New Gamble Endowment will support College of Education

University Park, Pa. -- Penn State alumni Glenn and Nancy Gamble of State College have created a new endowment to support promising initiatives in teaching, research, and service in Penn State's College of Education. The couple established the Glenn and Nancy Gamble Leadership Fund in Education with a $100,000 commitment as part of their estate plans.

"Endowments of this kind are highly desirable because it gives the dean flexibility to allocate funds toward cutting-edge initiatives in a given year," David Monk, dean of the college. "A fund like this can many times make or break the realization of a dean's vision for the direction of the college."

Monk noted, for example, that he has used similar funds for research initiation grants to help newly hired faculty members get their research up and running, which in turn provides visibility for attracting additional grants.

The Gamble Leadership Fund is the third endowment the Gambles have created in the college. Previously, they established a scholarship for graduate students and the Franklin and Emma Gamble/Mac and Mabel Saylor Scholarship in Education, named in memory of their parents, for undergraduates.

The Gambles also are active volunteers in support of the College of Education. They are members of the dean's development council, which helps guide the college's fund-raising efforts, and have served on the college's alumni society board of directors. Glenn was first president of the board. The couple are advocates for the Arts-In-Education initiative, a collaborative effort between the Colleges of Education and Arts and Architecture focusing on the transformative power of the arts in the learning process.

The Gambles' philanthropy and interests extend to many areas at Penn State. They also have established funds for the College of Arts and Architecture's Center for the Performing Arts, and for the College of Health and Human Development.

Glenn earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural education in 1951 and later a master's degree in that field and a doctorate in counselor education, all from Penn State. He was director of university career services and assistant professor of education at Rutgers University from 1961 until his retirement in 1990. Prior to his service at Rutgers, he was director of guidance and a faculty member at the University of Florida, and director of career services and a student counselor at Wittenberg University in Ohio.

Nancy earned a bachelor's degree in home economics in 1952 and later a master's degree in child development and family relations from Penn State, and an education specialist degree from Rutgers University. She served for 28 years in elementary and special education, retiring in 1989 as elementary principal from Mendham Township school district in New Jersey.