The “It’s About Us” faculty and staff campaign is winding down for this fiscal year and to date over 1,300 employees have pledged their financial support. Critical to the campaign’s success is employees’ year-after-year giving that, collectively, allow the University to plan ahead to make an even more significant impact on our students, patients, and veterans home residents.
Over the years, faculty and staff members have been very supportive of the “It’s About Us,” campaign. This year, one of our faculty members really stands out: Frances Brisbane, the Dean of the School of Social Welfare. In addition to her decades-long weekly payroll contributions, she has made an incremental gift to support some of the areas near and dear to her heart.
“Dr. Frances Brisbane is an ideal example of Stony Brook’s exceptional faculty and staff,” says University President Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., MD. “Through her insight and enthusiasm, she recognizes the value of giving back to our community. She initiates positive change by putting her concern for other’s welfare into action, and I’m proud she’s a part of Stony Brook. Leadership, vision, and generosity, such as Frances’, further our mission and contribute immensely to the continued strength and excellence of this University.”
Dean Brisbane is allocating her $51,000 gift to scholarships at the School of Social Welfare, to financial assistance for Stony Brook’s student athletes (P.A.W.S), and for use as a financial safety net for fellow Stony Brook employees who are experiencing financial challenges (The Hardship Fund).
In addition to being a Professor and Dean of the School of Social Welfare, Frances Brisbane is also the Dean of the Black Alcoholism and Addictions Institute, co-sponsored by Morehouse Research Institute of Morehouse College in Atlanta, and the National Black Alcoholism and Addictions Council (NBAC) in Washington, D.C. In 2007, she received the U.S. President’s highest honor for her lifetime work in volunteerism, the “President’s Call to Service Award.” She is also a recipient of the University President’s Award for Excellence in Diversity and Affirmative Action.
While faculty and staff donate to an incredibly broad range of worthy programs and projects, the reason most choose to support the “It’s About Us” faculty and staff campaign is strikingly similar to Dean Brisbane’s: to make a difference.
“I decided to ‘pool’ all my giving (except contributions to church and religious activities),” she said,” to one place – Stony Brook, so it would be large enough, hopefully, to make a difference in the areas where it was most needed on campus.”
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