Elena Rodrigues Anderson, B.S.’82, and her husband, Theodore C. “Ted” Anderson, B.A.’82, met as sophomores in the University’s Dutch Quad cafeteria 20 years ago. It was one of the highlights of what she describes as “obviously, an all-around great experience.” But the best part, she says, was the education they both received.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today had I not gone to Albany. I had good skills coming out of school and was able to parlay it into a great career,” said Mrs. Anderson, a Long Island native who graduated with a degree in accounting and was quickly hired by Price Waterhouse in New York City. She went on to a career as an accounting officer in the private sector in Dallas, Texas, retiring in 1997 as a senior vice president with First USA, one of the largest credit card companies in the world, where she oversaw mergers and acquisitions and also managed credit and risk operations. She now spends her time raising the couple’s two children, Katy, 8, and Zander, 6, and as a busy volunteer with the Dallas Opera and a number of other community organizations. Ted Anderson, who was a political science major, worked briefly on Wall Street, then earned a law degree from Southern Methodist University. He is now a partner and civil trial attorney with Kilgore and Kilgore in Dallas.

The Andersons are among a growing number of Albany graduates who have recently endowed named Presidential Scholarships in gratitude for their experience at Albany. The scholarships are a vital part of the University’s stepped-up efforts to attract the very best students. In all, Albany now has five endowed Presidential Scholarships, which are generally funded at $25,000 and support annual awards of $500 to $1,000. The Presidential Scholars program, which the University established in 1993, now boasts 571 students, who receive merit-based scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $3,400 a year. The named Presidential Scholarships, which are over and above these stipends, recognize the most exceptional students. Freshman Kelly Lynne Birmingham, who graduated at the top of her class at Port Jervis High School last spring, is the first recipient of the Elena Rodrigues scholarship.

“We both went to the University on a combination of scholarships, loans, and a lot of hard work during the summer months,” said Mrs. Anderson, who chose Albany because of its School of Business. “We have been fortunate in our work life and have done well. So we just felt we really wanted to make life a little easier for someone else.”

“The scholarship was a way of repaying the University for the opportunities it gave us,” added Ted Anderson, who is a member of the University at Albany Foundation Board of Directors and also serves on the Alumni Association board. “Also, to choose the University at Albany is to choose a unique opportunity to succeed in life. We’re concrete examples of that, but by no means the only ones.”

Joining the Andersons in endowing named Presidential Scholarships are retired high school teacher Therese Weinecke Hudson, A.B.’32, M.A.’45, of Melbourne, Fla.; Evan Zahn, M.D., B.S.’82, a pediatric cardiologist with Miami Children’s Hospital; and Michael Olin, B.S.’85; M.S.’86, and his wife, Erica Reinholtz Olin, B.S.’86, independent software consultants from Ossining, Westchester County, who have funded two such scholarships.

Sue Faerman, dean of the Office of Undergraduate Studies, which oversees the Presidential Scholarship Program, said the endowed scholarships “provide an extra boost for the recipients and allow us to ensure that our best students have the support they need to excel in their programs. We are very grateful to these individuals for their support of the Presidential Honors Program.”

Evan Zahn credits the “really, really solid upbringing” he received at Albany as the motivation for his gift.

“And I do describe it as an upbringing, because a lot of the learning, for me, came outside of the classroom,” he said. “I was able to grow as a person.” Zahn, who was a classmate of the Andersons, was inspired by their decision to endow a scholarship. He has requested that the Evan Michael Zahn, M.D. Presidential Scholarship support an undergraduate who is enrolled in a liberal arts program and has a strong interest in health care. The newly established award will go to a junior.

His goal in establishing the scholarship, Zahn said, is to help support individuals who will become “complete physicians.”

“I want it to help someone in a health-related field who as an undergraduate is pursuing a broader education—someone who knows drama and the arts, as an example. We need well-rounded people in the health professions who can talk to their patients,” said Zahn, who has developed an innovative cardiac catheterization procedure that allows him to repair childhood heart defects without having to resort to open heart surgery.

The Olins, who met in a first-semester calculus class, established the Erica and Michael Olin Scholarship Fund to help the University attract outstanding students, regardless of their financial need. That desire grew out of Michael Olin’s own experience at the University. As one of the first 100 or so recipients of a prestigious Honors Scholarship established by former State University of New York Chancellor Clifton Wharton in the early 1980s, he decided to enroll at Albany over Cornell or the University of Pennsylvania. A last-minute funding cut, however, meant that the $250,000 program never really got off the ground. The University’s Benevolent Association stepped in and picked up the funding for Olin and another student. The Honors Scholar experience proved to be an exceptional start for Olin, who earned his bachelor’s degree in three years and his master’s in his fourth year at Albany.

“We wanted to do something to ensure that some source of funding not subject to the vagaries of the budget process would be available to the University,” said Olin, who heads Systematic Solutions, Inc., an independent software consulting business which designs and implements database systems for corporate clients. Olin’s wife, Erica, is also a software developer and stay-at-home mom for their sons, Jason, 8, and Evan, 5. The Olins established the first Olin Presidential Scholarship in 1990 with assistance from Erica’s former employer’s matching gifts program and have since funded a second Olin scholarship.

The University’s two current Olin scholarship recipients, Lisa Lewandowski of Cheektowaga, and John A. Regan of Huntington, say the additional $500 they each receive per year is a welcome addition to their financial packages. Lewandowski, a psychology major who earned her undergraduate degree from Albany in May of 1998, is now enrolled in the University’s M.B.A. program.

“I was very honored,” said Lewandowski, who also holds a graduate assistantship in the School of Business and has worked her way through school as a lifeguard, bank teller and waitress. “I put it toward books and related expenses, and it made it a little easier for myself and my parents.”

Regan, a senior, came to Albany as a pre-med biology major with a minor in music. He has since switched to a double major—in music and computer science. “Music has always been a huge part of who I am,” said Regan, who has combined his interests in both fields by serving as the webmaster for two music organizations on campus. A baritone, he is a founding member of Earth Tones, an all-male a cappella vocal music group, as well as co-president of the University Chamber Singers. He plans to earn a master’s degree in computer science and pursue a career that integrates music with computers—two fields, he says, that “naturally overlap.” Without the scholarship, Regan said, “I would be graduating from school in debt, and would have to go into debt for grad school.”

Jessica Russell, a junior from Clayville, is the recipient of the Edward Gallatin B. Hudson Scholarship, endowed by Therese Hudson in memory of her late husband. Mrs. Hudson specified that the scholarship should go to excellent students who are financially needy. Russell, who has a 3.91 cumulative grade point average and is an honors anthropology major, said the extra $500 she is receiving as the Hudson Scholar means that she has fewer financial worries. In addition to her Presidential scholarship, she relies on a number of grants and loans to fund her education. She has also worked the last two years as a student assistant in the University Libraries’ Preservation Office, where she repairs books.

“The scholarship makes a difference—it really does. Eventually, loans have to be paid back. They’re not free money, so just knowing you have a scholarship like this is a relief,” she said.