Support needed for Himes Scholarship
Attention all alumni: The James A. Himes Alumni Scholarship fund needs your support.
Dr. Jim Himes, left, with Dr. Link Welborn, '82, during recent commencement exercises for the Class of 2007.
UF College of Veterinary Medicine alumni created the fund in 1998 to benefit students in need and to honor Himes, whose service to UF began more than 40 years ago and continues today.
“For 15 of those years, Dr. Himes served as associate dean for students and instruction,” said Link Welborn, '82, who helped conceive of and develop the scholarship when it was first formed. “His unselfish and caring nature has touched the lives of thousands of students, families and colleagues. This $1,000 scholarship is awarded to a veterinary student with financial need and who has demonstrated what we call ‘the Himes attitude.'”
In its first years, more than $47,000 was raised to support the scholarship, but the current balance -- about $63,000 -- hasn't changed significantly in the past five years.
“A few alumni have continued to donate regularly, such that we have been able to award a $1,000 scholarship to a senior veterinary student every year since 2000,” Welborn said. “However with more than 88 percent of veterinary students having educational debt, and with those in debt owing more than $88,000 on average, the need for scholarships has never been greater.”
Since the scholarship's inception, the goal has been to raise $100,000, whereupon matching funds of $50,000 will be requested. The scholarship would then be sufficient to provide approximately $6,000 per year in scholarships indefinitely.
“As professor and associate dean emeritus, Dr. Himes continues to go to his office at the college almost every weekday,” Welborn said. “At 87 years young, he remains dedicated to helping veterinary and pre-veterinary students in every way that he can. I'm asking everyone, especially college alumni, to consider giving generously, as many have done already, with the goal of reaching the $100,000 mark for state matching funds before the end of the year.”
Added Zoe Seale, the college's senior director of development and alumni affairs, “We only need 37 people to step up and make a gift or a pledge of $1,000 each.”
