At the Founders Celebration on Wednesday, March 2, the College of Denver celebrated many of our most the latest founders whose involvement has contributed appreciably to DU’s achievements. Chancellor Jeremy Haefner offered the Founders Medal, 1 of the greatest honors bestowed by the College of Denver, to honorees in recognition of their transformative leadership and philanthropy in advancing DU’s mission and values.
Joseph W. Saunders (BSBA ’67, MBA ’68, PhD ’09, Trustee 2014-2017) and Sharon Saunders acquired the Founders Medal in recognition of their ongoing determination to university student achievement. The Saunders family has extended supported the College, initially investing in a world wide training fund at Daniels Higher education of Organization. In 2018 they recognized the Saunders Management Academy at DU, providing funding for have to have-primarily based scholarships and programming guidance for undergraduate pupils. When they produced the reward to set up the academy, it was the major endowed present in assist of scholarships in the University’s background. The initial cohort of students concerned in the Saunders Management Academy, known as Denver Guarantee Students, will graduate from DU in May perhaps 2022.
The Saunders family’s longstanding enthusiasm for helping college students realize success by means of scholarships and mentoring can be viewed in their guidance of many instructional corporations beyond DU, including Train for The united states.
The Boettcher Basis is the inaugural basis to receive the Founders Medal this calendar year, recognizing its deep and longstanding partnership with DU. The Boettcher Basis has supported DU for additional than 80 decades, contributing to scholarships, broad infrastructure assist and campus courses.
The Boettcher Foundation’s scholarship plan has targeted for far more than 70 several years on keeping the best and brightest college students right here in Colorado. DU’s partnership in that energy has resulted in lots of former Boettcher students returning to DU as staff and continuing to aid the college as engaged alumni during their prosperous occupations. DU is a leading-5 all-time recipient of Boettcher Basis philanthropic assist, acquiring far more than $50 million in scholarship and grant assist over the a long time.
This year’s Founders Celebration also honored the life and legacy of Joy Burns, a devoted winner of DU’s students who was our initially female chair of the Board of Trustees. Throughout her several years of leadership below, she was recognised for her remarkable small business acumen and focused management. Her unflagging help of students and college student-athletes, significantly ladies university student-athletes, was yet another hallmark of her leadership at the University.
She and her spouse, DU alumnus Franklin Burns, proven the Franklin L. Burns School of Genuine Estate and Building Administration at DU in 1997. On Joy’s passing in 2021, DU acquired a reward from her estate that builds on the school’s achievements, enhancing the popularity, software and activities of the Burns University. Her estate gift also strengthens the Knoebel University of Hospitality Administration in just Daniels Higher education of Business. The Burns’ legacy of visionary generosity will have a distinctive effects on innumerable college students during Daniels Higher education of Company and the University for several years to come, and the University was honored to include Pleasure Burns in this year’s Founders Celebration.
