A West Virginia University alumna is expanding opportunities for future students to gain hands-on research experience with gifts to her alma mater totaling $2.15 million.
Terry Stockman, of Kiawah Island, South Carolina, committed to planned gifts within her will to benefit the economics program at the WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics, the mathematics program at the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the industrial engineering program at the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. Those gifts will create endowments to provide support for research and other program needs.
Stockman also contributed $50,000 to establish a namesake economics fellowship that will provide funding for undergraduate or graduate students to work for the WVU Knee Regulatory Research Center while they’re in school. The fellowship is designed to help students cover outstanding educational costs, such as food and housing, that may not be covered by scholarships.
“Support for student fellowships helps ensure our students are able to focus on their academic studies and stay on a path to success,” Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Paul Kreider said. “We are so grateful to Ms. Stockman for this gift that will benefit students for years to come.”
The Knee Center’s mission is to produce high-quality, nonpartisan research on the effects of government regulation and to communicate the results broadly to inform real-world change. Since moving to WVU from St. Francis University in 2021, the academic research center’s work has expanded into three categories of regulation focus areas: labor, health and regulatory frontiers.
Research by the Knee Center contributed to the recent passage of West Virginia’s Universal Professional and Occupational Licensing Act. The law will help boost the state’s economy by allowing licensed professionals to move to the Mountain State without having to recertify their licenses from scratch.
“Our students are passionate about making real-world change through their studies and research,” Alicia Plemmons, co-director of the Knee Center, said. “This support will ensure that an exceptional student can reach their full potential in community-engaged research and outreach. On behalf of the Knee Center, we appreciate Ms. Stockman and her willingness to provide this gift to our hardworking and dedicated students."
Stockman came to WVU from Ona, a small town between Huntington and Charleston, in the early 1970s. She started as a math major, but she was ultimately drawn to economics because it involved using mathematical tools to solve real-world challenges. Nearly 50 years later, she is committed to advancing WVU academics and research in areas that were meaningful to her.
She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from WVU and spent much of her career as an economist and management consultant working with large financial institutions. Stockman launched her career with economics firm Data Resources (now Global Insight) and later worked for KPMG, Price Waterhouse, Citibank/Citigroup and more before retiring from full-time work about 20 years ago.
Stockman said WVU prepared her well to succeed in a competitive industry where she often worked alongside graduates of Ivy League schools. Scholarships and grants helped her gain hands-on experience while working her way through school, and she hopes to give other students those same opportunities.
“I think it’s important for students to do real projects,” Stockman said. “These gifts offer opportunities to help students pay their way through school. It’s a way to apply what they’ve learned in class to an actual, real-life situation, and I think that’s extremely useful. It was for me. It’s a good way to help them get some sort of experience that gives them a leg up on getting a job. They need to be able to get a job, make a good living and have a life after they graduate.”
Stockman’s gifts were made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University. Her gift was made in conjunction with WVU Day of Giving, a 24-hour fundraising event held March 26. WVU alumni and friends made more than 10,300 gifts totaling a record $46.2 million.