In 2001, Joseph E. Lipscomb ’87 established a scholarship fund that replaces the portion of a student’s financial-aid package that comes from a Kenyon loan, a federal Stafford Loan, and work-study for a student whose career goal is public service or philanthropy. The goal of the scholarship is two-fold, says Lipscomb. First, a student could graduate with no debt, or much less debt, enabling her or him more readily to pursue a career in the public service or nonprofit sector. Second, without a financial-aid-driven campus job, a student would have time to engage in volunteer work while still at the College.”
The scholarship was created in honor of Joe’s father, James S. Lipscomb, a man who devoted his career to public service. Jim Lipscomb’s involvement with and interest in Kenyon developed after he was hired to manage the Gund Foundation, which he led from 1969 until his death in 1987. Joe says his father, a graduate of Princeton University, felt a very deep connection to the College and its educational mission. He felt that at an institution like Kenyon contributions can make a bigger difference than they make at one that is heavily endowed, Lipscomb says. I think there’s truth in that.
It’s wonderful that my brother is able to fund this scholarship, says William S. Lipscomb II ’80, who is employed by a firm that provides consultation services for the nonprofit sector. Our father felt very strongly about the institutions he attended and he encouraged us to do the same. Although Dad attended prestigious institutions--the Peddie School, Princeton, and Harvard University--he did so on scholarships and the G.I. Bill, so he was very aware of the importance of providing opportunities to students regardless of their means.
According to his sons, one of Jim Lipscomb’s strengths was his ability to turn an abstract goal into a concrete reality. His personal stamp, applied through the Gund Foundation, is everywhere upon the city of Cleveland, from Theater Square, to public health clinics, to WCTN, the public radio station. Joe Lipscomb sees the College as imparting that same skill to its students.
Kenyon students get in the habit of taking an interest in the community around them, he says. More importantly, they get in the habit of engaging in their community to be a force for positive change. By the time they leave the College community, they’ve gained this confidence and habit, which translates well to having a real impact at a broader level.
When I left Kenyon, the most relevant thing I had gained was not to doubt, or be fearful of, anyone’s ability to be an agent of change if they focus and believe in what they’re pursuing, Lipscomb says. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Having gone to an Ivy League graduate school and having worked in an environment where many have better-known credentials or connections, I believe there are few places that give students more ability, confidence, and will to have a real impact on the world than Kenyon.
The Lipscomb Scholarship will give future students the opportunity to imagine what that impact might be.