Developments
Grants aimed at supporting student mental health, campus safety
Knowing that many of their fellow classmates were struggling with their mental health led Colin Walters ’25 and Jaden Koren ’23 to pursue training to become Certified Peer Educators (CPE) and begin planning a support center on campus.
Thanks to a recent grant from the Sisters Health Foundation, a new Peer Counseling Center will be opened on campus by Spring Break. The $20,000 grant will also fund Marietta Mindset activities for the spring semester.
“The Peer Counseling Center is a place for students to socialize, de-stress, and share their struggles and successes with trained CPE students who are there to support their fellow Pioneers however necessary,” Walters says. “The Peer Counseling Center’s goal is to provide support and encouragement to students who may be struggling with personal success, mental health/fitness, and academic goals.”
Suzy Zumwalde, a clinical mental health counselor and advisor to the Marietta Mindset group, says five students have worked to plan the new center, which will be located in Andrews Hall in the Riggs Boardroom.
“The grant will help cover our startup costs for the new peer counseling center,” Zumwalde says. “This would have been very difficult for us to do without (the Sisters Health Foundation’s) generosity, and we are very grateful for this funding.”
Koren says, statistically, students are more likely to reach out to a peer before seeking out a professional.
“The full details of training for this position are still in progress, but some things it will include are taking the Certified Peer Educator course offered by Suzy Zumwalde and completing QPR suicide training,” Koren says. “We want to make sure that all workers are qualified to support students as best as they can.”
Chantal Centofanti-Fields, Grants and Foundation Officer at Marietta, says the funding comes through the Sisters’ Responsive Grant Program. The award came at the end of 2022, along with another grant from the Office of Criminal Justice Services through the Violence Prevention Program. That American Rescue Act grant provides $193,395 from the federal government to support officer retention and the hiring of a new full-time officer for 24 months.
“They found that a lot of police departments across the country are losing staff because officers and dispatchers had so much additional work put on them during the worst parts of the pandemic that they were either switching jobs or quitting altogether,” Centofanti-Fields says. “Part of what we’re trying to do with this funding is provide incentives for officers to stay on the job. … The other part is hiring an additional officer to get us back to pre-pandemic staffing in our Police Department.”
Marietta College Police Chief Jim Weaver says the grant will impact students and campus in multiple ways — from having campus have more officers to respond to need, keeping officers at Marietta so they have time to build relationships with students and employees, and boosting morale and staving off burnout that arose due to the pandemic.
“We have a unique style at Marietta, and our mentality is ‘Everything we do is community policing’ — which can involve unlocking a door, changing a tire, providing an escort to a student in need, responding to a crisis, and just being there for a student or an employee,” Weaver says. “Our mentality is not a punitive one. Obviously, that is part of our job, and an important part, but we’re more interested in building a positive relationship at the front end, so if there is ever something punitive, it can go much smoother.”
Weaver’s department takes a sophisticated approach to community enforcement and care.
“We try to make everything an educational process,” Weaver says. “It’s not, ‘You’ve done something wrong and now you need punished.’ It’s ‘Here’s what you did, here’s why it’s wrong, and here’s some other options that you can do otherwise.’ Everything is a teachable moment.”
Enduring support
Alumni make major impact through planned giving
A group of alumni made the decision to support future Marietta College students that they would never have the opportunity to meet.
Carl W. Miller ’60, William Thiessen ’61, Helen Howell ’54, Phil Nast ’49 and William Wirant ’61 were each impacted by their time at Marietta, and each of them made sure to remember the College in their estate plans.
“Providing for Marietta College in your estate plans often allows you to make an even greater impact on our students than through gifts during your lifetime alone,” says Bethany McFarland Leslie ’12, Director of Major Gifts. “Planned giving doesn’t have to be complicated — there are many ways to include the College in your plans, both now and for the future.”
Miller, who passed away in September 2022, provided a planned gift that has already made a difference in the student experience. Part of his gift improved the entrance to the Rickey Science Center, adding an outdoor seating area and beautifying the patio space. Miller’s time at Marietta was so meaningful that he made arrangements to have his ashes spread on campus.
Thiessen’s gift established the William Thiessen Jr. ’61 Memorial Scholarship Fund, which supports an upperclass student who demonstrates a financial need and maintains a 3.0 or better GPA. Thiessen attended Marietta after graduating from the University of Connecticut. His time at Marietta focused on studying physics, varsity rowing, and being an active member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He was employed by Corning, Westinghouse, Norden Systems, and PerkinElmer, working on government contracts in the development of radars for NASA rockets. He later became a physicist in the new field of blood plasma paneling.
Howell studied German at Marietta and was a member of the Chi Omega sorority. Her mother, the late Blanch Hoff Dolan, was a 1917 Phi Beta Kappa graduate, and she grew up visiting Marietta to watch Commencement ceremonies. In an interview before her passing in January 2022, she recalled her early years as an MC student.
“Bay Irvine was president when I attended Marietta,” Howell says. “He had an open house and, of course, Mother knew him. He asked where I was staying and I told him Fayerweather Hall. He asked what room and I told him I was on the third floor on the left-hand corner. He said, ‘That was my room. I expect great things from you.’ ”
Howell included Marietta in her estate plans by establishing two charitable gift annuities that support student aid and the general endowment. She also made the College a beneficiary to her retirement account and partially to her residual estate.
Nast initially served in the U.S. Army and served during World War II, seeing combat in the South Pacific and being wounded on Corregidor Island in the Philippines. He was medically discharged and enrolled at Marietta, graduating Cum Laude with a B.A. in Business and Economics. His brother, William, also graduated that year, and one of his sons, Phil, is a 1979 graduate. Phil Sr. passed away in 2021, and his estate plans established the Nast Family Scholarship.
Wirant, who was a member of the baseball team and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, remained in contact with his alma mater, and served as the McDonough Visiting Executive in 2009. After his death in September 2020, his estate created the William and Vannete Wirant Endowed Scholarship, which supports a full-time incoming first-year student who demonstrates financial need and is pursuing an academic program within the Leadership Program.
“Although we mourn the recent loss of these five great Pioneers, it is incredible to witness their forward-thinking generosity being realized by the College today,” Leslie says. “With more than $5 million in additional support for student aid and scholarships through their estate gifts, these individuals have made a significant and lasting impact on current and future Pioneers. We are forever grateful for their generous spirits and are honored to continue to remember and celebrate their lives through these special gifts to Marietta.”
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