New Scholarships, Support for Outdoor Classroom Highlight UVA Darden Reunion Giving Efforts

When they gather for Darden Reunion Weekend in late April, University of Virginia Darden School of Business graduates will be celebrating in person for the first time in three years. Even still, reunion classes have preserved their tradition of making significant gifts that support the School in compelling ways.

This year’s reunion classes are continuing the tradition, including class gifts highlighted here to create three scholarships and funding to enhance Darden Grounds.

Class of 1987: Naming an Outdoor Classroom

The 35th reunion gift will name an outdoor classroom amphitheater in the new botanical gardens and arboretum, says co-class agent and reunion giving co-chair Dick Dahling. Johnny Munford and Carol Brooks serve with Dahling as co-class agents and reunion giving co-chairs.

“We’ll name it the Class of ’87 Amphitheater to provide tangible recognition of how much our class valued its experience at the Darden School and how transformational it was,” says Dahling, who recently joined Fiducient Advisors as senior consultant after 23 years with Fidelity Investments.

The class is unified by a belief that community matters. A small group of class members has provided leadership gifts toward the naming goal of $500,000. Dahling expects wide support at all levels to follow for priorities across the School.

“The class has both a broad and deep record of supporting Darden,” says Dahling, who has served as class agent for 20 years. The Class of ’87’s culture of supporting each other for decades and for giving back reflect the close bonds forged among classmates.”

Class of 1997: Supporting a Full Scholarship for a Student in Need

With rising costs putting a graduate business degree out of reach for many, the Class of 1997 has committed to raise $1.5 million to fund a full scholarship for a student in need, says reunion committee co-chair Jim Meneely, who serves with co-chair Gibboney Huske. Leadership gifts have provided a strong start.

The specifics of the scholarship will be ironed out with a survey of the class at reunion. Meneely and Huske want to engage their entire class to ensure the class scholarship is most effective in supporting promising students who have great need.

A managing partner at energy investment firm White Deer, Meneely says he is an introvert who was intimidated by the case method when he got to Darden. But it helped him grow in ways he wants others to experience.

“My classmates were extremely supportive, and I ended up really looking forward to those discussions. The experience changed my life,” he says.

Class of 2002: Honoring Lost Classmates With a Scholarship

When reunion giving committee co-chairs Adam Carter and Matthew A. Kaness learned of the Darden School Foundation’s $500,000 matching program for new scholarships focused on inclusive excellence, they said it seemed like the stars were aligning.

The two already were thinking about creating an endowed scholarship for need-based diversity candidates. The class gift is a memorial to Austin Marsh, Theo Tsai and Edgar Jimenez, classmates who have passed away.

“I’m really optimistic about the impact the scholarship will have and also the direction Darden is going with prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion,” says Kaness, a retail and consumer tech veteran.

With 15 foundational sponsors, the class quickly raised $625,000, blowing past the $500,000 target. The ultimate goal is to raise $1.5 million to fund a full scholarship in perpetuity.

“It seemed like a tremendous amount of money at first. Our class graduated right after the internet bubble burst and had yet to establish a strong tradition of giving,” says Carter, who works at WestRock. “This is exactly the reaction I thought would come from our class. It feels great.”

Class of 2020: Funding a Scholarship That Recognizes Resilience

As the first class to graduate during the pandemic, 2020 classmates spent their final quarter attending classes and interviewing online.

For many, the atypical end to their Darden experience was a letdown. Amid the upheaval, a theme emerged: resilience. The Class of 2020 reunion gift will fund a scholarship that recognizes resilience in many forms, says Jade Palomino, reunion committee co-chair.

With a matching challenge of $50,000 from an anonymous donor in the class and fundraising in the works, the committee aims to match the $50,000 by the end of this fiscal year.

The class is looking forward to finally celebrating its delayed first-year reunion. For many, this will be the first opportunity to gather since their abrupt departure.

“We’re hoping to have as many people come as possible because a lot of us didn’t get to say goodbye,” says Palomino, a project manager at Meta.

A Friday night gathering will replicate some highlights of graduation, with a graduation speaker, awards, and an announcement of the scholarship and gift.

“I’m excited to work in any way I can toward allowing future students to have the experience I had at Darden,” the anonymous donor says. “It really changed my life and is one of the best decisions I ever made.”