Donor Sandra Michael

Professor Plans for Binghamton's Future

Sandra D. Michael, PhD

• Vestal, New York
• Distinguished Service Professor, Biological Sciences
• Director of Graduate Studies
• Volunteer and former co-chair, Faculty and Staff Campaign
• Binghamton University Foundation Outstanding Service Award, 2002
• Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, 2004
• Planned gift to establish Professor Sandra D. Michael Dissertation Fellowship

After more than 30 years of teaching at Binghamton University, Sandra D. Michael decided to include a provision in her will designating that 50 percent of her estate be bequeathed to the University. Her planned gift will establish a dissertation-year fellowship for doctoral students in biological sciences to enable them to concentrate fully on their studies. "By and large, graduate students are paid to be teaching assistants. Being a TA is a lot of work. Even though it's extremely valuable to the student to teach, and good for the department, it does detract from the time needed to complete a dissertation," says Sandra.

An NIH fellowship enabled Michael to complete her doctorate within two and a half years, a record at the time at the University of California at Davis. "I couldn't have done that if I had been a teaching assistant," she said. "There are a number of things that I considered doing, but this is the one which mattered the most to me because it harkens back to how fortunate I was to have had a fellowship for that entire period."