Gifts and grants from alumni and the community enable Drury University to strengthen areas that make the university stand out. We are grateful for ALL donors who support Drury in ANY amount!

Below are a few of the many ways donors gave back this year.

The O’Reilly and Wooten families have once again generously stepped forward. Rosalie O’Reilly Wooten ’64, Anya and Larry O’Reilly ’68, and Stacey and David O’Reilly ’71 offered to provide up to $1.5 million total in matching funds to support student success. The O’ReillyWooten Challenge runs until May 31, 2025, and all donations designated to the Student Success Fund will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

As part of Match Madness, donors had the opportunity to designate their gifts to one of several targeted areas within the Student Success Fund:

• Scholarships and Financial Aid
• Student Services
• Faculty and Academic Programs
• Facilities
• Area of Greatest Need

The Schneider Foundation gave $65,000 to Drury’s longstanding camps for gifted students, which the foundation has supported for more than 20 years. Drury’s Summer Quest / Summer Pals, Summerscape / Drury Leadership Academy, Winterscape, and Fallscape programs serve children from pre-kindergarten through high school, and the funding helps provide scholarships and improve programming and staffing.

Musgrave Foundation
Drury University has been awarded a $30,000 grant from the Musgrave Foundation, administered through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO), to support nursing scholarships and advance healthcare education.

This donation will help Drury’s commitment to growing its healthcare education programs, building community partnerships, and preparing students for successful careers in healthcare fields.

Dr. Steve and Tasha Ellis ’87/-
made a stock gift of $15,933 on Valentine’s Day to show some love to Student Success for biology and chemistry. The O’Reilly-Wooten Challenge matched this gift amount, bringing it to $31,866.

Gifts of appreciated stocks, bonds, or other securities allowed donors to make a gift to Drury while maximizing their tax savings by avoiding the tax on long-term capital gains and receiving an income tax deduction for the full fair market value of the securities.

Cox Family Drury University Elementary Education Scholarship
Robert M. and Mary Voges Cox ’67/’66 established a new scholarship to support students in the education program in honor of Roberta Lee Cox, Bob’s mother, and Mildred Virginia Jones, Bob’s aunt.

The Cox Family Scholarship supports a Drury day school student pursuing elementary education, aiming to graduate in four years and demonstrating strong potential as an educator.

Roberta Lee Cox spent her entire career in elementary education teaching in various locations in Southwest Missouri and retired from Springfield Public Schools in Missouri. She was the first Director of Project Head Start in Springfield, Missouri, in the 1960s. Mildred Virginia Jones spent her entire career in education, teaching and as an elementary principal in the Springfield Public Schools in Missouri.

On May 2, Drury University and Central Bank/Central Trust hosted a Women in Leadership event. In partnership with Leadership Springfield, Rosie, and Women Connect4Good, students and attendees enjoyed a panel discussion on insight and strategies for women leaders with Andrea McKinney (Senior VP and Wealth Management Advisor at Central Bank/Central Trust), Tori Reaves Mercado ’21 MComm ’23 (Public Affairs Manager at Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce), Nyla Milleson (VP and Director of Athletics at Drury University), and moderated by Carrie DeLaquil Richardson ’03 MNCL ’20 (Leadership Springfield/Rosie).

This event was inspired by Dr. Nancy Tisdale O’Reilly ’71, founder of Women Connect4Good, and her support of Drury students as they work towards becoming future leaders.

Interested to know how you can make an impact at Drury University?

Call (417) 873-7258 for more information or visit www.drury.edu/fortify