Campaign Update
Alumnus Makes $80,000 Gift to Start Educational Endowment Fund
Advertising executive Tom Dynjan and his wife, Helen, have made an $80,000 gift to establish the Tom F. and Helen Dynjan Endowment Fund, which will support Fresno State’s Central Valley Educational Leadership Institute (CVELI). The fund will pay for staff development in school districts that lack funding for such activities.
CVELI was established at the university in 2004 to strengthen schools and build on the educational successes of students by providing professional support to school administrators and principals in the Central Valley. From Modesto to Bakersfield, CVELI provides conferences, training, coaching and consulting to 150 participating school districts.
Dynjan, founder of Dynjan &, an advertising and communications agency in Phoenix, said he and his wife decided to make the gift after hearing a presentation by CVELI director Walt Buster.
“I was very impressed with what they were doing,” said Dynjan, who received a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1971 and an MBA in 1972 from Fresno State. “It would have been easy to just do a scholarship at the Craig School of Business, but we wanted to give back to the community. Education is key to getting kids to prosper in our society.”
He called the gift “really selfish on our part. Helen and I get a lot more pleasure out of giving than receiving.”
“The Dynjan' s gift to CVELI will allow us to directly support the leaders of our valley school districts as they seek to provide children with increased opportunities for success,” added Buster. “Leadership matters and providing district leaders with research on best practices – as well as having them meet and share ideas – will lead to school reform.”
Alumni create scholarship fund
Alumni Herb and Melinda Depp have donated $150,000 to California State University, Fresno to establish the Herb and Melinda Depp Endowed Scholarship Fund. The Depps’ gift was maximized through a matching amount of $150,000 donated to the fund by Herb Depp’s employer, General Electric, where he is vice president of Boeing Programs. Scholarships will target low-income students with a minimum 2.5 grade point average, covering full educational costs for up to five years.
The $300,000 endowment will support two scholarships: the Herb Depp Science-Math Scholarship and the Melinda Depp Education Scholarship. Herb Depp graduated from Fresno State in 1966 with a geology degree. Melinda, a retired teacher, earned her education degree at the university in 1967. The couple share residences in Kirkland, Wash., and Hamilton, Mont.
Herb Depp said he decided to make the gift after speaking with Fresno State President John Welty. “He brings you into everything. He makes you a part of things. He tells you what his vision is and it’s pretty obvious that to get there you need financing,” he said. “You need funds and you need people power and we wanted to be a part of that.”
Herb Depp added that he set a lower GPA requirement for the scholarships because “we want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to go to college who should go to college. We want to be able to make a difference, to identify two kids each year who are on the cusp of going to college but are financially unable.”
With his employer’s matching gift, the impact of the Depp scholarships is deepened.
“Matching gifts are an effective way for businesses to support important programs at Fresno State,” said Leticia Reyna Cano, director of donor and volunteer relations. “It’s a significant source of revenue for the university, and it’s a great way for individual donors to maximize their contributions.”