The University of Iowa School of Music has received a gift of more than $2.1 million that will provide UI organ students at all levels with scholarships and fellowships. The bequest, from the estate of Dorothy Marshall Frawley of Wilmette, Ill., was made to the UI Foundation.
Delbert Disselhorst, an organ professor in the UI School of Music, which is part of the Division of Performing Arts in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, hailed the gift establishing the endowed Dorothy Marshall Frawley Scholarship Fund as a landmark event in organ studies at the UI. He said it will enable the funding of multiple organ scholarships and fellowships each year.
"We are overwhelmed by the magnitude of this gift and look with great enthusiasm to the resources it will provide for attracting top organ students," Disselhorst said. "We couldn't be more grateful."
James Thomashower, the executive director of the American Guild of Organists in New York City, said the bequest will contribute significantly to organ studies in the United States.
"This is a marvelous gift not just for the University of Iowa, but for a whole generation of organ students," said Thomashower. "In a period when some well-known organ studies departments have closed around the country, this will provide terrific opportunities for young people wishing to study the organ. It will enable Iowa, which already has an excellent reputation in the discipline, to attract talented and eager students."
Prospective organ students and their families interested in learning more about Dorothy Marshall Frawley Scholarship awards may contact Disselhorst by telephone at (319) 335-1630, or by e-mail at [email protected].
The Frawley estate gift is the result of Frawley's friendship with the family of Frederick T. "Rick" Rahn Jr., a UI organ student who died in 1970. After Rahn's death, his family established a memorial fund for the benefit of UI organ studies, and they have been generously supportive of the School of Music's organ program for more than 30 years. Because of her regard for the Rahn family, Frawley, who died in 2001, included the School of Music in her charitable estate planning, even though she had no personal connection to the UI.
The Frawley bequest is part of the UI's $850 million comprehensive campaign, which will run through 2005 and is being conducted under the guidance of the UI Foundation. Named "Good. Better. Best. Iowa: The Campaign to Advance Our Great University," the seven-year effort is raising private funds to substantially increase the number of UI scholarships and endowed faculty positions, support new educational and research facilities, build the UI's endowment and fund outreach and service programs to benefit Iowans.
The UI Foundation is acknowledged by the UI as a preferred channel for private contributions that benefit all areas of the university. For more information about the "Good. Better. Best. Iowa" campaign, visit its web site at www.GoodBetterBestIowa.org.
STORY SOURCE: UI Foundation, P.O. Box 4550, Iowa City, Iowa 52244-4550
MEDIA CONTACT: Margaret Reese, director of development, Performing and Fine Arts, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, (319) 335-3305, ext. 769. mailto:[email protected]. Writer: Nic Arp
