Parents create Honors College program fund

1/9/2008
Daley Ford-Matz's parents can't say enough about the positive experiences their daughter is having as a student in Penn State's Schreyer Honors College. In fact, they've been so impressed with Daley's experiences as a Schreyer Scholar that the couple has established a fund to support programs that will benefit students in the Honors College for years to come.

"We've always wanted to do something for Penn State," said Kathleen Ford, who with her husband, R. Kevin Matz, committed $25,000 to establish the Ford-Matz Family Program Fund in the Schreyer Honors College in honor of Daley, a sophomore Scholar. "We made this investment because we felt it is important to the future of the College, and it was simply the right thing to do. We hope our gift will inspire other families to consider what we did and do the same."

Ford earned an MBA from Penn State in 1983, and Matz received a master of public administration degree from the University in 1982.

"It's great that Daley's going there, but our motivation is that the Schreyer Honors College is a fantastic hidden gem for Penn State," she said. "With the development of the honors college, Penn State can now compete with anyone. It's really going to advance the University. I have this personal goal to spread the word as much as I can to let people know that the Schreyer Honors College is there, and we want other families, prospective students, to know that Penn State's Schreyer Honors College is as strong if not stronger than some of the top schools in the country."

The fund will support international study, honors course development, or guest lectures focused on ethics and civic engagement.

"The Schreyer Honors College is dedicated to preparing our Scholars for the leadership roles they will assume once they graduate and begin their careers," said Dean Christian M. M. Brady. "Initiatives that will be underwritten through the Ford-Matz Family Program Fund—traveling overseas to study, enrolling in a newly developed innovative course, or getting to hear pre-eminent guest lecturers talk about the ways in which actions can have positive, meaningful impact—provide the foundation for that leadership development."

Getting their daughter to choose Penn State wasn't easy at first, according to Ford. There was the distance between University Park and the family's home in Ridgefield, Conn., coupled with Daley's initial preference to attend a smaller college having dominant name recognition in New England.

"Daley has now told me many times that being in the Schreyer Honors College is like being at a small college, but you have all the resources and opportunities that Penn State offers," Ford said.

Ford and Matz met when both were attending Penn State as graduate students. She retired from IBM as a financial manager with almost 20 years with the company. He is the Executive Vice President for Shared Services with EMCOR Group Inc., a Fortune 500 company. EMCOR is a global leader in mechanical and electrical construction, energy infrastructure, and facilities services.

For more information about the Schreyer Honors College, visit http://shc.psu.edu.