Graduating SPP Students Launch Class Gift Tradition
The members of the inaugural graduating class of the School of Public Policy (SPP) at CEU were pioneers: the first to graduate from SPP, and also the first to be awarded Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees by CEU.
The 26 graduating students know they will always have a special place in the history of the School. “Some of us had been thinking about what we could do to give back to the School after these two years,” explained Tautvydas Juskauskas (MPA ’15). “We wanted to do something special, something that would help other SPP students. In consultation with faculty and staff at the School, we came up with this idea to make a class gift to establish an SPP Student Fund that future graduating students could also donate to when they graduate.” Juskauskas says that he and the other students who made donations to the SPP Student Fund are proud to have established an SPP tradition. “We know it will take some time for the Fund to grow, but we planted a seed,” said Juskauskas. “We got it started.”
Thirty-eight percent of graduating students contributed to the Class Gift. So too did several SPP staff and faculty. Together they raised more than 300 Euros. SPP Director of Career Services and Alumni Relations Ann Gagliardi worked closely with SPP’s Office of Communications and CEU’s Development and Alumni Relations Offices to shepherd the SPP Class Gift project. “We are so pleased that students in this first MPA cohort decided to establish this tradition of giving back to the School and look forward to watching the fund grow over time,” said Gagliardi.
Vice President for Enrollment Management and Alumni Relations Serge Sych (IRES '97, LEGS '99) congratulated the SPP graduating students on their initiative – and their generosity. He noted that there is a history of graduating class gifts at CEU.
“CEU has long enjoyed a tradition of alumni giving in support of their schools and academic departments, and the University in general,” he said. “This important SPP initiative is a welcome new chapter in this history, and much appreciated.”