The Office of Gift Planning redesigned Perspectives with the fall 2007 issue. Perspectives is a biannual newsletter created by the Office of Gift Planning and sent to alumni and friends of the university who are interested in charitable giving and estate planning. Each issue of the recently renovated Perspectives will explore ways to save taxes and plan for your financial future while helping Susquehanna University. It will also provide updates on the Changing Lives, Building Futures campaign and recognize recent donors.

To see the Fall 2007 issue of Perspectives please click here. If you are interested in being included on the Perspectives mailing list, please e-mail Kim Andretta at andretta@susqu.edu.

On the heels of a successful rookie year, Susquehanna University’s athletic internship program has expanded for the 2007–08 academic year. Six new positions have been created, nearly doubling the seven full-time internships initially established with a gift from Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees John Strangfeld ’75 and his wife, Mary Kay.

In addition to three slots created through internal funding, two of the added positions are funded by a new gift from the Strangfelds. Another is supported by fellow Trustee Ed Schmidt ’69, who designated a portion of his overall Changing Lives, Building Futures campaign gift commitment to the intern program.

“As I considered a gift in support of Susquehanna, I took note of the first-year success of the athletic intern program and its immediate positive impact on our students,” Schmidt says. “I am privileged to support John’s vision and this innovative program.”

“Following a great first year, it’s phenomenal for us to have these additional positions working for us coaching, administering athletic programs and recruiting student-athletes,” says Pam Samuelson, Susquehanna’s director of athletics. “We’re very grateful to John and Ed for making specific investments that will make a difference for Susquehanna’s current and future students.”

In a remarkable demonstration of generosity, Eric Stein ’69 established The Eric Stein Fund for International Experience with a $1 million endowment gift only three weeks before succumbing to lung cancer in March 2006. This past summer, five Sigmund Weis School of Business students interning in England were the first group benefiting from Stein’s philanthropy.

In his 35-year career as an auditor, entrepreneur and financial officer, Stein navigated the globe working and managing ventures in such countries as Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, Australia, India and Russia. Stein believed his international business exposure was critically important in his career — exposure that began with an internship he secured with RCA toward the end of his four years at Susquehanna.

“That experience truly changed my life,” the accounting graduate said of his internship experience. It ultimately led to an assignment with RCA’s international corporate audit staff. Stein said his many years of living and working abroad developed in him a very strong belief that “American businesspeople need a much greater knowledge of the world around them.” As a result, Stein said he wanted to create opportunities for Sigmund Weis School of Business students to gain international work or study experience.

The fund enables up to five international internship experiences annually, covering a student’s travel and living expenses, and providing a modest cash stipend for internship experiences.