After receiving the largest scholarship gift in its history, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health will award up to 16 doctoral and 28 master’s scholarships through the Vera Zilber Public Health Scholars program.
The new program has emerged out of a $400,000 gift from the Zilber Family Foundation that will fund scholarships over the next four years.
The gift will have “a transformational impact on students and on the future of the school,” according to Magda Peck, founding dean.
The scholarship program will bolster the school’s efforts to become the state’s first nationally-accredited school of public health. The donation will also help UW-Milwaukee recruit and retain talented students in the school of public health’s three newest master programs – biostatistics, epidemiology, and public health policy and administration, Peck said. The school debuted those three tracks last fall.
Each scholarship will be awarded based on merit, with an average $5,000 per year for master’s students and $10,000 per year for doctoral students.
“This gift signifies our great confidence in Dean Peck and her efforts to create an outstanding new school with talented students and faculty,” said Susan Lloyd, president of the Zilber Family Foundation. “Our community needs a school that will be a catalyst for healthier communities through the education of well-prepared public health leader-practitioners.”
The late Joseph Zilber, a native of Milwaukee and founder of the Zilber Family Foundation, was a significant force in launching UW-Milwaukee’s School of Public Health, which was named for him. The Vera Zilber Public Health Scholars program honors his wife, Vera, who influenced his philanthropic contributions.
