Maryville College Founder’s Day homecoming showcase spotlights the power of philanthropy
Oct. 25, 2024
The first time Sheridan Greaser ’60 came to Maryville College, he was already admitted to the University of Virginia on a football scholarship.
During his most recent visit, Greaser — better known as Dan — and his wife, Shirley, were recognized as the newest members of the prestigious Founder’s Circle, an elite group of benefactors whose gifts over the years continue to grow the College in ways large and small.
The Greasers were honored during a President’s Welcome Reception on Friday afternoon as part of a weekend filled with Homecoming activities — all designed to celebrate and welcome home alumni who found, as Greaser did, an institution worth giving so much for so many years.
“When I think about a couple who really models the way for all alumni, Dan and Shirley Greaser are two folks who immediately come to mind,” MC President Dr. Bryan F. Coker said. “If anything needs to be done for Maryville College, Dan and Shirley are going to be among the first to sign up, and they have done that again this year. Our Founder’s Circle recognizes donors whose lifetime giving to the College exceeds $1 million. This past year, Dan and Shirley Greaser became the 20th member of this amazingly generous group.”
During the Founder’s Day Showcase of the MC Division of Fine Arts that followed, such generosity was a focal point of Coker’s remarks. The power of philanthropy, Coker said, is the lifeblood of a small, private institution like Maryville College, and has been since its humble beginnings.
“The power of philanthropy enables us to do so many things,” Coker said. “It enables us to continue offering a substantive education in the liberal arts to deserving students, as we have for over 200 years. The power of philanthropy enables us to continue educating individuals who will go forth from our campus gates, leading lives of consequence and truly making the world a better place.”
The Greasers weren’t the only alumni recognized for their contributions on Friday night: Gail Bock Garlinghouse ’68 and her husband, Roland, were lauded for their recent establishment of the Gail Garlinghouse ’68 American Sign Language/Deaf Studies Endowment, the goal of which will be to strengthen the American Sign Language-English Interpreting program by attracting more students and increasing its visibility, the goal of which is to “prepare skilled and qualified interpreters to work in a variety of interpreting environments.” The Garlinghouses donated the $50,000 in honor of their son, Jeff, who was born deaf, and doing so during an ongoing celebration of the 50th anniversary of Maryville College’s interpreting program felt especially serendipitous.
As one of the milestone reunion classes this Homecoming, the Class of 1974 was also lifted up as a group of donors who have gone above and beyond. Fundraising by members of that class will go toward Maryville College’s transition to the Southern Athletic Association NCAA DIII conference, and to the continued evolution of the Lamar Memorial Library in Thaw Hall into the Scots Learning Commons, a one-stop shop for academic success that was seeded by money from a $2.25 million Title 3 grant that Coker announced during last year’s Founder’s Day.
“As Golden Scots, each one of us no doubt feels both a special relationship, and likely senses a debt of gratitude, to Maryville College,” said Wayne Kramer ’74, class president. “Indeed, because of what the College did and continues to do for us, it is a joy and a privilege to give back to our alma mater. By so doing, it will help ensure that Maryville College continues to be ‘noble, grand and true’ in the years ahead.”
Not to be outdone, their predecessors in the Class of 1964 raised money for the Class of 1964 Endowed Scholarship, Coker noted. And because such efforts continue to pay dividends in terms of the students who go on from MC to do great things, the College has also attracted a great number of non-graduates who believe in and support its mission.
“We will always be indebted to our alumni, because their accomplishments are a reflection on the College, and so many of them acknowledge the College as the place where it all started for them,” said Suzy Booker, vice president of Advancement. “The fact that their success leads them to donate generously is one thing, but their philanthropy also inspires others to check out what Maryville College is doing, and even though they may have never been students here, they like what they find.”
One such example, Coker noted in his remarks, is that of Lamar Alexander, former Tennessee governor and United States senator. His name will grace a new Maryville College science center slated for construction on the College “lawn” along the intersection of East Lamar Alexander Parkway and Washington Street in Maryville. Although Coker and other College representatives are still in the fundraising phase, Alexander’s generosity has inspired other supporters to step forward and donate seed money, including Jim and Natalie Haslam, founder of Pilot Corporation and a renowned philanthropist throughout East Tennessee, and several others.
The sum of such donations, however, is eclipsed by the overwhelming respect those who give have for the Maryville College mission, Coker said. Combined, the classes celebrating reunions in 2024 have raised roughly $235,000, and such fealty is another reason that, in uncertain economic times for similar-sized colleges and universities, MC continues to “defy the odds”:
“Our enrollment remains steady (at roughly 1,100 students), our programs continue to grow, and our endowment continues to expand,” Coker added.
The reason, Greaser sees it, is simple: Maryville College continues to do what it’s always done. And while a young lady named Shirley helped convince him to attend MC instead of Virginia, the education he received here is the key to his success … and that of so many others.
“My uncle (Ralph Greaser ’52), he brought me down here even though I had a scholarship offer in hand, and he just said, ‘Think about this one,” Greaser said. “Of course, I met Shirley, and she was living here and not in Virginia, so that helped, but I’m so glad I did. We were just products of the times, because back then, when it came time to go to college, you just asked yourself, ‘How do I get a job? What kind of education do I need to get a job?’
“But they pulled me through the loops all the way around to give me a broad education, and that’s really what benefited my career. On top of that, when I would recruit engineers and chemists and technical people for Union Carbide, I would get these guys then had been to bigger schools or universities, but they just weren’t the same. I couldn’t get out of the other people the work and the know-how that I could get out of Maryville College graduates.
“And I’ve just always thought it was worthwhile to support that and protect it,” he added. “If the idea of philanthropy is knowing what you get out of your donation, then I’ve always known that the value you get from a Maryville College donation is global. It’s universal.”
