Rose Gift Blooms

Samuel Rose ups gift to $10 million to increase opportunity and diversity at Dickinson

April 1, 2008

Rose chats with two scholarship recipients during the dinner.

Samuel G. Rose ’58 knows that it’s tough to put a price tag on equal opportunity. “One of the major problems in this country is making the playing field level for all people, especially urban youths,” he explains. “Everyone needs education so we can give everyone the same opportunities.”

That’s why the Washington, D.C., attorney and real-estate developer committed $200,000 in 2000 to establish the Samuel G. Rose ’58 Scholarship for economically disadvantaged students from urban areas.  During the next five years he added more than $5 million, and by 2005 there were 20 recipients of the scholarship who received between $2,500 and $4,000 each. Last fall, however, he decided that wasn’t enough. In September, Rose, a Dickinson trustee emeritus and vice chair at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, committed another $5 million, for a total of $10 million. The majority of that money will go toward the scholarship, while a portion will be given to the athletics facilities renovation project and to the Annual Fund.

The scholarship recipients (there are 36 this year) are chosen by a team of administrators who review grades, high-school class ranks, SAT scores and financial situations. The yearly scholarships now average approximately $4,370 per student. When the scholarship is fulfilled, which is estimated to be in 2011, there will be approximately 100 recipients—25 per class—each year. Rose’s philanthropy has been a major boost to the college’s level of diversity, and he credits the school’s leadership with giving him a reason to be so generous.

“I have a great deal of respect for President [William G.] Durden [’71],” he says. “And as I look around the world, I think education is a good place to put your money. I wish the gift could be bigger, but I sort of spread it around. I’m just glad I can do it.”