At their annual summer luncheon on May 21, Women of Chapman, a vibrant group of philanthropic-minded women strongly dedicated to a program of service to Chapman University, presented Chapman with a $250,000 check to support pledges on two diverse student initiatives: $100,000 for the Women of Chapman Endowed Student Hardship Assistance Fund and $150,000 to the Women of Chapman Central Park at the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus.
“For 53 years, this incredible group of women—the most dynamic, philanthropic, and supportive group in Orange County—have supported various programs, scholarships, and capital projects across campus,” said Women of Chapman President Sheri Nazaroff (MA ’11). “We are excited to further support student initiatives now and into the future.”
Women of Chapman Student Hardship Assistance Fund
The Women of Chapman Student Hardship Assistance Fund—endowed last year with a $1 million pledge—gives financial assistance to students facing immediate and unexpected hardship. The fund, which can cover expenses related to housing, food, transportation, technology, medical bills and getting home during a family crisis, is distributed by Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Jerry Price.
“This endowment will support students in perpetuity,” Nazaroff explained. “Sometimes, an unexpected issue arises that might derail a student’s education, and our goal by endowing this fund is to keep students in school.”
Recent examples of students who received assistance from the fund include two first-generation students who received money to subsidize their travel costs to an international internship program; a previously hospitalized student was given money to cover summer housing charges after missing classes during the spring semester; a graduate student who needed one additional month to finish their studies received money to cover one extra month of housing; and a student who was often driving home to be with a sick family member got assistance to help cover gas costs.
“Thank you for all the students you have helped,” said Dean Price, who attended the luncheon and spoke to the group after the check presentation. “For many students, what may seem like a small amount of money to us is a big amount to them, and to be able to cover that expense for them makes all the difference.”
Women of Chapman Central Park at the Rinker Campus
Tentatively designed to include green space and trees, the Women of Chapman Central Park at the Rinker Campus will truly transform the industrial park into the focal hub of the graduate health science campus. Once built, the Women of Chapman Central Park will have a similar feel to Chapman’s Bert Williams Mall or Aitken Arts Plaza: an open space where students and faculty can converse, eat, relax, and have interdisciplinary conversations with one another.
With a $1 million pledge in 2019, the Women of Chapman Central Park will add to the growing Rinker Campus footprint. Last summer, a new 52,000-square-foot building called the Campus Center at Rinker opened for health science students. The Center offers student study space options, meeting and event spaces, a full kitchen café and barista, a campus store, prayer and reflection rooms, an outdoor student plaza with Indigenous, medicinal, and drought tolerant plants, and supports the entire campus community.
Investment in graduate health science programs is one of the pillars of Chapman’s strategic plan, including achieving a state-of-the-art Rinker Campus in the next four years. Women of Chapman looks forward to impacting future health science students when the Women of Chapman Central Park is complete.
Since 1971, Women of Chapman have long played a leading role in helping Chapman University continue its unparalleled rise in higher education, touching every corner of campus and impacting each of its students today and into the future. To date, the group has raised over $10 million to support various initiatives.
The group’s signature fundraising event, Christmas at the Ritz, last year raised approximately $300,000 to support Chapman. Save the date for the 2024 event on Saturday, December 14, at the Balboa Bay Resort in Newport Beach.
