Historic Gift to Support Undergraduate Scholarships for First Generation, Low Income Students

Georganne Vartorella, M.D. (C'73, M'82) and her husband, Richard Statesir, M.D., have made a landmark bequest commitment to establish the Vartorella-Statesir Endowed Scholarship Fund.

The scholarships will support students during all four undergraduate years, providing access for highly talented first-generation college students, as well as those from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds who might not otherwise be able to afford a Georgetown education.

"Rich and I have been in health care for three decades," says Vartorella, a member of Georgetown's Board of Regents and the McCourt Board of Advisors. "In many ways, recruiting a diverse student body is similar to optimizing the equitable delivery of health care. In both cases, to achieve your goals, you've got to remove the barriers to access. And I think that overcoming those barriers in education begins fundamentally with scholarships."

To ensure that students with financial need can fully flourish throughout their time at Georgetown, the gift will be used to establish Vartorella-Statesir Thriving Grants, which will enable undergraduates to participate in enriching experiences beyond the classroom.

When celebrating Georganne and Rich at a meeting of the Board of Regents, President John J. DeGioia thanked them for "the transformative gift that they have given this community" and "the service and example that they have set."

"We could not be more excited," he said, "by the impact that this gift will have on our students, who will have the life-changing opportunity to attend Georgetown because of their support."

Preparing exceptional leaders

For Vartorella, the scholarship bequest-the largest commitment for scholarships in Georgetown's history- both honors her past and looks to the future. As the first member of her family to attend college, she understands firsthand the importance of an open door to education for students of all backgrounds.

"Georgetown truly changed my life in such a transformative way," Vartorella says.

And during a time of significant societal churn-with efforts to address environmental threats, fight for racial justice, and strengthen democracy top of mind-Vartorella and her husband see educational access as all the more vital in training the next generation of leaders.

"If we're going to succeed in solving our global problems with sustainable solutions, future leaders have got to be innovators; they've got to be disruptors," Vartorella says. These kinds of leaders, she believes, should be composed of people from diverse cultures, histories, and viewpoints.

"Since Georgetown's founding, we have understood our responsibility to help meet the world's most profound needs," says Vice President for Advancement R. Bartley Moore (SFS'87). "We are exceptionally grateful to Georganne and Rich for their visionary investment.

"Giving to scholarships is the single most direct way to help Georgetown continue as the institution it is called to be."

Seeing the whole view

Vartorella and Statesir perceive the thriving grants-which will provide financial support for co-curricular experiences such as study abroad and service projects-as an essential complement to the scholarship component of their gift.

"Leaders today need to have central vision and peripheral vision," Vartorella says. "You need to see the whole view of the challenges facing the planet. And I believe thriving grants provide that peripheral vision."

Vartorella notes that most students at Georgetown have a central vision-an idea of what they want to be and do-which is nurtured by the university's curriculum, faculty, and commitment to cura personalis, or care of the whole person.

"I grew up in a blue-collar working class family, and I had that central vision, that drive, and ambition," she says. "But I had absolutely no peripheral vision. I didn't know the basics of how things work-how you network, how you interconnect, how you entertain multiple points of view.

"I think this generation of students has to be ready out of the gate," she emphasizes. "Without programs like thriving grants, talented students come out of that gate with blinders on.

"But with experiences like study abroad, internships, and research fellowships, they become citizens of the world, with the tools to flourish and create a rich and textured future. And that's what makes the leaders we need."

Celebrating heritage, following one's heart

In addition to their extraordinary bequest for scholarships and thriving grants, Vartorella and Statesir have also created the Frank and Emily Vartorella M.A. in Italian Studies Endowed Fund.

The gift, which will provide merit-based scholarships to master's degree students enrolled in the Department of Italian Studies, is a tribute to Vartorella's parents and a celebration of the family's Italian heritage.

"I recommend that everyone take a course in the department," says Vartorella, who holds dual U.S. and Italian citizenship. "You'll walk away with a deeper appreciation of the rich cultural heritage and patrimony Italians share with the world."

Vartorella draws on her own history and experience in advising current and future students on how to find their own calling. "I would say to them, follow your heart and lead with critical thinking and infinite curiosity.

"This may sound cliché, but I believe that to know what you're called to be, you have to know who you are," she says. "Establishing the scholarship is really what Rich and I are called to be. We do it with gratitude."

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