e-mail this page
Printer Friendly Version

One of University’s first families leaves lasting gift

Sacramento State faculty and students will benefit from the estate of one of the university’s first administrators and his wife.

The $256,000 Stephen and Charlotte Walker Endowment was funded in 2007 and will support the Stephen Walker Faculty Professional Performance Fund and the Stephen and Charlotte Walker Reentry Scholarship.

Stephen Walker was the University’s first chief academic officer and the founding dean of instruction (the position has had several name changes and is now known as the vice president for academic affairs). He continued in that role until 1965. He died in 1997.

Charlotte taught part time at Sacramento State and at Mills College in the San Francisco Bay area. She was active in campus life and was instrumental in having the rose garden in the Main Quad installed. The garden is named for her husband. Charlotte died in 2005.

The gift was announced at the University’s Green and Gold Gala in October. The Walkers, who had no children, established the endowment through a charitable remainder trust in 1991, to take effect after their deaths.  After her death, Sacramento State officials learned that Charlotte left an additional $156,000 to the University through her estate, plus bequests to Mills College and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif. Both were also beneficiaries of the Walker trust.   

Eighty percent of the endowment’s income will go toward the faculty fund, and 20 percent will go toward the reentry scholarship. The faculty fund is used to support faculty enrichment and development programs such as visiting scholars programs, grants for workshops, and academic events. The reentry scholarship program provided scholarships for students who continue pursuing a degree after an interruption.

For more information on the Walker endowment, contact the University Development Office at 278-3725.