Alumni foster academic advancement through the Moraco Challenge

In 2023, Tony Moraco ’82, M.S. ’84 and his wife, Cathy, observed the growth of the College of Engineering and recognized the need to increase its endowment fund while expediting its usage. Although other endowments also help retain junior faculty and graduate students, most take at least one year to be awarded because of the funding structure. With a special focus on having an immediate impact for its recipients, the Moraco’s $1 million challenge gift enhances fellowships that are awarded quickly. Their matching funds shorten fellowship awarding timelines drastically while providing direct support for research initiatives that make an impact on society.

The Moraco's desire to bring other alumni into the fold inspired them to create the Moraco Challenge to support the college’s strategic initiatives while also multiplying their gift’s impact. The challenge will support up to 19 fellowships helping other Hokies to establish sustainable funding avenues for the recruitment and retention of junior faculty and graduate students, both of which play important roles in the college and university’s mission to yield first-class learning experiences and innovative solutions to global-scale problems.

Here’s what makes the Moraco Challenge different:

• Rather than the typical $250,000 required to endow, donors make a $200,000 pledge over five years — a 20 percent savings.
• The Moraco’s $1 million commitment provides the additional $50,000 toward each endowment.
• To award funds immediately, $10,000 of the donors’ first pledge payment is allocated toward current-use funds.
• The donors receive recognition for their choice of a named faculty fellowship or graduate fellowship endowed fund from day one.

A year into the challenge, six endowments have been established — all of which have been awarded or have nominations contingent on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors’ approval. The remaining 13 fellowships are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

“We are very excited about this past year's great success using the Moraco Challenge to substantially increase the number of junior faculty and graduate fellowships that enhance the caliber of our faculty,” said the Moracos. “The combination of a fully funded first-year benefit to the faculty and a reduced fellowship cost for the donor has been a great model to promote and accelerate fellowship commitments from generous Virginia Tech alumni. It makes us proud to see fellow Hokies make these important and long-lasting contributions to our alma mater — we are very grateful for their generosity.”

As alumni come together to make the Moraco’s vision a reality, they all have distinct inspirations behind their generosity. Some aspire to increase national and global recognition by recruiting and retaining the most talented junior faculty, while others wish to focus on supporting graduate students by providing the resources they need to focus on research and innovation. Meet the Hokies who have already risen to the challenge.

The impact of right now

Kendall  ’82 and Laura Hendrick were already making an impact on students through their commitment to scholarships through the Beyond Boundaries Scholars program. However, when they learned about the Moraco Challenge, they quickly realized how many more students they could reach by supporting a professor through a fellowship. 

“Retaining the best faculty at the university will allow Virginia Tech to attract more top-level students that will go out in industry and improve lives around the world,” said Kendall Hendrick, a mechanical engineering alumnus who spent his career in the medical diagnostics field. “Being able to invest in the quality of education at a professor level will improve the learning experience for students with an immediate impact.”

Although the Hendricks' gift will be made over five years, the matching component enabled the fellowship to be utilized the minute they signed the paperwork. Within a few months, Eli Vlaisavljevich was named the Kendall and Laura Hendrick Junior Faculty Fellow.

“This fellowship has helped expand my lab’s international collaboration with our clinical and academic partners in Spain, France, Turkey, and Malawi,” said Vlaisavljevich. “These programs are essential to the work we are doing to expand histotripsy into clinical translation for patients throughout the world. The support from this fellowship has provided resources for our students to directly engage with these international collaborators while strengthening our current partnerships and building new opportunities. We are very thankful for this support from the Hendrick family.”

Funding the freedom for graduate students to think outside the box

From their time as master’s degree students at Virginia Tech, Archana Sathaye M.S. ’86 and Shirish Sathaye M.S. ’86 have understood the importance of being able to concentrate on research. The Sathayes experienced firsthand the impact that additional funding could have on a graduate student. Although Archana Sathaye was in the College of Science and Shirish Sathaye in the College of Engineering, they had similar experiences with receiving research assistantships through their advisors, allowing them more time to invest in their respective research.

“The main thing about the Moraco Challenge is it allows the faculty and graduate students to be more innovative and pursue new ideas,” Shirish Sathaye said. “Unlike some types of research funding, these fellowships are not penned down for a certain type of research. Suppose the student or the faculty want to go and pursue something out-of-the-box, they can do this with funds that are available immediately.”

When considering innovation, time is of the essence. Because the fellowships through the Moraco Challenge are funded instantly, faculty and graduate students don’t have to wait the usual 12 months to receive support. The Sathayes hope that their fellowships, one in the Department of Mathematics and one in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will provide the financial support that high-quality researchers require while advancing their careers.

Retaining the best and brightest junior faculty

As an aerospace major at Virginia Tech in the late 1990s, Ryan Frederic ’99 wasn’t pursuing the major for the money. Although space wasn’t considered “cool” yet, the passion exhibited by the students and professors made the learning environment stimulating. Frederic recalls Professor Christopher Hall as a source of inspiration, not only to him but to everyone around him. It was professors like Hall who resonated with Frederic when he learned about the Moraco Challenge.

“I saw luminary professors from the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering end up going to other universities. After talking to Tony Moraco about how these fellowships would help retain that kind of top talent, I was in,” said Frederic. 

As an entrepreneur, Frederic saw the investment and long-term impact of establishing a fellowship in the College of Engineering through the Moraco Challenge. By setting a standard of retention with talented professors through proper funding and resources, the College of Engineering will stay at the forefront of the problem-solving realm. Just as he’s analytical in the business world, Frederic saw the high-leverage investment of retaining the best candidates within the aerospace and ocean engineering department.

Inspired by a life of academics to support new computer scientists

Stephen Moore ’95 and Cherye Tyndall Moore ’95 both grew up with a heavy influence from the academic world. Stephen Moore’s grandfather was a professor for 40 years at a state university, and Cherye Moore’s dad was a director of a student organization on the corner of Virginia Tech's Blacksburg campus. With this background, the Moores understand the requirements to build a strong and reputable program — a goal they hope their computer science fellowship will help achieve.

“I’ve been impressed with the way the computer science program has really grown over the years. We want to help the department continue to grow, expand, and train the next generation of engineers to make an impact on the world,” Stephen Moore said. “For us, contributing to academic success is important in helping the department be nationally recognized. This is our small way of contributing to recruiting and retaining the best junior professors.”

The Moores see this fellowship as an opportunity to leverage the excitement around computer science. They hope these funds enable a professor to excel so that they can fully dedicate themselves to their students and the program.

Paying it forward

Living out Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) to support their community is a lifelong priority for Carl "Buck" Belt ’68 and Jane Adkisson Belt ’70. In 2014, the Belts created a graduate fellowship for building construction students in the Myers-Lawson School of Construction to help meet the program's needs. Although they already had an endowment established, the Belts found the Moraco Challenge to be the perfect opportunity to increase their annual graduate fellowship distributions. Their generosity is a reflection of the fellowship and compassion that they experienced as students at Virginia Tech and continue to feel whenever they visit the university. 

“We hope those who benefit from our endowment, along with their Virginia Tech education, ultimately give back to the university to support those who follow them in their education and career path,” said Buck, a building construction alumnus. 

If you’d like to learn more about the Moraco Challenge or faculty and graduate student fellowships in the College of Engineering, please contact Director of Development Emily Hutchins at ehutch@vt.edu or 540-231-4066.