Philanthropy
Peace of Mind
Grants ensure quality child care options for working parents.
For many parents in America, child care ranks second — right behind earning an income — on the list of the greatest concerns they face as employees. “Child care plays a much more important role than just allowing parents to go to work,” says Patricia “Pat” Lasky MS’68, PhD’80, who recently made a third gift to the Classified Staff Child Care Grants fund, for which she is the largest donor.
Created in 2002, the fund is designed to help recruit and retain classified staff, who often are hired in entry-level positions and serve as the front line of contact for students, staff, and faculty. The Office of Campus Child Care offers grants on an emergency or annual basis to classified staff who use regulated child care.
“Professor Art Reynolds’s research in the School of Social Work has shown us how quality of care impacts children down the road, in terms of their academic achievement and social development,” says Lasky. “All families need access to quality care.”
For many parents in America, child care ranks second — right behind earning an income — on the list of the greatest concerns they face as employees. “Child care plays a much more important role than just allowing parents to go to work,” says Patricia “Pat” Lasky MS’68, PhD’80, who recently made a third gift to the Classified Staff Child Care Grants fund, for which she is the largest donor.
Created in 2002, the fund is designed to help recruit and retain classified staff, who often are hired in entry-level positions and serve as the front line of contact for students, staff, and faculty. The Office of Campus Child Care offers grants on an emergency or annual basis to classified staff who use regulated child care.
“Professor Art Reynolds’s research in the School of Social Work has shown us how quality of care impacts children down the road, in terms of their academic achievement and social development,” says Lasky. “All families need access to quality care.”
Now retired, Lasky spent thirty-five years on the UW campus. She studied, taught, and nurtured in her roles as student, clinical nursing instructor, assistant professor, researcher, director of the pediatric nurse practitioner program, and associate dean for the undergraduate program and outreach at the School of Nursing.
Lasky became a pediatric nurse because she enjoyed the challenge of working with sick children and their parents. She learned to communicate, comfort, and reassure, and she became a well-known advocate for children during her career. She has served on various campus child-care committees, visited day care centers as part of her research, and now serves on the Madison Mayor’s Early Childhood Care and Education Board. She sees clearly the broad range of need for child care across campus and in the community.
“I know Chancellor [John D.] Wiley is a strong advocate for child care and understands this is a critical issue in recruiting and retaining young staffers,” says Lasky. “I’ve had wonderful support from classified staff, which is why I support the Classified Staff Child Care Grants fund.”
In addition to serving as an advocate for children, Lasky is a health care activist. She joined a group of Milwaukee health care advocates to create the Wisconsin Center for Nursing. The center is a partnership among employers, educators, and policy-makers to devise a strategic plan to deal with the pending shortage of nurses. She also helps nurses who come to the United States from other countries, ensuring that they receive the proper education and are capable of passing the licensing tests.
— Tracey Rockhill ‘87
Lasky became a pediatric nurse because she enjoyed the challenge of working with sick children and their parents. She learned to communicate, comfort, and reassure, and she became a well-known advocate for children during her career. She has served on various campus child-care committees, visited day care centers as part of her research, and now serves on the Madison Mayor’s Early Childhood Care and Education Board. She sees clearly the broad range of need for child care across campus and in the community.
“I know Chancellor [John D.] Wiley is a strong advocate for child care and understands this is a critical issue in recruiting and retaining young staffers,” says Lasky. “I’ve had wonderful support from classified staff, which is why I support the Classified Staff Child Care Grants fund.”
In addition to serving as an advocate for children, Lasky is a health care activist. She joined a group of Milwaukee health care advocates to create the Wisconsin Center for Nursing. The center is a partnership among employers, educators, and policy-makers to devise a strategic plan to deal with the pending shortage of nurses. She also helps nurses who come to the United States from other countries, ensuring that they receive the proper education and are capable of passing the licensing tests.
— Tracey Rockhill ‘87
Paying Homage
Scholarship sends a message from son to father.
Some children show their parents how much they mean to them with greeting cards. George Hamel, Jr. ‘80 went a little further. He set up a journalism scholarship in honor of his father, George Hamel, Sr. ‘66.
The army sent the elder Hamel to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to get his graduate degree in journalism when George, Jr. was a boy. Sometime later, the younger Hamel, who hadn’t been back to Madison since early grade school, turned eighteen and began looking at colleges.
“I was a pretty good writer, as well as interested in sports,” he recalls. “None of the colleges in Virginia had a good journalism program, so I applied to Wisconsin and was accepted.”
At the UW, George, Jr. played what was then varsity reserves basketball, with Bo Ryan as one of the assistant coaches. He transferred to communication arts, where he earned his degree. Since then, he has succeeded in the investment business, mostly managing capital for colleges and universities.
“My wife, our kids, and I meet my parents every year for a football game in Madison,” George, Jr. says, noting that they’ve also traveled to road games and bowl appearances.
“As one of seven kids, with lots of other grandchildren in the family, following the Badgers is a good way to keep in touch and have something in common,” he says. “It’s really helped improve our bond.”
The George Hamel Undergraduate Scholarship is targeted to an out-of-state journalism student.
“I did consider, ‘What could I do to let my father know how much I thought of him?’ It’s a great way to show how much he means to me while he’s still alive, and to have his name live on while helping students improve their lives,” says George, Jr.
— Chris DuPré
“As one of seven kids, with lots of other grandchildren in the family, following the Badgers is a good way to keep in touch and have something in common,” he says. “It’s really helped improve our bond.”
The George Hamel Undergraduate Scholarship is targeted to an out-of-state journalism student.
“I did consider, ‘What could I do to let my father know how much I thought of him?’ It’s a great way to show how much he means to me while he’s still alive, and to have his name live on while helping students improve their lives,” says George, Jr.
— Chris DuPré
Top of the Hill
The Bascom Hill Society has long stood as the pinnacle of philanthropy in support of UWMadison. It is indeed fitting, then, for the society’s new scholarship to support a top student.
The Bascom Hill Society Scholarship will provide financial assistance to an academically successful junior or senior who also has made outstanding philanthropic or volunteer contributions to an accredited university or community organization. Applicants must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher and show an unmet financial need. Leadership qualities also will be a factor in selection.
The scholarship will provide the equivalent of full tuition and room and board to one deserving resident or non-resident student per year. A selection committee is charged with reviewing qualified applicants.
“This prestigious award is in keeping with the mission of the UW Foundation and the philanthropic spirit embodied in the members of the Bascom Hill Society,” says UW Foundation president Sandy Wilcox. “The student who will be presented with this scholarship already will have gone far in becoming the kind of adult who makes all of us associated with UW-Madison so proud.”
— Chris DuPré
The Bascom Hill Society Scholarship will provide financial assistance to an academically successful junior or senior who also has made outstanding philanthropic or volunteer contributions to an accredited university or community organization. Applicants must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher and show an unmet financial need. Leadership qualities also will be a factor in selection.
The scholarship will provide the equivalent of full tuition and room and board to one deserving resident or non-resident student per year. A selection committee is charged with reviewing qualified applicants.
“This prestigious award is in keeping with the mission of the UW Foundation and the philanthropic spirit embodied in the members of the Bascom Hill Society,” says UW Foundation president Sandy Wilcox. “The student who will be presented with this scholarship already will have gone far in becoming the kind of adult who makes all of us associated with UW-Madison so proud.”
— Chris DuPré
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