activist with a deep commitment to social justice and
educational opportunity. She has worked tirelessly both
inside and outside the context of her job as Director of Affirmative
Action to promote its ideals and principles. These values are an
integral part of Gloria's life and she consistently applies them
in all that she does. For the past five years Gloria has worked
with a talented group of University women to develop the Initiatives
for Women Program, a program that has had stunning success in
assisting women and groups working in support of women
at the University to pursue their dreams and realize
their goals.
As we saw the harmony of
purpose between Gloria's life work and the importance of
Initiatives For Women in enriching educational and
career opportunities for women at the University, we,
her family and friends, decided to set up an expendable fund
in her name through the Initiatives for Women Program to serve as
a permanent tribute to Gloria DeSole's life and work at the University
at Albany.
The fund will provide
awards for educational and career opportunities for
women at the University, especially women of color and
women with disabilities. IFW will give the first award
in honor of Gloria during the 1998/99 academic year. As the fund
grows through donations, it will change from an expendable fund
to an endowed fund to provide support for women at the University
at Albany in perpetuity for the enhancement of their educational
and career opportunities.
--Meredith
Butler (February, 1998)
