Why an Endowment?

While we were meeting in his Morrill Hall office in December 1982, Dr. Sam Baskett told me that he hated to fail a graduate student unless he absolutely had to do so. In my case, he explained, he did not feel that he absolutely had to do so.

Dr. Baskett's message was clear. I was on the verge of failing out of my doctoral program. Essentially, I was on Academic Probation.

Three months later, I stopped drinking.

On behalf of the Michigan State University English department, in 1983 Dr. Baskett awarded me an assistantship. Academically, I was no longer the same student with whom he had met with less than a year earlier.

I am aware that some would argue that assistantships and other forms of financial aid are better spent only on those whom have never experienced a personal setback; that it is a mistake to take a risk on a student like me.

In December 1983, I finished teaching my first college composition class. Just three years later, in 1986, I was awarded the most prestigious honor Michigan State University gave to graduate teaching assistants.

In 1987, I published my first book. And in 1989, I completed my dissertation on AA, Spiritual Issues, and the Treatment of Lesbian and Gay Alcoholics.

I am currently a tenured faculty member at Schoolcraft College with a joint appointment in the departments of English and History; a tenured faculty member who had almost failed out of graduate school.

I am grateful that Dr. Baskett and the Michigan State University English Department believed, as I do, that students who have had serious setbacks can reach their potential with appropriate encouragement and mentoring.

The Berg Endowment honors

• my family who for years have been strong supporters of education.

• Dr. Cathy N. Davidson, Dr. Mary Lee Schneider, Dr. George Landon, and others who guided my own academic career and helped me re-establish myself as a scholar and provided the initial guidance in my path to a professorship.

• the talented students who are able to overcome obstacles to pursue their education.

• those who referred to themselves as the Back Porch Group.