Faculty Member Honors Wife with Study Abroad Endowment
MELBOURNE, FLA. — William Gabrenya, a professor in Florida Institute of Technology’s School of Psychology, has established an endowment to support students wishing to study in Taiwan.
The Yue-Eng Gail Wang Study Abroad in Taiwan Fund honors Gabrenya’s wife, who passed away in 2011. It was established in hopes of increasing American students’ knowledge of Taiwan by encouraging them to study abroad there at any of several universities. Gabrenya said he hopes the fund will foster a greater appreciation of Taiwanese society and culture in its future beneficiaries while also providing them opportunity to learn its languages and develop enduring friendships and connections.
“We are honored that Dr. Gabrenya has chosen to recognize his wife, a Florida Tech alumna, in this special way,” said Florida Tech President Dwayne McCay.
He continued, “What is particularly wonderful about this fund is that it builds on Florida Tech’s place as a national leader in international education while also building on the university’s early connection with Taiwan that was established by our founding president, Jerome Keuper. We attract a high percentage of international students to the U.S., and this fund will help our U.S. students to share in a meaningful experience in Taiwan.”
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Yue-Eng graduated first in her class in history at National Taiwan University in 1970. In 1979, she earned a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Missouri-Columbia following fieldwork in Hartsburg, Missouri. She received a master’s degree in computer science from Florida Tech in 1987 and had a successful, 17-year career at Harris Corporation as a software engineer before retiring in 2010.
The Yue-Eng Gail Wang Study Abroad in Taiwan Fund will launch this year. Students interested in the program may contact Heather Wautlet, Florida Tech’s director of study abroad, at hcudmore@fit.edu.
Anyone interested in helping to support and grow the fund may contact Vice President for Development Gary Grant at ggrant@fit.edu or visit https://give.fit.edu/panther-fund and designate for the “Wang Taiwan Study Abroad Fund.”
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