Great Expectations Campaign Update, Summer 2008

Dr. Victoria Yorke Establishes The John W. Reed Memorial Health Professions Student Support Endowment

Pictured: Dr. Yorke (left), with Andrea Morris, Assistant Dean for Development and Corporate Relations

After the shock and acute grief of losing her beloved husband John in 2006 eased, Dr. Victoria Yorke realized she had a major project ahead of her.  He had left a complicated estate with a stipulation that one third of its assets be dedicated to charitable or educational purposes for those in financial need, but did not specify where to put the money.  Victoria York’s first thought was of her alma mater, the University of Maryland.  Yorke was a pre-med student and biochemistry major at Maryland and earned her BS degree in 1982.  She came from a family of Maryland alumni, and remembers her UM days fondly.  She went on to have a  successful family medicine practice after earning her MD at George Washington University and a residency in Arizona.  She lived in Milwaukee with her husband John Reed, where they sailed on Lake Michigan and took high energy skiing trips.  Their loving partnership ended with his sudden death in October 2006.

After consulting with her attorney and Asst. Dean for Development Andrea Morris, Yorke came up with a fitting tribute to her husband’s legacy.  By providing an endowment for pre-med, pre-dent and pre-vet students in the College of Chemical and Life Sciences, she could provide scholarships for students with financial need as well as supportive and auxiliary services critical for success in medical, dental and veterinary school.  The Reed Endowment will also provide student grants for the arduous application process to health professional schools, including application fees, study guides, MCAT prep courses, etc.  This will enable them to improve their skills, apply to more schools and increase their chances of acceptance. 

Wendy Loughlin, Director of the Health Professions Advising Office, now named in Drs. Reed and Yorke's honor, is thrilled with this new endowment.  "Students face a lot of hurdles when applying to medical, dental and veterinary school, having these funds available will reduce the financial burden for those with both talent and financial need.  We are very fortunate that Dr. Yorke is willing to be flexible with her support in this area.  I know of no other advising office in the region with this resource.  This is an amazing program for us to have and we are very grateful."

Dr. Yorke is planning to come to campus from her home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to participate in the dedication ceremony for the Drs. John William Reed and Victoria L. Yorke Health Professions Advising Office in October.  She especially looks forward to meeting the students who will receive the first round of scholarships and grants from the Reed Endowment. This will bring her tremendous joy as a very positive outcome from what is such a terrible loss.

Douglas Kent Shaffer Establishes Endowment for an Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Laboratory

This unrestricted gift from Douglas Kent Shaffer (B.S. Chemistry, ’72), a successful forensic scientist, provides undergraduate students with critical supplies and equipment for an excellent laboratory education in analytical chemistry.

Shaffer is a forensic chemist who works for the United States Secret Service, in the Questioned Documents Unit.  He is a national expert in paper and ink chemistry and has been involved for over a decade on several high profile cases for the state and federal government, some of which have yet to be adjudicated.

Shaffer often testifies as an expert witness in court cases around the country.  He is a member of American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientists and the Foundation for Advances in Medicine and Science.  He presents papers at national conferences on forensic topics and has returned to campus to share his knowledge with Maryland chemistry students.