To accelerate ASU’s mission and raise support for educational priorities, Arizona State University has embarked on a comprehensive, university-wide philanthropic effort.
The “angel” program enables a donor to share not only financial support—but also encouragement, advice, and professional connections. In return, donors get to experience firsthand the impact of their generosity.
“There’s no better feeling,” says “angel” donor Steve Murow (right), who had to drop out of college as a young man. He waited 42 years to earn a degree, and now supports aerospace engineering senior Zackary Wood (left). “Here’s an opportunity to see your money at work and what a difference it is making in one person’s life.”
SAVING THE WORLD ONE STUDENT AT A TIME
It took Steve Murow forty-two years to earn a college degree.
He started college in 1974, an 18-year-old freshman at Northern Illinois University. Murow transferred to the University of Illinois and after his dad’s passing in 1977 he transferred to California State University at Long Beach. “It was a struggle,” Murow remembers. “I just couldn’t continue.” Lacking financial and family support, he dropped out.
The years in between weren’t bad, he says. He married, started a career in engineering contracting and established a construction management business in 2012; and had two boys.
But when his mother asked him on her deathbed to earn a college degree, he promised her he would. On April 23, 2016, Murow earned a bachelor of arts in business management from the University of Redlands in California.
But he didn’t stop there.
Murow set his mind to help as many young people as possible earn a college degree. “It just burns me up that someone can’t go to college because of financial reasons!” says Murow, a voluble storyteller with an easy laugh.
He shares his story often as a volunteer with the Sun Devil Family Association, an ASU Foundation organization that helps ASU parents engage with the university and support students through their college years. Murow’s son David graduated from ASU’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts in 2009.
Murow is one of the SDFA’s “Angel” scholarship donors—supporters who not only provide scholarship funding but who also forge a mentor relationship with the recipient. Donors are part of a support system that includes community-service activities and social events.
Watching his student, Zackary Wood, work his way to an aerospace engineering degree is rewarding, he says.
“Here’s an opportunity to see your money at work and what a difference it makes in one person’s life,” he says. “You can save the world one student at a time!”
ANGELS AMONG US ARTICLE: https://giveto.asu.edu/stories/angels-among-us
SUPPORT A STUDENT THROUGH THE SDFA “ANGEL” PROGRAM BY CONTACTING:
