MUW Foundation

Message from the Chair

I write this letter with the deepest gratitude to all of you who have given to the MUW Foundation over the past sixty years. Being the chair of the very organization that enabled me to become a W student almost forty years ago is truly a humbling, full-circle moment. I am a first-generation college graduate who grew up in a working-class family that loved and encouraged me to be and do as much as I wanted. But, the reality is that there was no way they could have afforded my W education. Yes, I could have gone to a local college and received a degree, but we all know that a W education is so much more than a diploma.

A W education is a gift. Our professors and the programs they produce are widely recognized as some of the best in the nation. We provide a fabulous education at a very reasonable price. The return on tuition dollars does not stop on graduation day, though. It is life-long and without measure. It is the love and support of the friends we made while we were students. It is the confidence we gained from being in a place that nurtured us to expand our boundaries and grow our possibilities. It is the way we learn to serve and lead, both quietly and loudly by our deeds and our actions, in whatever roles we find ourselves. It is the timeless connections we make long after graduation from within our Long Blue Line that serve us in our professional lives as well as in our personal lives every single day. A W education never actually ends. It builds on itself day after day, year after year.  

A dear W friend reminded me that abundance is not monetary. It’s experiential. It is found in the gratitude for all the blessings that comprise our lives — those people, places, and things that make us who we are. I want to encourage each of you to give from your abundance. I am not a large donor to the Foundation, but I am a faithful one. I encourage you to join me. Every gift, large or small, has an impact on a student who is much like we were when we met one September — full of hopes and dreams and completely unaware of how much this W education will change their lives. They are our path forward as we continue the legacy of the Long Blue Line. Let’s bless them with our light.   

Deborah Hodges, Class of 1990
Chair
MUW Foundation Board of Directors