Epidemiology Doctoral Fellowship Honors Professor.
The Theodore Colton Fellowship Fund in Epidemiology has reached an endowed level and will soon be activated, thanks to a matching gift challenge by Professor of Epidemiology Theodore Colton himself.
The fellowship will support students in the epidemiology doctoral program, which Colton established in 1984 as the first doctoral program at the School of Public Health.
“In the 30 years I’ve been here at BU, if I were to single out my one unique contribution to the School of Public Health, it was the establishment of the epidemiology doctoral program,” Colton says. Almost 100 students have since graduated from the program in the last three decades.
To support students in that program, he adds, is very satisfying: “I am honored and appreciative to have this as my lasting, permanent legacy.”
The fund was first created in 2013 by then-dean Robert Meenan to honor Colton, the founding chair of the former Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. In 2015, Colton created a matching gift challenge to bring the fund to $100,000, the amount needed for a Boston University endowment.
While the fund was created in his honor, Colton says he feels an obligation as a long-time faculty member to help support the School.
“When I set the matching challenge, I wanted others to contribute, and others have done so very generously,” he says. “I’m proud of all the people who contributed to the fellowship fund. I consider it a great honor, and I am very pleased.”
The Theodore Colton Fellowship Fund is the first fund directly supporting doctoral education at SPH. It will provide teaching or research stipends, and/or cover travel, research, or living expenses. Unlike other funds at SPH, it is administered directly by the department chair, who will select recipients in consultation with the faculty committee.
To give online, please visit the BU giving website. Under Your Gift Designation, select School of Public Health and type “Theodore Colton Fellowship Fund in Epidemiology” into the Comments/Questions box.