In continued support of a longstanding effort to provide resources for graduates seeking to further their education at Morgan State University (MSU), the Goldseker Foundation has awarded the University a $205,000 grant. The grant will be applied to the Goldseker Fellows Program at MSU and will be used to provide funding for full-time and part-time graduate students enrolling in the University’s School of Graduate Studies. To date, more than 2,000 graduate students have received financial assistance from the Foundation since the launch of the fellowship program at Morgan in 1976. The Goldseker Fellows Program is Morgan’s largest privately sponsored grant program for graduate students.
“The long-term partnership between the Goldseker Foundation and Morgan continues to provide much-needed assistance to talented graduate students who may not have been able to pursue their studies otherwise,” said Morgan President David Wilson. “We are grateful for the Foundation’s support in providing necessary resources for Morgan’s School of Graduate Studies to recruit, retain and graduate professionals, including researchers, community leaders and business innovators. These graduates will enrich the communities in which they will serve.”
“The Goldseker Foundation greatly values its long-term relationship with Morgan State University and is very proud to have provided support to thousands of its graduate students over the past 40 years. The foundation’s scholarship support to Morgan exemplifies the wishes of Morris Goldseker in his will to ‘give aid and encouragement to worthy individuals to continue their education…’” said Sheldon Goldseker, chairman of the Goldseker Foundation board.
Goldseker Fellows have gone on to become leaders in their community in fields such as education, business, medicine, research and technology and urban planning. The Goldseker Fellowship Program provides a wide variety of talented students from the area with the opportunity to tap their highest potential by pursuing masters or doctoral studies in their selected fields.
Over the past four decades, the tuition grants awarded to Goldseker Fellowship recipients have made the difference between their being able to receive a graduate education and having to postpone it or pursue it over a prolonged period of time due to financial constraints. The initial grant awarded to Morgan from the Goldseker Foundation was approximately $28,000. Today, grant awards from the Foundation total more than $5,000,000.
Each year, the Foundation authorizes a one-year grant to Morgan to support graduate studies. A small percentage of each year’s grant award may be used at the discretion of the University president for activities designed to enhance the University’s relationships and visibility in the community.
The Goldseker Foundation was created through the generosity and foresight of real estate businessman and philanthropist Morris Goldseker (1898–1973). Mr. Goldseker directed in his will that the Foundation be formed to support programs that directly benefit the people of the metropolitan area of Baltimore. Since an initial bequest of $11 million from the estate of Mr. Goldseker in 1975, the Foundation has granted more than $93 million to more than 570 nonprofit organizations and projects in the Baltimore metropolitan area.
On March 31, Morgan hosts its Spring 2016 Graduate and Professional School Fair on campus at the Hill Field House. The fair presents an opportunity for prospective graduate school students to meet with university representatives and learn more about enrolling in the School of Graduate Studies. For more information, those interested may contact the School of Graduate Studies at 443-885-3185.
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified Doctoral Research Institution offering more than 70 academic programs leading to bachelor’s degrees as well as programs at the master’s and doctoral levels. As Maryland’s Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. More information about the university is available at www.morgan.edu