Gift rooted in friendship
UND Provost and wife make personal contribution to Class of ’68 endowment fund during 50-year reunion
UND Provost Tom DiLorenzo took the UND Class of 1968 down Memory Lane Friday night, right before making a commitment to help them forge a new path for the future.
Speaking to the group of 50-year alums during Homecoming, DiLorenzo surprised his audience with a $5,000 personal contribution from him and his wife, Suzanne Austin, to an endowment fund the Class of ’68 set up to help UND students with their academic pursuits.
DiLorenzo presented the check to Sara Garland, chair of the reunion class and the incoming chair of the UND Alumni Association & Foundation.
Garland and the rest of the class had already raised more than $40,000 for the cause. The DiLorenzo and Austin gift brought the total closer to the “magic mark” of $50,000.
“My wife and I believe that education is the ultimate equalizer,” DiLorenzo said. “It is the only sure way that a person can take control of their lives and where there will be a lifelong payoff.”
Move of generosity
DiLorenzo had spent the first part of his address, detailing the myriad changes at UND and the world over the past 50 years, including the differences between students of today and the Class of ’68 when they were on campus as students.
DiLorenzo said, “We hope that students who receive funds from this account in the future will pause briefly and ask the question, who were these people who graduated in 1968 and what was life like for them in the 60s?”
Garland, a personal friend of DiLorenzo, had no ideas it was coming. She was visibly stunned and moved by the gesture of generosity from the Provost. And the Provost, for his part, fought back a hint of his own emotion while presenting the gift.
“I’m just so grateful,” said Garland afterward. “We (Class of ’68) want to leave a legacy here, and in a few years a lot of us are probably going to be gone. But it sure will be nice for some student to get this money from the class of 1968.”
‘Pretty amazing’
Garland, born and raised in North Dakota, went on to become an influential political organizer and lobbyist in Washington, D.C., working for lawmakers such as former North Dakota U.S. Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad. Now retired, Garland stays busy in a couple of organizations: emerge Virginia, a Democratic Party advocacy group for women; and the Center for Native American Youth, which was started by Dorgan. Garland sits on the CNAY’s Board of Advisors, with a star-studded lineup, including Tom Brokaw, New York Yankee’s centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and NBA coaching legend and UND alum Phil Jackson.
Garland describes her UND Class of 1968 as “pretty amazing.” It was the first of the baby boomer generation to attend college, and was part of a surge in enrollment growth at UND as one of the first individual classes to top well over 1,000 students.
“Sara Garland deserves so much for wanting her class, which she calls ‘the best ever,’ to leave a far-reaching legacy,” said DeAnna Carlson Zink, CEO of the UND Alumni Association & Foundation. “For the DiLorenzos to see her passion and decide to be a part of it with such a generous contribution is inspiring and a testament to Sara’s love of UND.”
Garland said she wants to see her Class’s endowment continue to grow, with no end in sight.
“I really don’t want to attach a goal number to it,” she said. “Once you get something established, it’s just easier for people to keep giving.”
DiLorenzo and Garland’s friendship has blossomed over the past six years, since he became Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at UND.
“She’s had a marvelous career and is always thinking of others, her UND and how to help students,” DiLorenzo said of Garland.
