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Alumni Spearhead a Scholarship Fund for UW Juniors Studying in France
Alumni Spearhead a Scholarship Fund for UW Juniors Studying in France
Two Portland, OR–area UW–Madison grads (Bill Froming ’72 and Terry Waitrovich ’72) have leadership roles in a new scholarship opportunity for UW alumni who participated in study abroad programs.
Both Froming (Lake Oswego) and Waitrovich (Portland) spent their junior year (1970–71) in Aix-en-Provence, France, as part of the Michigan-Wisconsin Junior Year in France. Lorin Uffenbeck ’49, PhD’57, a UW professor of French, served as director for the 1970–71 program. The class recently held a five-day reunion in Aix. Waitrovich said, “We originally planned for the reunion in 2020. We had 33 participants. Then COVID hit. We rescheduled for October 2022, and we had 21 in attendance. We walked the campus, enjoyed the café scene, held bull sessions, and met the current program director (UW professor Elizabeth Lapina) and students. We also played pétanque, the Provençal equivalent of bocce ball. Many of us visited with French friends whom we met as students.”
Current UW students can elect to study for one semester or a full academic year in Aix. In 1970–71 all participating students stayed for the entire academic year. Froming said that the Aix experience was life-defining for him and particularly noted the importance of the sixth, seventh, and eighth months in France. He said, “Once you learn the lay of the land and understand the language, the benefits of the foreign experience explode.”
Froming, a retired university administrator, has worked with the UW Foundation to establish a scholarship fund for students who are financially unable to commit to a full-year program. Many of these students would prefer to take advantage of the full-year program. Waitrovich, Froming, and other former Aix students have contributed or made financial pledges to the scholarship fund to defray the additional costs for the full-year program. The scholarship will cover the additional costs of staying a second semester in Aix (above and beyond what it would cost to return to Madison for the semester).
The group has raised nearly 70 percent of the amount needed to permanently endow the scholarship program and is searching for additional donors. Froming said, “Funding this scholarship is an excellent opportunity for UW alumni to help a very unique and beneficial program for Wisconsin undergraduates. We hope alumni from other years in Aix or at other UW junior year programs join us in funding this scholarship. Both the Foundation and the 1970–71 Aix class are open to using this scholarship vehicle for funding enhancement options for students at other UW Study Abroad programs.”
For further information contact Terry Waitrovich at twaitrovich@gmail.com or call 971-888-4482.
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Living in Parker, Colorado, I am proud to wear my Badger scarf and hat as I take my early morning walk near the snow-capped Rocky mountains.