Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 26, 1993 TAG: 9302260222
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
$1 MILLION IS LARGEST PRIVATE GIFT IN RU HISTORY
A Radford University board member and her husband have given the College of Nursing and Health Services a $1 million gift - the largest private gift the university has ever received.Radford President Donald Dedmon used words like "extraordinary" and "inordinately significant" to describe the gift from Elbert H. Waldron and his wife, Evelyn J. Waldron, who is serving her eighth and last year on the Board of Visitors.
Elbert Waldron is the chairman of Roanoke-based Fralin & Waldron, a general contracting and real estate development firm that is affiliated with Medical Facilities of America Inc., a company that operates 3,861 beds in 30 Virginia nursing homes.
The endowment will be used for scholarships for students and likely will fund a nationally renowned faculty member in the field of gerontology, said Kathleen Green, dean of the college.
Evelyn Waldron sat quietly during the Board of Visitors meeting on campus Thursday as Dedmon announced the gift. She bowed her head and smiled when he proposed that the college be renamed for her and her husband.
"Gracious," she said. "Well."
And that was all.
But the couple did issue a statement saying that the college provided important services to Virginia in preparing caring and dedicated professionals.
"Health care professionals have been the key to the success of our companies," the statement said. "We have found nurses and health care workers to be some of the most dedicated, caring professionals you can find. We have the greatest respect for them."
Dedmon said that Elbert Waldron's commitment to quality nursing home facilities and personal care is a result of a family experience many years ago with such facilities.
"He wasn't satisfied with what he saw," Dedmon said. "He was convinced then that much improvement could be made in what is today one of our most critical areas of health care, and he felt compelled to address those needs."
Dedmon said the gift to the university promises "to make a good thing even better."
The College of Nursing was formed in 1985 and has four departments: communication sciences and disorders, health services, nursing and recreation and leisure services.
The college has 38 faculty members, 630 undergraduate students and 75 graduate students.
On average, endowments at Radford generate about 10 percent of their total value that can be used each year for ongoing scholarships and programs.
Green said it will likely be 1994 at the earliest before a new faculty member is brought in, but that scholarships will be offered for the fall of 1993.
"This will allow us to do some of the things we had previously only dreamed of," she said.
The scholarships will allow the college to attract highly qualified students, she said. The community also will reap some benefits, because part of the money will be used for service-oriented projects that focus on the elderly.