(New York, NY – September 30, 2015) Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab has announced a $9 million gift from The Grove Foundation to establish the Eva Kastan Grove Grant named for the wife of Andrew Grove, the former Chairman of Intel. Eva Kastan Grove graduated from Hunter College in 1958.
According to President Raab, the gift will honor Eva Grove’s lifelong commitment to advocacy, social service, and philanthropy and her special commitment to immigrants’ opportunity, rights and dignity.
“We are so grateful to the Grove Family for their outstanding generosity,” said President Raab. “This gift will establish a scholars program at Roosevelt House and fund unpaid internships at nonprofit organizations, an important career jumpstart for Hunter College students.”
The gift will be divided to support two separate funds. The Eva Kastan Grove Scholars Program at Roosevelt House will be established with $4 million. It will support student activities that stem from the Roosevelt House interdisciplinary programs in public policy and human rights; it will support Roosevelt Scholars, who are talented freshmen interested in social services, domestic human rights, immigrants’ rights, women’s reproductive health, law, and social justice, enabling them to travel and meet with policy-makers in Washington, DC and Albany and other public policy sites; and it will support student programs at Roosevelt House including speakers and conferences.
Another $5 million will establish the Eva Kastan Grove Scholarship and Internship Endowment Fund. It will fund scholarships and internships for Hunter College students and fund the salary and benefits of staff to administer the scholarships. Preference will be given to students who are immigrants or children of immigrants, undocumented or ineligible for other sources of support, underrepresented voices in their fields, and a commitment to public service in the United States.
The Grove’s two daughters, Karen Grove and Robie Spector, are active in the Foundation. In creating these funds, they were looking for a way to acknowledge their mother’s past, her influence on the present, and perpetuate her values into the future.
Eva Grove’s interest in promoting the rights of immigrants began with her own experience. She was born in Vienna in 1935 and fled the Nazis with her family when she was three. She spent her childhood in Bolivia and moved to New York at age 18. She was married in 1958, just as she completed her Pre-Social Work degree at Hunter College. She went on to get a Master’s Degree in Social Work at Columbia University.
Andy Grove and his family survived the Nazi invasion of Hungary. With the help of the International Rescue Committee, he arrived in New York in 1957. He graduated from City College of New York in 1960 and later donated $25 million to their engineering school which is now called the Grove School of Engineering. His wife’s work as a social worker and some of his part-time jobs put him through a master’s program at UC Berkeley. He received a PhD from Berkeley in 1963. His interest in health issues has been the focus of much of his more recent giving to research in prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
About Hunter College
Hunter College, located in the heart of Manhattan, is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system. Founded in 1870, it is also one of the oldest public colleges in the country and famous for the diversity of its student body, which is as diverse as New York City itself.
Most Hunter students are the first in their families to attend college and many go on to top professional and graduate programs, winning Fulbright scholarships, Mellon fellowships, National Institutes of Health grants, and other competitive honors.
The 1,700 full- and part-time members of Hunter’s faculty are unparalleled. They receive prestigious national grants, contribute to the world’s leading academic journals, and play major roles in cutting-edge research. They are fighting cancer, formulating public policy, expanding our culture, enhancing technology, and more.
