West Virginia University alumna Rhonda Radcliff is passionate about helping students while paying tribute to her family’s legacy.

Since graduating from WVU in 1989, Radcliff, of Mountain View, Calif., has created five endowed scholarships and two fellowships through her employer’s gift matching program. All provide assistance to students in the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, and are named after members of her family.

Radcliff earned her degree from WVU in chemical engineering and immediately went to work for ExxonMobil where she continues her employment today.

She became excited after learning about ExxonMobil’s Educational Matching Gift Program.

“It was created to encourage contributions to higher education by ExxonMobil employees, retirees and surviving spouses. Each eligible donor may give up to $7,500 per year in gifts to U.S. colleges and universities and be matched by the ExxonMobil Foundation. The matching ratio is $3 for every $1 contributed by the donor,” she said.

Radcliff hopes the seven scholarships and fellowships she has created at WVU to date will make it easier for students to focus on their studies rather than worrying about finances.

“As a student, concentrating on studies is hard enough,” said Radcliff. “I hope these scholarships can help students that are pursuing engineering degrees to solve problems, help society, have a successful career and give back to their university, too.”

Radcliff has named the endowments after family members to honor her lineage, including her parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, sister, husband and in-laws, who have all impacted her life in a significant way.

“Some of them don’t have any children,” said Radcliff, “so I thought this would be a great way to preserve their legacy.”

Radcliff’s most recent gift of $25,000 created an endowed scholarship fund at the Statler College in the name of her great uncle and aunt, Harold and Helen Shamberger of Morgantown, who have been very involved in the WVU community for years since their undergraduate days in the 1940s.

The endowments were made in conjunction with A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University. The $750-million comprehensive campaign being conducted by the WVU Foundation on behalf of the University runs through December 2015.

For more information on “A State of Minds” visit www.astateofminds.com

-WVU-

ab/12/9/13

CONTACT: Bill Nevin, WVU Foundation
304-284-4056; wnevin@wvuf.org

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