The Rockefeller College Advisory Board opened two scholarship funds in November with the creation of the Dean Frank J. Thompson Scholarship and the Rockefeller College Fund for Student Excellence.

As Dean Thompson steps down from the dean’s chair to return to the faculty, Jeffrey Mishkin ’69 and Lewis Wiener ’84, co-chairmen of the Advisory Board, announced the creation of the Dean Frank J. Thompson Scholarship in honor of the leadership and vision that Dean Thompson has shown in establishing the Advisory Board and in leading Rockefeller College for nearly two decades. Under his guidance, Rockefeller College has become a nationally recognized institution, admired and respected for the excellence of its scholarship, its faculty and its students and it is ranked as one of the country's premier schools of public policy and administration. 

Mishkin pledged that “the Board will do everything that can be done to ensure that what Rockefeller College has achieved under the leadership of Frank Thompson will be preserved, protected, maintained and, where possible, strengthened and improved, so that when people think of Rockefeller College, they will think of the very, very best that the University at Albany has to offer.”

The Thompson Scholarship and the Excellence Scholarship are part of the Advisory Board policy to strategically support Rockefeller College in ways that will advance teaching, scholarship, and research.

“The Thompson Scholarship was established in Frank's name to advance his vision for the school and to honor his unwavering commitment to support the College's undergraduate and graduate students.  Proceeds from the scholarship will be used to help attract the best and the brightest to Rockefeller College for future generations,” said Wiener.

With leadership gifts from Mishkin, Wiener, and other members of the Advisory Board, the fund is on the way to its goal of $100,000. The scholarship will be awarded to students in Public Administration who share the interests of Dean Thompson: health care, human resources, and public management.

The Fund for Student Excellence has been opened with a generous initial gift from a member of the Advisory Board, in support of graduate students who demonstrate academic excellence in Political Science and in all areas of Public Administration.

The primary recipients of the Excellence scholarships will be incoming students who as undergraduates have achieved outstanding academic records.

The Advisory Board members are leading an appeal to encourage additional contributions to all scholarship funds. If you would like to make a gift to support either graduate or undergraduate scholarships, please use the adjacent form or contact Paula-Christy Heighton at 518-591-8711 or pheighton@uamail.albany.edu.