![\"Shows](\"\/wheelock\/files\/2025\/10\/Magazine_Debbie-Lane_Why-I-Give_2025-491x600.jpg\")
After growing up in a small town in Michigan, Debbie Lane (\u201978) was ready for a change of scenery. At 18, she moved to Boston to enroll in BU Wheelock (then Wheelock College) and study early childhood education.<\/p>\nAt BU Wheelock, our donors play a vital role in strengthening our mission to improve education and expand opportunity for all learners. In these profiles, generous supporters share why they give\u2014whether inspired by a meaningful mentor, a passion for equity, or a desire to fuel innovation in teaching and learning. Their stories reflect a deep commitment to students, educators, and communities, and we are profoundly grateful for their partnership.<\/p>\n
After growing up in a small town in Michigan, Debbie Lane (\u201978) was ready for a change of scenery. At 18, she moved to Boston to enroll in BU Wheelock (then Wheelock College) and study early childhood education.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was my first time living in a big city, so I was wide-eyed,\u201d says Lane, who remembers the excitement of navigating Boston\u2019s public transportation system, cheering on the Red Sox at Fenway Park, and splitting a cake from the Ice Cream Factory with her dorm-room friends.<\/p>\n
But it was her program in BU Wheelock that left the biggest impression on her. Lane loved the small classes, attentive faculty members, and practicums with young children. \u201cI found joy in watching the magic that surrounds children,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The Early Childhood Education and Teaching program also brought her attention to issues of access and equity in education. \u201cMy time at Wheelock opened my eyes to many of the injustices in our country,\u201d she says. \u201cI believe education is important and, unfortunately, the public school system is far from equal in the types of education they can provide for children.\u201d<\/p>\n
To help address those issues and support next-generation educators, Lane made a generous gift in March 2025 to establish the Alchemy Graduate Scholarship Fund at BU Wheelock. The fund will provide scholarships to BU Wheelock students, especially those who are first in their family to go to college.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that the students who receive the scholarships over the years will be able to help improve education for all children,\u201d says Lane. \u201cIt takes a brave person to take a stand for children.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Rachel Farrell<\/em><\/p>\n I joined the Wheelock College board of trustees in the mid-1970s, and in the subsequent decades served as chair of the board and other senior governance positions.<\/p>\n About a decade ago, I and others began to worry that smaller, private, tuition-dependent colleges such as Wheelock were facing major financial head winds. This ultimately led to the Wheelock\u2013Boston University merger. Those of us on the board were so grateful to Dean David Chard for the courage, wisdom, dedication, and diplomacy he displayed during this time. I told him that while he has had many triumphs in life, his execution of the Wheelock\u2013Boston University merger may have been his finest hour.<\/p>\n In the course of my work with BU Wheelock I have tried to be philanthropic, donating to Established to help preserve the legacy of Lucy Wheelock as a leader in early childhood education and development, this fund supports graduate students studying in BU Wheelock\u2019s early childhood programs. I am pleased to join others in the initiative to build the Lucy Wheelock Fellowship Fund.<\/p>\n I am so proud of what we have collectively done. Now under the Boston University umbrella and with good leadership and philanthropy, BU Wheelock can pursue its mission in perpetuity.<\/p>\n By Ted Ladd<\/em><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n With their giving, she says, \u201cwe\u2019re trying to level the playing field.\u201d To that end, the foundation has endowed a scholarship for aspiring educators at BU Wheelock.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s really important for our foundation is finding things that are sustainable,\u201d says Casady.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you put your time and energy into it, it needs to grow. It needs to mature. And that\u2019s what Wheelock does.\u201d<\/p>\n Casady grew up in a small farming community in southern Indiana; she met her husband at 15, when he joined their high school\u2019s French club shortly after moving to town. They married in college and\u00a0raised four children. Their daughter Maggie Casady (\u201912,\u201914) studied at BU Wheelock as both an undergrad and a graduate student.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was able to find a fabulous job right off the mark. And what we kept seeing as she interviewed was, people knew what they were getting from Wheelock. They have a great product,\u201d says Casady.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I find really exciting, and what our foundation loves, is being entrepreneurial. We like to see a need and to fill it, to create something new,\u201d she adds. So, she\u2019s excited to see BU Wheelock expanding its offerings in education policy, in hopes of improving education systems in the US and around the world\u2014which is the objective of all of Casady\u2019s philanthropy.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people look at that and go, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s overwhelming!\u2019\u201d Casady says. \u201cWell, you know, you start with a place like Wheelock, and you build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n By Louise Corrigan Kennedy<\/em><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n It was at the Cabot Elementary School in Newton, Mass., where Jane (\u201973) began her career as a student teacher finishing her degree from Wheelock College, and Mark (\u201976, Questrom\u201985), fresh out of Brown University, got his first job. The two quickly became a couple.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI always wanted to be an elementary school teacher,\u201d says Jane, who was born in Boston.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n For Mark, teaching was a revelation, setting him on a career path he hadn\u2019t envisioned. He decided to go to Wheelock for a graduate degree in education, then later pursued an MBA at BU and a career in corporate banking. But his passion for education never waned.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was a teacher who was playing banker in a three-piece suit,\u201d says Mark. So he returned to the classroom. He joined the Questrom School of Business faculty after leaving Fleet Bank in 2003. He retired from Questrom in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n The couple joined the board of trustees at Wheelock, which hadn\u2019t yet merged with BU, in 2011, after Jane had retired. There, they saw the growing need for financial aid, so they established the Roberts Family\u00a0 Endowed Scholarship Fund, supporting Boston residents seeking a career in education. BU\u2019s Century Challenge will match the fund\u2019s spendable income for 100 years. Because of the match, the Robertses decided to increase their commitment.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe literally looked at each other and said, this is what we need to be doing,\u201d Jane says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n By Michael McDonald<\/em><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Born in mainland China, Elizabeth Fung (\u201961) grew up in Taiwan and came to Wheelock College at 16. \u201cI was not fluent in English,\u201d she says, \u201cbut I did know some because my parents were in diplomatic service.\u201d Still, she struggled in literature classes\u2014particularly with Shakespeare.<\/p>\n So Professor S. Wilcox Harvey, who was teaching English at Wheelock, started tutoring her every Saturday morning. \u201cHe did it for my whole freshman year,\u201d marvels Fung. \u201cHe was a very understanding and supportive person.\u201d<\/p>\n Fung has endowed the S. Wilcox Harvey Faculty Mentorship Fund to encourage BU Wheelock faculty to follow Harvey\u2019s example. The fund will support training resources, workshops, conferences, and other professional development related to mentoring students.<\/p>\n Fung chose to honor her professor, she says, \u201cbecause Dr. Harvey was so consistent and dependable, and he made me feel very hopeful that things would work out.\u201d She credits that early support for her successful career in social work and adds, \u201cNow that I have retired, I can understand more the kindness he showed by taking time every Saturday morning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat sounds so much like him. He was one of those people who always found time for you,\u201d says the professor\u2019s great-nephew, Steve Harvey. \u201cWhen I heard about the gift, I was just thrilled, because he\u2019s one of the most special people in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Thanks to Fung, he\u2019ll be remembered as a special person at BU Wheelock, too.<\/p>\n By Louise Kennedy<\/em> At BU Wheelock, our donors play a vital role in strengthening our mission to improve education and expand opportunity for all learners. In these profiles, generous supporters share why they give\u2014whether inspired by a meaningful mentor, a passion for equity, or a desire to fuel innovation in teaching and learning. Their stories reflect a deep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18489,"featured_media":0,"parent":65561,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"bu-publication":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57113"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86220,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57113\/revisions\/86220"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/wheelock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=57113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Ted Ladd: Why We Give<\/h6>
<\/p>\n![\"Ted](\"\/wheelock\/files\/2024\/11\/Ted-Ladd-800x600.png\")
I have always been inspired by BU Wheelock\u2019s mission, particularly its leadership in early childhood education and its commitment to having a positive societal impact.<\/p>\n
\ncapital campaigns and special causes, and making a bequest gift. Most recently, I created a charitable gift annuity for the Lucy Wheelock Fellowship Fund as a way to recognize David as he steps down as dean.<\/p>\nJulia Casady: Sustainable Growth<\/h6>
<\/p>\n![\"Julia-Casady\"](\"\/wheelock\/files\/2023\/10\/Julia-Casady-450x600.jpg\")
\u201cEducation is a passion of mine,\u201d Julia Casady says. A longtime teacher, Casady is cofounder, with her husband, Mark, of the One Step Forward Education Foundation, which focuses its philanthropy on education initiatives.<\/p>\nJane & Mark Roberts: A Shared Commitment<\/h6>
<\/p>\n![\"Older](\"\/wheelock\/files\/2022\/10\/22-1399-WHEELWHY-003-scaled-e1665628014180-900x485.jpg\")
Elizabeth Fung: Honoring Mentors, Past and Future<\/h6>
<\/p>\n![\"Elizabeth](\"\/wheelock\/files\/2022\/01\/Elizabeth-Fung-scaled-e1643043879372-362x600.jpg\")
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