The University of Alaska Fairbanks received a $2.7 million gift and nearly 1 million Alaska Airlines miles to support graduate students in its Geophysical Institute.
The gift was made from the estate of Grace Schaible, a lawyer, and Alaska’s first female attorney general who died in 2017.
Considered the largest private donation in the university’s history, the school will spend more than $2.2 million on student support, while the returns on the endowment will also individually support two or more graduate fellowships per year.
“Grace began her remarkable career in a remarkable way. She was named Outstanding Woman in both her freshman and senior years before graduating from the university in 1949,” said UAF Chancellor Dan White.
“We are grateful to have had the opportunity to have shared 73 years with her as a student, staff member, alumna, donor and tireless advocate for the university.”
A portion of the gift will go towards public radio and conservation of art in the museum of the North’s fine art collection.
“Grace had many passions in her life, but two of the greatest were supporting higher education through the University of Alaska Fairbanks and, along with that, helping any and all individuals become the best they could be and achieve their highest potential,” said Jeff Cook, Schaible’s longtime friend and co-executor of her estate. “These bequests to UAF meet these passions perfectly.”
In 2017, the university named Schaible one of three philanthropists of the century and awarded her with an honorary doctor of law degree.
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