Alumni Donations

The HSU Fisheries Biology Department tries to contact its alumni at least once a year, recently via a Christmas/holiday season information/fund-raising letter. In addition to this annual information/solicitation letter, alumni may also be directly contacted for gifts and donations via the HSU Advancement Office.

With continuing reductions in California’s funding for higher education, academic programs at HSU and elsewhere must rely more on gifts and donations, especially from their alumni. Alumni can earmark their gifts and donations for specific purposes. In the HSU Fisheries Biology Department, we have three principal areas where gifts and donations can be earmarked:

Fisheries Trust Account – This is a general purpose and very flexible account that an be used for many different purposes. Example uses include: purchase of new equipment for student and faculty use (e.g., new computers for laboratories or data projectors for classrooms); support for air travel and lodging for visiting speakers; help defray the expenses of applicants for new faculty or staff positions; development professional signage for interpretive displays in the Wildlife and Fisheries Building (e.g., for our beautiful new Native American lamprey basket).

Fisheries Founding Faculty Scholarship Fund – This recently established account was prompted by the passing of John DeWitt, one of the founding faculty in our Fisheries Biology program. Other faculty whom we consider to be among our founders include George Allen, Ernie Salo, Hortense Lanphier, and Richard Ridenhour. Donation to this fund provides an opportunity to honor these individuals. Funds can be used to support undergraduate or graduate scholarships of about $1,000 each, may be earmarked in honor of particular founding faculty.

James Joseph Awards – James Joseph was HSU’s first MS graduate in the Fisheries Option (George Allen served as his advisor). He went on to get a PhD in Fisheries from University of Washington and then served for many years as the Director of the International Tropical Tuna Commission in La Jolla, California. Donations to this award fund can help attract outstanding students to the graduate program (marine emphasis) in Fisheries Biology at HSU. Awards are usually $5,000-7,500/year for two years.

If you are interested in making a gift or donation to one of the above Fisheries Biology accounts, please contact us.

Thank you!