Engineering gets $2.2 mil for financial aid

The Engineering School will receive at least $2.2 million to provide scholarships and fellowships to mechanical and electrical engineering students, University officials announced this week. The University will receive the gift from the estate of Louise Ganster, whose husband attended the University. The amount will become part of the University's endowment and will generate scholarships annually. Ganster specified in her will that the money be used for electrical and mechanical engineering students. The executor of Ganster's estate has said the amount may increase to $2.4 million. Currently, the Engineering School has not decided whether to use the money for undergraduate or graduate financial aid, and may split the amount between undergraduates and graduate students, Assistant Engineering Dean Ted Snowe said Wednesday. The scholarship fund would generate over $100,000 annually, which would provide four of 10 endowed graduate fellowships the school wants to raise during the capital campaign, Snowe said. However, because the University changed its policy to allow donors to give money to undergraduate financial aid for a specific school, the Engineering School may allocate some of the money to undergraduate scholarships. Vice President for Development Rick Nahm also said the gift was important given the University's stressed financial aid program. "It's a nice financial aid grant," Nahm said. "It's very important to us to raise financial aid." The scholarship fund will be named the Joseph Ganster and Julia Ganster Fund.

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