George McLendon arrived in July as successor to William Chafe as dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences.
And now, in a matter of months, McLendon has pledged $100,000 to start the McLendon Family Scholarship, a need-based scholarship in his family’s name.
McLendon said he realized Duke, unlike Princeton University—where he was chair of the chemistry department—does not have many resources for endowed scholarships.
A firm believer in the importance of a quality education, McLendon’s scholarship is intended for students from North Carolina.
“There was a fairly strong reason for making it a North Carolina scholarship,” McLendon said. “My family immigrated to Pinehurst, North Carolina. So you may ask: ‘Why a McLendon Family Scholarship?’ It isn’t to honor my parents. It’s my hope that by using the family name, rather than have it as a George McLendon Scholarship, my cousins, too, will contribute to support Duke education in the future.”
McLendon said he would prefer the full scholarship be given to an applicant from a Durham high school, as it would continue the “strong partnership between Duke and the [Durham] community.”
Colleen Fitzpatrick, associate dean for Arts and Sciences advancement, said McLendon told her he wanted to make a gift to serve as an example to others, including alumni and parents. Fitzpatrick said McLendon especially wanted to respond to the Carolinas Challenge, a gift from The Duke Endowment in Charlotte that began in April 1998 to support need-based scholarships for students from the Carolinas.
The Carolinas Challenge is an initiative to raise financial aid for students from North and South Carolina. The University has raised $14 million, matched by $7 million from The Duke Endowment, for a total of $21 million in financial aid endowment for students from the Carolinas.
“Dean McLendon has structured his payments for the scholarship over five years, as the majority of our donors do,” Fitzpatrick said. “Therefore, the scholarship will be fully funded in 2009 and awarded for a student in the Class of 2013. If Dean McLendon were to decide to accelerate his payments, the scholarship will be awarded following the completion of the total funding of $100,000.”
Peter Vaughn, director of communications and donor relations for University Development, said in the past several deans have established endowed scholarships, and others have made significant contributions to existing funds.
“I cannot name them all without their permission, but former law school Dean Pamela Gann and former Fuqua [School of Business] Dean Rex Adams established endowed scholarships with their names in the titles,” Vaughn said.
McLendon, when asked if he was related to alumni Aubrey McClendon, Trinity ’81, or Kathleen McClendon, Trinity ’80—for whom the tower in Keohane Quadrangle is named—said he was not sure, but he was hoping to “talk to Aubrey soon to compare family trees.”
“Of course, there should have been another ‘C’ in McLendon. My ancestors, apart from being hopelessly unable to spell, were Scottish,” McLendon said jokingly. “I plan to give more money to support more students if my company does well and better.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.