Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar Alan Taylor has announced that he will give a the majority of funds from his 2002 UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement to the Roland Marchand Memorial Fund.
Of the $30,000 prize, the history professor says he will contribute $20,000 to the memorial fund, which provides support to graduate students.
A scholar of early American history, Taylor will officially announce his gift at the Teaching Prize Gala - to be held 6:30-9 p.m. June 11 in Freeborn Hall - where he also is slated to receive the $30,000 prize. More than 230 members of the campus community are expected to attend.
Roland Marchand taught 20th century U.S. history at UC Davis for 33 years. Following his death in November 1997, former students, colleagues, friends and family established the Roland Marchand Memorial Fund to keep alive his legacy of outstanding teaching and scholarly efforts.
The fund, a permanent endowment at UC Davis, supports graduate students studying American history.
During his career at UC Davis, Marchand also was honored for his teaching. He earned the Academic Senate's Distinguished Teaching Award and was a national finalist for the American Historical Association's Mentorship Award, which honors outstanding graduate training.
"Roland Marchand was the most dedicated and accomplished teacher, in a department of committed scholar-teachers, that I have ever met," Taylor said.
"He set a tone that inspired the rest of the history department, and he set a standard that I hope someday to approach. So to honor Roland and help our graduate program, I decided to donate most of the prize to a fund founded by Betsy Marchand and their daughters."
In appreciation, Betsy Marchand has announced that she and her daughters will match Taylor's gift to help ensure the fund's growth, so that it can be used to support a greater number of graduate students.
"My daughters and I are very touched by Alan Taylor's gift to Roland's fund and want to acknowledge how much it means to our family by matching his donation," Marchand said.
"Roland greatly admired Alan and often told me he was one of the best American historians teaching in the United States and that Alan was a master storyteller. Alan shares Roland's passion for teaching students at UC Davis the fascinating story of American history."
Steven M. Sheffrin, dean of the Division of Social Sciences in the College of Letters and Science, says the division is delighted with the generosity of both Alan Taylor and Betsy Marchand.
"Graduate education is a central component of our academic enterprise," Sheffrin said. "Their gifts recognize the importance of graduate education and will, I trust, serve as important models for others interested in higher education."
The teaching prize is funded by the UC Davis Foundation through gifts from the Davis Chancellor's Club Fellows.
"We hope that others who care about graduate and undergraduate education in history - and who have been touched by the humanity and service of Roland and Betsy Marchand - will also contribute to this fund," Taylor said.
Taylor has issued a challenge to all friends, colleagues, and former students of Roland Marchand to contribute to the fund, and a mail appeal has been launched.
For more information about the Roland Marchand Memorial Fund, call (530) 752-3429.