Giving Stories
50th Reunion Gift Helps Students in Internships
November 30th, 2007
This story is provided by Elements
The real-world experience gained in a career-related internship often can be invaluable to students competing in today's job market. But internships often provide little or no pay, making them an untenable option for many students.
Walter D. Wales '54 and Margaret Keiter Wales '55 of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, believe in the value of internships. They have established the M. Leith Shackel Internship Endowment Fund to provide financial assistance to students gaining career-oriented experience in professional settings.
While the fund will be endowed with the Wales' future gift of retirement assets, annual contributions from the couple make the fund available to current students. The first recipients were named in spring 2006.
Walter's own work experience as a student inspired the couple's gift, which commemorates the Wales' 50th reunions and is named for Dr. M. Leith Shackel '29, director of the College's placement office from 1946 to 1958 and again from 1965 to 1973. She helped Walter secure his summer jobs.
"I always felt those jobs were an important part of my overall education," Walter says. "We believe students should have those same kind of opportunities. Because students in internships today often are expected to work for a pittance or, in many cases, for nothing, it's important for them to have some help."
Walter was a physics professor at the University of Pennsylvania from 1959 to 2002, and Margaret was an elementary school teacher and reading specialist until her retirement in 1998.
Internships supported by the M. Leith Shackel Internship Endowment Fund
- Textile manufacturing company in India
- CBS News, New York office
- Seattle Human Rights Commission
- California aquarium for sea otter research
- Molecular research lab at a major university