Members of the Lind family, representing the Carl and Aune Lind Family Foundation, have pledged $3 million to support various aspects of the Education Department at Gustavus Adolphus College.
The gift includes $1 million to establish the Lind Family Endowed Scholarship Fund, which will provide financial aid support to education majors. Another $1 million of the gift will establish an endowed faculty position in the Education Department—the Lind Endowed Professor of Education. The third $1 million portion of the gift will go toward renovating the College’s A.H. Anderson building, which will house the Education Department when renovations are completed.
“This is an extremely generous and impactful gift that the Lind family is making to the College because it touches on three critical areas of the College—student access, teaching, and facility enhancement,” Gustavus President Rebecca Bergman said. “Investing in education and the future of Gustavus is a noble endeavor and I can’t thank the family enough.”
Four of the Lind Family Foundation’s board members are Gustavus alumni, including Denny Lind ’72 and his wife Jeanne Anderson Lind ’74, along with Denny’s sisters Ethel Richard ’65 and Karen Brazas ’68. Jeanne, Ethel, and Karen were all education majors at Gustavus and all went on to distinguished teaching careers—Jeanne in Minnesota and Ethel and Karen in California. Denny studied business administration at Gustavus and has spent more than 40 years in banking and finance.
“Together as a family we are choosing to support Gustavus by establishing these endowed funds in honor of our parents—Carl and Aune Lind—and the educational opportunity they provided for us,” Denny Lind said. “We are all appreciative of the educational experience we had at Gustavus and the many relationships we built there and have enjoyed over the years. Our goal here is to continue the excellence Gustavus has shown in educating educators. We feel that by supporting the Gustavus Education Department, this gift will have a lasting and far-reaching impact on many students for years to come.”
Gustavus has a long history of commitment to educating and preparing teachers. The College’s founder, Eric Norelius, set out in 1862 to train teachers and pastors for the congregations that made up the newly created Augustana Synod. Today, the College typically has 40-45 students in each graduating class who earn their education degree and plan to pursue a career in teaching.
The gift from the Lind family significantly bolsters Campaign Gustavus, which is on pace to reach its $150 million goal by fall of 2015.
“This gift is a wonderful example of the strong culture of philanthropy at Gustavus,” said Thomas Young, Vice President for Advancement. “The College was built on a gift, grew over time thanks to other gifts, and will continue to live out its mission of preparing students for lives of leadership and service because of gifts our generous alumni will give in the future. It is especially meaningful in the context of our campaign, as it touches all three pillars of the campaign—opportunity, teaching and learning, and community.”
Gustavus invites people interested in contributing to Campaign Gustavus to call the Advancement Office at 507-933-7512 or by going online to gustavus.edu/give.
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