Jean'ne Shreeve ‘53 is an internationally known chemist and educator and she has mentored hundreds of students during her four-decade career at the University of Idaho. An endowment in her name would surely be an inspiration to UM students, but has she ever thought of doing something in her own name?
“The answer is ‘no’ because it seems more appropriate for me to recognize others, the people who were really helpful to me and meant a lot to me,” she said.
Shreeve, a UM Foundation trustee, made her earlier gifts to memorialize her mother Maryfrances, a master teacher whose “classroom was always a joy to be in;” librarian Lucile Speer who hired Shreeve in her student days “for 45 cents an hour” and became her friend, and her chemistry Professor Lee Yates about whom she says “there wasn't anything he wouldn’t do for the students.
With her campaign gift, Shreeve has established an annuity that honors her brother, William ‘54, a longtime professor and administrator at Eastern Washington University through the William C. Shreeve Education Administration Scholarship. She said, “Bill feels it is important to train good administrators who will work in the public schools. I agree, and that’s why I’m doing this for Bill.”
Her gift also adds to the Maryfrances Shreeve Teaching Excellence Award and creates the J.B. Speer (Lucile’s brother) Administrative Service Award. “All these people were important to me, but their association with the University is also important,” she said. “It’s appropriate to have those we honor recognized where they were valued.”