{"id":1041,"date":"2018-03-21T14:21:41","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T14:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2018-03-21T14:21:41","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T14:21:41","slug":"donor-inspired-by-professor-lifelong-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=1041","title":{"rendered":"Donor inspired by professor, lifelong friend"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Madeleine
Madeleine Smith (below) stayed connected to SIU by sending postcards during her travels abroad.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

By Jeff Wilson<\/em><\/p>\n

Tom Catania\u2019s continued support of SIU is largely derived from the inspiration he received from one influential professor, Madeleine Smith.<\/p>\n

Catania, a 1967 graduate, set up the Madeleine Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund to honor the woman who guided him as a student and befriended him afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was like no other person I\u2019ve known. She had a brilliant mind,\u201d he said. \u201cShe really inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith came to SIU (then Southern Illinois State Normal University) in 1929. She taught French as part of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. She retired in 1971 but kept in contact with the university by sending postcards during her travels abroad.<\/p>\n

From April 1943 to November 1945, she served as a member of the Signal Corps in the War Department in Washington, D.C. In 1946, she was selected as one of 100 American French instructors to visit France as part of a goodwill visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was working for us, for our government,\u201d Catania said. \u201cThat\u2019s says something about her, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

After receiving his degree in foreign languages and literature, Catania taught high school English and some French in Chicago. He and Smith continued their friendship until she passed away.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a teacher in the truest sense of the word, like Socrates,\u201d Catania said. \u201cShe taught by example. I tried to pass on a little bit of what I got from her. Besides being smart, she was a great person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catania said he hopes his gift will honor Smith\u2019s legacy and ensure that students have opportunities available to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s important to give young people an opportunity to find a school that gives them an education and the tools they need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The goal of the Forever SIU fundraising campaign is to increase student scholarships and opportunities. To learn how you can help, visit\u00a0www.foreversiu.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Engage with us on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jeff Wilson Tom Catania\u2019s continued support of SIU is largely derived from the inspiration he received from one influential professor, Madeleine Smith. Catania, a 1967 graduate, set up the Madeleine Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund to honor the woman who guided him as a student and befriended him afterward. \u201cShe was like no other person … Continue reading Donor inspired by professor, lifelong friend<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3,4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donor-stories","category-higher-education","category-illinois-higher-education","category-siu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1044,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions\/1044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}