The College of Fine and Applied Arts is extremely grateful to the generous alumni and friends who care so deeply about the people and programs of our college. They are the pillars that elevate and advance the Arts at Illinois.

For these and all gifts to our college,
we are truly grateful.

Read about these gifts in action:

Doris Vance Harmon (Music '37)
Mrs. Harmon's life-long gratitude for a scholarship she received at Illinois has inspired her to create the Doris Vance Harmon Scholarship Fund (the School of Music's first four year full-ride scholarship) to enable future Illinois students a similar opportunity to fulfill their dreams of service to society through music. (more . . . )

J. Fred Giertz and Donna H. Giertz
The gift of these longtime supporters of Krannert Art Museum will ensure the future of the Giertz Education Center and contribute to other educational and outreach programming. (more . . . )

Anthony Petullo (B.S. Marketing '61)

Tony Petullo has always had a thing for outsiders, those who follow the beat of a different drummer. He always looks beyond the mainstream. After building his company, Olsten of Milwaukee, into a large, privately-held company, he turned his attention to the new genre of outsider and self-taught art, amassing one of the most renowned and respected collections in the art world. Tony's great interest and expertise in art naturally led to his close relationship with the Krannert Art Museum on Illinois' campus. (more . . . )

Robert Kleinschmidt (B.A. Architecture '63)

Robert D. Kleinschmidt is a celebrated Chicago-based architect whose focus is on interior architecture. "The inspiration that I gained from my education and my professors during my day at the University of Illinois has assisted me throughout the past forty three years in my work and interior architecture and our work at Powell Kleinschmidt and assisted me in so so many ways. It's helped me in my career and has helped me to formulate and build on the philosophy towards our practice in interior Architecture in every way." (more . . . )

The Doris Vance Harmon Scholarship Fund

A 1937 graduate of the School of Music, Mrs. Doris Vance Harmon of Sterling, Virginia majored in piano and minored in organ. Shortly after receiving her degree, she married a graduate of the U. of I. College of Law, Reginald Harmon, who later became the first Judge-Advocate General of the U.S. Air Force and with whom she went on to see the world. Wherever they lived and traveled, she employed her musical talent and skills to communicate, entertain and inspire.

An outstanding gift from Mrs. Harmon has allowed the School of Music to establish its first four year full-ride scholarship. The new Doris Vance Harmon Scholarship Fund will provide a talented incoming freshman resident of Illinois with an all expenses paid ride—including tuition, room and board, fees, and expenses for four full years, beginning in August 2007. For nearly 70 years, Mrs. Harmon performed regularly as a soloist, accompanist, member of chamber music groups and as a church organist. She recalls the quality of her professors and of the internationally renowned performers she was privileged to hear as a student—opportunities that she would not have received except for a four-year scholarship awarded to her at the height of the Depression.

Mrs. Harmon feels strongly that her full and varied life was constantly enriched by a music education made possible by the scholarship she received. Her life-long gratitude for this gift has inspired her to create the Doris Vance Harmon Scholarship Fund to enable future Illinois students a similar opportunity to fulfill their dreams of service to society through music. Keith Pitner of Algonquin, Illinois, has been selected as the first recipient of the Doris Vance Harmon Scholarship. He plans to study with the distinguished trombonist, composer and UI professor James Pugh, while working towards a degree in instrumental music education and jazz studies. Keith, whose primary instrument is jazz trombone, recently graduated in the top 1% of his class from Dundee Crown High School in Algonquin, where he maintained a 3.96 GPA and was inducted into the Dundee Crown Scholars, the highest academic recognition for graduating seniors of Dundee High School.

Dr. Karl Kramer, director of the School of Music, expressed his gratitude for the thoughtfulness and generosity of Mrs. Harmon and her daughter Susan Harmon-Meyer, who worked diligently with her mother to establish the new scholarship fund. “The School of Music is deeply thankful for the vision of Doris Vance Harmon as she endows the first ever complete scholarship for a music student. Mrs. Vance Harmon’s generosity ensures that the University of Illinois School of Music will continue to educate the best musicians for generations to come,” said Kramer.

The Giertz Education Center at Kranner Art Museum

With a recent gift, J. Fred Giertz and Donna H. Giertz, longtime supporters of Krannert Art Museum, have pledged a total of $1,000,000 to support the museum. Mr. and Mrs. Giertz are doubling a previous commitment, made in 2001, to develop Krannert Art Museum's education center as well as contribute to other educational and outreach programming.

“Krannert is such an outstanding museum. I marvel at its collection and the Education Center is top notch. In all of our visits to university museums we have encountered none that can even begin to compare to Krannert Art Museum's,” comments Donna Giertz.

J. Fred Giertz is a professor and head of the Department of Economics and a member of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois. His wife, Donna, is a member of the Parkland College Board of Trustees and a former marketing and management professor at Parkland College, as well as a longtime volunteer at Krannert Art Museum. The Fred and Donna Giertz Education Center circulates educational materials to schools, libraries, and other community sites. It is dedicated to the integration of art appreciation and art history into instruction of humanities and science at all levels, from pre-school through college.

Museum Director Kathleen Harleman notes, "Donna and Fred are passionate supporters of education and the visual arts. They understand and promote the dynamic, vital relationship between an academic campus and a richly evolving community. We are grateful to them for their leadership in the museum's ambitious capital campaign." Robert Graves states, "As Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts, I am very pleased to extend my appreciation to Fred and Donna for their tremendous gift to Krannert Art Museum. Their generous commitment will secure permanent funding of the Museum's Giertz Education Center and will ensure that the Arts at Illinois will continue to play a critical role as a resource to our community, the engagement of young children, and the instruction of college-age students."

Anthony Petullo: Bringing Outsider Art into the University

Tony Petullo has always had a thing for outsiders, those who follow the beat of a different drummer. He always looks beyond the mainstream: After building his company, Olsten of Milwaukee, into a large, privately-held company, he turned his attention to the new genre of outsider and self-taught art, amassing one of the most renowned and respected collections in the art world.

Tony's great interest and expertise in art naturally led to his close relationship with the Krannert Art Museum on Illinois' campus. He quickly became an advocate for the Musuem, and he generously loaned pieces of his art to be included in the Museum's fall 2004 exhibition of folk and outsider art which featured works of Bill Traylor and William Edmunson.

Due to Tony's education and professional background in marketing and advertising, he creatively saw opportunities for his talent and resources to be benefit the arts at Illinois. In 2007 he made a generous gift to the School of Art and Design that established the Anthony J.Petullo Endowment in Design and Advertising.

Robert Kleinschmidt: An Architect Collects

Robert D. Kleinschmidt is a celebrated Chicago-based architect whose focus is on interior architecture. Through the years, as Bob developed and grew his business, he acquired much of the art work that influenced his practice. Throughout his schooling and career, Kleinschmidt has explored the integration of landscape and architecture, space, light, minimalism, and cutting-edge modernism. All of these ideas are represented in his impressive collection of modern and contemporary art.

"The inspiration that I gained from my education and my professors during my day at the University of Illinois has assisted me throughout the past forty three years in my work and interior architecture and our work at Powell Kleinschmidt and assisted me in so so many ways. It's helped me in my career and has helped me to formulate and build on the philosophy towards our practice in interior Architecture in every way."

Bob Kleinschmidt's art collection was placed on exhibit at Krannert Art Museum in the spring of 2007, and a private reception was held during which Chancellor Richard Herman announced Bob's generous gifts to two units within the arts at Illinois. Bob established a deferred gift of $1 million to maintain the general collection at Krannert Art Museum and to maintain his own collection, which he has bequested to the Museum as well. In addition, Bob wanted to provide for the education of future architects in his profession by establishing Robert D. Kleinschmidt Professorship in Interior Architecture.

As Bob welcomed an audience of his friends, family many distinguished guests to the opening of the exhibition, he expressed what the University has meant to him, and his hope for the future.

"It is my sincere wish that this exhibition will encourage other graduates to consider giving back."

What happens when you give someone a chance?