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The Donna and Dennis Lowe Scholarship will support CALS undergraduates with financial need as part of the university’s To Do the Greatest Good capital campaign.

Education has always been important to Donna and Dennis Lowe. Donna was an elementary school teacher, and Dennis joined the Air Force ROTC so he could afford to become the first in his family to attend college. When their son Rick finished high school, Donna and Dennis took out a second mortgage on their home to help him pay for his undergraduate degree at Cornell.

“We had a nice, middle-class life, but the extra cash flow needed to pay for college – it wasn’t there,” said Rick Lowe ’90, who earned a B.S. in biological sciences. “Education was always a top priority for them, so they were willing to make this considerable sacrifice to help me be able to get my education without going into mountains of debt. I am so grateful to my parents for their amazing support of my education, and I have been searching for a meaningful way to properly thank them.”

Lowe is honoring his parents and paying their generosity forward by establishing a scholarship in their name: The Donna and Dennis Lowe Scholarship will support undergraduates with financial need in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences beginning in fall 2022. Inspired by the “To Do the Greatest Good” capital campaign, Lowe and his wife, Shannon Lowe, were moved to establish a scholarship. To encourage donors to establish new or enhance existing endowed funds and further the goals of the affordability initiative, Cornell is offering a 1:2 match for gifts of $250,000 or more which are designated to endowed financial aid. 

“There are so many worthy causes we want to support, but education has a multiplier effect,” said Lowe, managing director at Goldman Sachs Ayco Personal Financial Management. “If we support education, and students who otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get that education, what will they go on and do? Some of these students are going to go on to help solve world problems.”

Lowe’s daughter Julia Lowe ’21 just completed her degree, majoring in development sociology and minoring in environment and sustainability, marine biology and climate change. She hopes to work in environmental conservation.

“I’ve been interested in marine biology since high school, but at Cornell, I saw this path light up where I could look at environmental issues from a sociological perspective and learn how to help people become more involved in conservation,” she said. “My grandparents have always prioritized our education; they’re interested in what their grandchildren are learning, involved in our college applications and supportive of our academic choices.”

When Julia started at Cornell, she gifted her grandparents a pile of Cornell-themed merchandise. As more grandchildren have started college at other institutions, they’ve done the same.

“I think probably half my grandparents’ wardrobe at this point is college merch, which also shows their commitment to education,” she said.

“The Donna and Dennis Lowe Scholarship boosts CALS’ commitment to provide an affordable, world-class education to students in need, particularly first-generation undergraduates and those from lower- and middle-income families,” said Benjamin Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of CALS. “The college is deeply grateful to Rick and his family for their generous gift, which will open doors for many talented students and stand as a lasting tribute to his parents’ belief in the transformative power of higher education.”

Rick Lowe said he was inspired to donate when he saw, during the “To Do the Greatest Good” launch event, that another alumnus donated in their parents’ name.

“One of the things that’s important to me in doing this is not just honoring my parents, but I believe that seeing other people’s philanthropy encourages people to be philanthropic themselves,” he said. “My hope would be that this inspires other people to help support the affordability campaign.”

Lowe is also generous to Cornell with his time: He serves on the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network, the CALS Advisory Council and the Cornell University Council.

 

Krisy Gashler is a writer for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

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