Helen Zell, Chicago philanthropist and alumnus from the University of Michigan, made a donation of fifty million dollars explicitly for the university’s Creative Writing Program, which U-M has now renamed the Helen Zell Writers’ Program. The intention is to permanently fund the writing program, sustain its growth, and provide full financial support to its students. The program already fully funds twenty-two students with tuition waivers, competitive stipends, and health insurance for two years of study—students may also receive what is referred to as a third year “Zellowship” to continue their work. The largesse from Zell now totals more than sixty million, including a ten million dollar gift in 2004 and endowments for professorships beginning in 2001.

“This is both a transformative and enduring gift,” said novelist Nicholas Delbanco, one of the first directors of the program and its current Robert Frost Distinguished University Professor of English Language and Literature, “[it’s] an act of great faith in and generosity towards those young artists who embrace the work of words.”

Zell has requested, pending further approval, that the Helen Herzog Zell Professor position, a visiting faculty position endowed by her in 2001, be renamed the Nicholas Delbanco Visiting Professorship.

Source: The Record Update

http://ur.umich.edu/1213/Mar11_13/4403-alumna-zell-donates