Michael J. Gonsalves Scholarship Fund
Scholarship Bi-Laws
The Rhode Island College Foundation
Michael J. “The Doctor” Gonsalves’86 Endowed Fund
Background
Mike Gonsalves was a fixture on the RIC campus during his school years and even after graduating. Among his many passions as a student was his membership in Kappa Delta Phi National Fraternity; as an on-air personality at WRIC, later WXIN; and as a member and captain of the RIC tennis team.
After graduating, Mike never forgot where he came from and continued to mentor students, especially anyone interested in pursuing a career in radio or any other form of communications. While a disc jockey at WHJY radio in Providence, Mike became a local celebrity but never let it change his personality. He always remembered his friends, treating them to nights out at concerts and sporting events, kept track of birthdays and holiday celebrations and even showered his friends’ children with gifts. Not only was he generous with his friends, but he also donated his time and financial resources to many charities, including his favorite charity--The Jimmy Fund. He made numerous donations to the fund over the years to help find a cure for childhood cancers.
On February 20, 2003, Mike passed away in the Station nightclub fire, while representing his employer by introducing the main attraction. Following his death, a group of Mike’s family and friends decided that since his death was so untimely something had to be done to reflect his giving nature something that would allow his name to live on while helping others. Because of his continued support for communications students at his alma mater and because his father, Neil Gonsalves, is a member of the faculty, an endowment at Rhode Island College was an easy choice as the vehicle for keeping his memory alive.
Mike’s popularity has been reflected in how quickly the size of the endowment has grown and how willing anyone who ever knew him is to give in his name. For many years to come, it is the hope to provide scholarships that will teach every following generation that it is as important to be generous as it is to be successful, thus providing a true legacy for Michael J. Gonsalves.
The fund will be administered by the Rhode Island College Foundation as an endowment to support awards to students to assist them in completing their college education at RIC. Only the interest earned, based on the Foundation's spending policy, will be expended annually to support the awards, ensuring that this fund will exist in perpetuity.[1] The fund will be administered in accordance with the spending policies and procedures of the Rhode Island College Foundation with the following criteria:
It is the intent of the donors that this fund will exist in perpetuity. If the identified purpose of the fund should cease to exist, the Foundation retains the right to determine a new use for the funds in consultation with members of the family and interested friends.
[1] From time to time the committee may receive requests from qualified individuals for support that exceeds the funds available from the endowment. In such cases, the committee shall write a formal request to the Foundation to invade the principal of the fund to meet those requests.
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