As a follow-up to a previous blog, I thought I should let the community know of two more substantial gifts in cultural philanthropy.

FITCHBURG College annouced the following:  $1.5m for endowed chair at Fitchburg State College (MA) to establish an endowed chair in Italian studies and Western civilization. The gift, the schools' largest, came from Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio, class of 1938. The chair will be the college's first in that subject, and the gift will pay for the salary, research, publications, and travel the teaching post requires. Gallucci-Cirio donated $1 million to the college in 2002, which was previously the largest donation.

The second endowment was established at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, in the form of the Esposito Visiting Faculty Fellowship, the result of the generosity of its former Provost, Louis Esposito.  This program is intended to celebrate Italian-American culture, history, social relations.  The purpose of the fellowship is "to support visiting faculty members who will make presentations and lead discussions in undergraduate courses that include either the study of the Italian-American experience or Italian history and culture.  In addition the visiting faculty fellow will present a public lecture on the social, cultural, psychological, historical, or esthetic dimensions of the Italian-American experience or on Italian-American achievements in the arts, literature, science, and industry. "

What is singificant, here, is that these are two state institutions, where many Italian Americans still attend college.

Hats off to Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio and Louis Esposito!