Faculty and staff ensure the future of Rollins through MyEmory
Vicki Hertzberg has supported Rollins since joining the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics in 1995.
Vicki Hertzberg contributes to the future of public health in more ways than one.
The associate professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics devotes her time and talents to teaching students in the classroom. She also supports Rollins through MyEmory, the employee and retiree component of Campaign Emory.
Hertzberg is among the 166 RSPH faculty and staff members whose gifts totaled more than $7.3 million, the second highest level of giving among all schools and units at Emory.
MyEmory extends Hertzberg’s longtime support for Rollins, which she began during her tenure as biostatistics chair from 1995 to 2001. Through MyEmory, she designated her gifts for RSPH Scholarships and the Donna J. Brogan Lecture in Biostatistics, which honors Brogan as professor emerita and former department chair. Faculty, staff, and students established the annual lecture when Brogan retired in 2004.
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Kara Robinson (left) supports students in three different ways through MyEmory. "They create their own sense of community and feel connected through their good work," says Robinson. "It’s a privilege to support them in their career paths." |
"Like many others, I admire Donna greatly for her professional accomplishments and contributions to the RSPH," says Hertzberg. "I wanted to honor her in this way."
The lectureship, which Brogan endowed during Campaign Emory, brings well-known statisticians to Rollins like Roderick Little, a University of Michigan biostatistician who presented "The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials" in April.
"Students have the opportunity to meet in person these impressive scholars whose work they have studied," Hertzberg points out. "That was important to me as a graduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle. That’s why I give."
Supporting students through MyEmory was an easy choice for Kara Robinson, associate dean for admission and student affairs.
"There is no loftier kind of work than what they do," says Robinson, who joined the school in 2001. "They create their own sense of community and feel connected through their good work. It’s a privilege to support them in their career paths."
Once students enroll, they quickly become involved in various organizations and form community connections through the disciplines in which they choose to study and work. "The depth and breadth of research here is impressive," says Robinson. "Students can find their niche here."
Robinson assists them through MyEmory in three ways: RSPH Scholarships, the Dr. Kathleen R. Miner Scholarship Fund for Public Health Excellence, and the Global Elimination of Maternal Mortality Due to Abortion (GEMMA) Fund. RSPH Scholarships make it possible for students to attend Rollins who otherwise could not afford to do so. When fully endowed, the Miner Scholarship, established by alumni whom Miner mentored, will support students who exemplify her dedication to public health education and practice. The GEMMA Fund, created by global health professor Roger Rochat and his wife, Susan, supports student research to prevent maternal deaths caused by abortion.
"Every year, I want to give a little bit more," says Robinson. "We want all students who are able to meet the high standards for admission to be able to afford a Rollins education. Anything we can contribute to that is worthwhile."
Rochat, chair of MyEmory at Rollins, concurs. "The passion, past experience, and intellectual and practical capacity of our students enrich us as faculty and staff and move us to support them the best way we can."—Sally Wolff King 79G 83PhD and Pam Auchmutey
