The Chronicle of Higher Education-The country is in good financial health, and college alumni are feeling generous. Giving to private colleges was up 11.8 percent in fiscal year 1996, the largest increase in over a decade. Oberlin was among the schools that benefited from this increase.
A focus on major gifts has helped to boost college donations. "It's a matter of paying close attention to that group of people who can make an extraordinary difference," said Young P. Dawkins, vice president for development and alumni affairs. Oberlin cultivates donors by keeping them informed of the College's greatest needs and encouraging them to give to those areas.
Fiscal year 1997, which ended June 30, has seen more than $17 million in donations pour into Oberlin, nearing the record $18 million given in 1987.
American Scientist-Oberlin is among the top 15 American colleges and universities producing the largest number of Sigma Xi inductees. Last year, 46 Oberlin students were inducted into the scientific honor society.
Sunday Republican (Waterbury, Conn.)-Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and one-time Oberlin student Thornton Wilder will be honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a 32-cent commemorative stamp marking the centennial of his birth. Wilder began his undergraduate education at Oberlin before moving on to Yale.
Indianapolis Star-The cost of a college education is high-and so is the anxiety about getting a job after graduation. At Oberlin, that anxiety is relieved somewhat with aid from the Office of Career Services, fellow students, helpful alumni, and parents.
Each year, teams of Oberlin students cold-call thousands of alumni and parents to solicit internship opportunities. Those leads are then shared with a consortium of liberal arts colleges to provide a database of potential jobs for students to consult. With some effort, graduating Obies are thus one step closer to employment. Maybe in a few years they will take the next step in the internship circle, recommending a job for the database-and hiring a fellow Obie.
Newhouse News Service-Oberlin residents Harold and Martha Gibson have lived under the same roof with 175 college students. Not all at the same time, of course-the Gibsons have been renting rooms to students for the past 37 years.
"It's always been a part of the family arrangement," said Harold Gibson. "We provide a home away from home, so to speak."
The Gibson's 10-bedroom house truly has been a home to students looking for an alternative to dorm living. Some of those boarders have become lifelong friends to the Gibsons and, like family members, they have celebrated special moments with the couple-the Gibsons have hosted two wedding receptions for their former tenants.
Registered Representative (Irvine, Calif.)-Eric Nilson, a former economics major at Oberlin, is making money on cruise ships. A broker for Prudential Securities in Cleveland, he has been giving cruise-ship lectures on investing for the past six years. Nilson has found the seminars to be "remarkably productive."
Nilson's abilities as a public speaker and lecturer were honed at Oberlin. While still a student, he was asked to teach a course on the options market that was attended by faculty and townspeople. His four semesters of teaching earned him not only a lot of local press, but also the realization that he could convey complex issues to people in an understandable way.
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