advancingDePaul - Alumni - DePaul University

Scholarship is a
family affair
Richard “Pat”
Ryan, who is in
his 34th year as a
professor in the
School for New
Learning, recently
made a new gift
of $50,000 to the
Suzanne and Pat
Ryan Endowed
Scholarship. He
Pat and Suzanne Ryan
and his late wife,
Suzanne, who
also taught in SNL, originally established
the fund when Suzanne retired from the
university in 2004. She died in 2006.
According to Pat, the gift is intended
to challenge the more than 2,000 SNL
students he and his wife taught and
mentored during their more than 60
combined years at the school.
“My hope is that over the next two years
all these alumni together will contribute
a total of $50,000 to the fund,” he says.
“That will raise the endowment to more
than $150,000.”
“SNL provides opportunities for adults
who are really committed to education,”
explains Rebecca Lindsay-Ryan (LAS
’00, MS ’03), director of external affairs
at Chicago’s Big Shoulders Fund and
also a part-time lecturer at SNL. “I think
that if we can help them them through
scholarships, it’s a great way to keep
them motivated and on track to finish.”
Rebecca is also one of Pat and Suzanne
Ryan’s four children, all of whom earned
degrees from DePaul. “For my brothers
Michael [Abdul-Malik], Martin and Daniel
and I, DePaul has really been a family
institution,” she says. “We and our
spouses have 10 DePaul degrees among
us and really consider the university a
second home.”
Rebecca says contributing to the fund
is a great way to acknowledge the work
of two dedicated teachers and at the
same time enable others to benefit
from an SNL education. “My parents
have been instrumental in transforming
hundreds and hundreds of students’
lives. It’s a great testament to their
contributions and to SNL.”
DePaul University has renamed McGrath Arena to
McGrath-Phillips Arena in honor of Joni Phillips, a 1982
nursing graduate and the most generous benefactor in
DePaul athletics history. The newly renamed arena is
part of the Sullivan Athletics Center on the university’s
Lincoln Park Campus.
Born into a family of eight children in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood, Phillips parlayed
her DePaul nursing degree and an MBA into a multimillion-dollar healthcare services business.
“Joni’s gifts to DePaul Athletics over the years have been a shining example of one generation
passing it on to the next,” says Jean Lenti Ponsetto, DePaul’s director of athletics. “We are
awesomely grateful for her gifts, which have directly benefited hundreds of student-athletes past,
present and future.”
“I couldn’t be prouder or more humbled,” Phillips says. “As a student almost 30 years ago, I never
imagined that I would be honored with having my name on anything but a term paper.”
Phillips’ gifts have helped fund a number of initiatives, including refurbishing DePaul’s locker rooms
at the Allstate Arena and endowing scholarships. She has even supplied commemorative rings for
DePaul teams that have won conference championships or competed in NCAA tournaments.
In addition, the athletic director’s suite in the university’s Sullivan Center bears her name, and the
balcony in McGrath-Phillips Arena is named for her parents, Roman and Josephine Nowakowski.
In January, the university inducted Phillips into the DePaul Athletic Hall of Fame as the 2011
recipient of the Dr. Robert Hamilton Special Service Award.
[ TO SUPPORT DEPAUL ATHLETICS, CALL THAD DOHN AT (773) 325-1456 ]
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Arena’s new
name honors
Joni Phillips
and her
support for
Blue Demon
athletics