After dedicating their lives to education, Rutgers–Camden alumni Charles Ivory and Angela Napoliello-Ivory have made a generous planned gift to ensure that future generations at their alma mater will have access to academic excellence.
Even though no one on either side of Charles Ivory’s parents’ family had attended college, it always was his parents’ plan for him. “We grew up in our home, myself and my two sisters, expecting that's what we were supposed to do,” says Charles CCAS’69. “That's what our parents raised us believing.”
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history at Rutgers University‒Camden and became a teacher. From there, he went to earn a master’s and a doctorate in education from Temple University, embarking on a career path that included roles as middle school teacher, elementary school principal, and superintendent of schools.
The experience of Angela Napoliello-Ivory CCAS’70 differed. College was not in the family planning. But it was in Angela’s plan, so she attended Rutgers–Camden (where she and Charles met although they didn’t start dating until ten years later) and earned a degree in psychology. “It wasn't expected that I would go to college,” she says. “I wanted greater career opportunities.”
From Rutgers–Camden, Angela’s career included positions as a consultant instructing teachers how to teach math, a welfare case worker, a high school math and psychology teacher, and a math professor. Mid-career, she earned her master’s degree in math education from Rowan University.
First-Generation Alumni Give Back
After moving from Woolwich Township, New Jersey, to Mount Vernon, Washington, three years ago to be close to their daughter and son-in-law, the retired couple who grew up in Camden County revisited their estate plans and began to consider their legacy. They were both first-generation college graduates who had devoted their lives to education. At this point in their lives, they had only one child, and certainly most of their estate would go to her. But what else might they want to do?
Among various options, the one that stood out was giving back to Rutgers‒Camden, where they have many positive memories and experiences. “It was harder to decide what to do with the donation as opposed to whether we should do it,” Charles says.
Ultimately, they chose to support two funds at Rutgers‒Camden by including a planned gift of $100,000 in their wills. Their gift will be split between the Rutgers–Camden Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship and the Dean’s Discretionary Fund in the Camden College of Arts and Sciences.
“So many students are first-generation college students, and to enable them to pursue their degrees is important to us,” Charles says. “We contribute every year to the chancellor's discretionary fund because the chancellor over the years has been able to help students who are in financial straits and might have to leave school. And our contribution to the Dean’s Discretionary Fund will give the College of Arts and Sciences flexibility to make some decisions about how best to use what funding we're providing.”
Beyond the legacy they will leave for future generations, Angela and Charles also want to show gratitude for state scholarships they received which paid for their tuition—funding which changed the direction of their lives. “Post-secondary education for me was a steppingstone to a different life than I had seen with my parents,” Angela says. “They were accomplished in their fields but I wanted more, I wanted opportunities that I didn't see available to my parents. If we hadn't had good experiences in undergraduate schooling, and if they hadn't given us so much opportunity in the fields we chose to work in, we may not have pursued our graduate work.”
Charles added that supporting education was an easy decision. “Education is our vocation—it's what we chose to do with our lives,” he says. “It doesn't matter how much wealth you have, the education that you pursue, the level of education you pursue, the breadth of the education you pursue is what's going to open the door for your future. Whatever role we can play together to help move that forward is important to us."
