A Creative Approach to Planned Giving
Marguerite (Peg) St. Amand BSP ’82 devoted her career to working in an institutional setting, first as a laboratory assistant at Lowell State College, and later, after graduating from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, for many years as a clinical pharmacist and manager within multiple hospitals. Although she is now retired, St. Amand still expresses fond appreciation for, and memories of, her years spent in hospital pharmacy, especially her time spent as a pharmacy student preceptor.
“I was always a staunch advocate of the hospital setting,” she says. Pointing to the advantages within a hospital of ongoing direct interaction with nurses, physicians, and other allied health professionals, as a preceptor St. Amand sought to steer students to hospital careers where the less tangible professional advantages might outweigh the financial advantages of a retail pharmacy career.
Having left her profession in January 2014, St. Amand is still committed to students who will enter her profession in the years to come. She recently became the first MCPHS alumnus to express her commitment to students by working with MCPHS to create an endowed scholarship fund that will receive proceeds from the distribution of an IRA account. St. Amand says, “The benefits of a deferred gift are that you know that you provided a bit of a ‘legacy.’” Inheritance taxes will not be levied on the proceeds from this direct distribution, and more importantly she notes, “I understand the cost of a pharmacy education. Many of my students entered the job market with a huge debt in educational loans. If I can ease that, even slightly, I will consider my decision a success.”
As a non-traditional pharmacy student, St. Amand needed and received the emotional support and financial assistance of her husband, now deceased, to help realize her dream of a pharmacy career. In making the decision to establish a scholarship fund, St. Amand carefully considered both why and how to create a meaningful fund at MCPHS University. The first part was easy.
She notes, “Both my husband and I strongly advocated for the benefits and rewards of higher education.” With regard to “how,” St. Amand considered her educational background as both an MCPHS and a Worcester State College alumna when defining the scholarship fund criteria. Scholarship awards will be made to pharmacy students who intend to pursue a career in clinical pharmacy, with preference given to graduates of Worcester State University. St. Amand reflects, “The criteria I set directly impacts students who attended a state institution, specifically Worcester State University. It is my belief that these students have more need than students from private institutions.”
