Endowed Possibility Scholarship Pays Tribute to President Stanley

An alumna and her husband, who wish to remain anonymous, donated $250,000 to establish the endowed Deborah F. Stanley Possibility Scholarship.

The scholarship will be awarded to a student from New York State who is pursuing a degree in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) field. The scholarship provides support for tuition, room and board, as well as hands-on research through the Summer Research program and international service learning through the Global Laboratory.

The first Deborah F. Stanley Possibility Scholarship will be awarded to an Oswego student in fall 2022, and as it is endowed, it will be awarded in perpetuity and be a permanent part of President Stanley’s legacy on campus.

Shown in a 2012 photo is Oswego’s original class of Possibility Scholars, from left, Katrina Debaun ’15, Sanjeev Kumar ’15, Aaron Matthews ’16, Sean Willson ’15 and Nicole VanDeuson ’14.

The couple established the scholarship to recognize the dedication and leadership of President Stanley, who retired in December. They said that President Stanley always remained focused on providing as much access to higher education as possible, especially through scholarships. Her work spearheaded the Presidential Scholarship program, the Possibility Scholarship program and the Path Forward Scholarship campaign.

The couple was one of the first major supporters of the Possibility Scholars program when President Stanley launched it in 2009. The couple also acknowledged the remarkable progress the college has made in building its endowment under President Stanley’s leadership. Since she became president, the endowment grew more than 3,000 percent from $1.7 million in 1997 to $60 million today.

To learn more about the program, visit the Possibility Scholars website at oswego.edu/possibility.

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