Abha Singh Divine ’89 jokes about inheriting an electrical engineering gene – and maybe some Mustang DNA, too.
Abha, her parents, Shelley (Shailendra) ’71 and Indu Singh ’72, and her brother, Rahul ’97, all hold degrees in electrical engineering from SMU.
“My parents moved from India to pursue graduate degrees at the University when I was just 2,” she says. “We lived on campus, so I have a long history with SMU.”
As an undergraduate, she was a President’s Scholar with a double major in electrical engineering and applied mathematics. She also completed the University’s Honors Program, which she says provided a strong, complementary foundation in liberal arts that continues to influence her work today.
“Some of the most important friendships I established at SMU are with this close set of peers I had all through school,” she remembers. “We came from all disciplines, from all kinds of backgrounds, and had the opportunity to share some of the most interesting events – like the Tate Lectures – together.”
The most important friendship she made was with her husband: Abha met Jim Divine ’89 while both were SMU engineering students. Jim, who was an Engineering Scholar as a student, says he chose SMU “because of the opportunity to apply classroom learning in a real-world environment via the engineering co-op program.”
The couple, who earned M.B.A. degrees after leaving SMU, combined their engineering knowledge and entrepreneurial acumen to establish successful companies. As a founder and managing director of Techquity Capital Management, an intellectual property (IP) investment firm, Abha travels the world to find untapped IP assets. Jim
is chairman and CEO of Keterex, a semiconductor firm based in Austin.
The Divines have made a bequest in their wills that will endow a President’s Scholarship for students studying engineering at SMU. This is a gift for the future, a donor vote of confidence in SMU’s enduring commitment to attract the best young minds.
“Our hope is that this gift underscores not only the importance of academic achievement to the scholar recipients, but also the importance of sharing their talents and giving back to their communities,“ Jim adds.
Scholarships = Student Quality
A key priority of The Second Century Campaign is increasing scholarship resources through endowed and annual gifts. There’s a correlation between student quality and scholarships: Over the past decade, as support for scholarships has grown, the average SAT score for entering SMU students has risen 98 points.
Donors to annual scholarships also play a crucial role in the University’s ability to compete nationally for top students, President R. Gerald Turner says. “Donors understand that annually funded scholarships can provide an essential bridge for students who might not otherwise be able to attend SMU – especially at a time when the University’s endowment is providing fewer dollars because of the recession.”
Like the Divines, many donors can plan now to help ensure a solid future for SMU scholarships, says Linda Preece, director of endowment and scholarship giving.
“People often assume they don’t have the resources to provide an endowed scholarship. However, with some judicious planning and conversation now, a future gift can make a scholarship endowment possible,” she explains. “When donors consider all their personal assets, such as a vacation home, a business they plan to sell, a retirement fund or an IRA, or a simple bequest, then they begin to see the possibilities for making a difference in a student’s life.”
For example, Shirley and Ting Chu, retired engineering faculty members, used the IRA Charitable Rollover provision to move funds from an IRA to establish a scholarship endowment in December 2009. When the endowment reaches its maximum income potential, it will provide scholarships to junior- and senior-level engineering majors who have academic merit and demonstrated financial need, Preece says.
“The beauty of a planned gift is that numerous choices are available, depending on donor needs and goals. Some gifts may even provide income to a donor,” she says. “The Office of Planned and Endowment Giving provides the resource for donors and their advisers in beginning that conversation.”
A Lasting Contribution
For Scott Savarese ’02 and his family, the unexpected death of his father, Donald E. Savarese, prompted them to establish a new SMU scholarship.
“He was such a caring person, and one of the things for which I was so grateful to him was providing the opportunity to obtain a good education. He encouraged me to get my M.B.A,” recalls Scott, who earned the graduate degree from SMU’s Cox School of Business.
The Savarese family – which includes Scott’s mother, Lucille, and sister, Lindsay Savarese Penny – decided to “create a way to remember him that captured his personality,” Scott says. They found it in The Donald E. Savarese Endowed Memorial Scholarship at SMU.
“We were overwhelmed by the support of his business peers,” Scott says. “It’s a great testament to his character; the caring person we knew at home was the same person his colleagues remember and respect.”
Donald E. Savarese moved to Texas when JCPenney relocated from New York City in 1990. He had worked for the major retail firm for more than 30 years and was pension fund director at the time of his death.
Because an endowed scholarship takes several years to generate its maximum income, an annual award has been set up by the Savarese family to cover the first few years. The fund provides one or more undergraduate and/or graduate scholarships up to $5,000 annually and is open to JCPenney associates and their families.
“This is the best of both worlds,” Scott says. “We give back to the JCP community immediately and create a scholarship that will embody my father’s caring spirit in perpetuity.”
SMU Scholarship Fund:
Annual gifts of any amount may be designated for this fund, which provides need-based disbursements to scholarship students. Gifts can be made online at
smu.edu/giving or mailed to: SMU Scholarship Fund, Records and Gifts Administration, P.O. Box 750402, Dallas, Texas 75275.
Annual Scholarships:
A minimum four-year commitment can be designated to support a named annual scholarship.
Endowed Scholarships:
Commitments of $100,000 or more provide permanent funding for scholarships. At these levels donors will have the opportunity to name the endowment fund in perpetuity.
More information about scholarship giving is available from Linda Preece, director of Endowment and Scholarship Giving, Office of Planned and Endowment Giving, at 214-768-4745 or endowment@smu.edu.
– Patricia Ward
Read more about scholarships
Great Expectations
Rachel Kittrell: Opening Doors To New Possibilities
Daniel Sanabria: Indescribable Changes, Immeasurable Dividends
Alaa Al-Barghuthi: The Investment Of A Lifetime
Andrea Norris Kline ’08: Making Her Mark On History
Tameca Robertson ’99: Engineering With Heart
Scott Krouse ’03: The World Is His Office