Annual expendable gifts help Modern Greek with a variety of program enhancements, including student scholarships and awards, special materials, lectures and discussions, readings, performances, and much more.
The Foundation for Modern Greek Studies provides annual support for student scholarships, activities, and community outreach events.
The Foundation for Modern Greek Studies was incorporated in 1997 under the Michigan Non-Profit Corporation Act as a non-stock directorship corporation. Its mission is to promote the study of modern Greek language and culture by supporting educational institutions as well as other efforts serving these fields.
Following a gift agreement signed in 1999, the Foundation donated $750,000 in three annual installments to the Modern Greek Studies Endowed Professorship Fund in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. This gift supplemented the considerable resources that Michigan had already put in place toward such a position. The Foundation completed its mission through grass-roots efforts reaching hundreds of donors. The endowed chair was officially inaugurated in Fall 2001 and given the name of the poet C. P. Cavafy.
With the first campaign completed on schedule, the Foundation has worked closely with Professors Lambropoulos and Leontis and the University to develop an outreach program of cultural events for the community at large. To those who seek a rich Greek presence within American campuses, the story of the fruitful collaboration between the Foundation, the Greek American communities of south-eastern Michigan, and the University of Michigan is a model of success.
The annual Dimitri and Irmgard Pallas Lecture in Modern Greek Studies promotes greater awareness of modern Greek history and its artistic, scientific, philosophical, ethical, political, and other contributions to civilization.
Since 2005, Dr. Denny Stavros, a long-time supporter of the Modern Greek Program at Michigan, has undertaken a series of annual gifts to the Hatcher Graduate Library that are used for the purchase of rare and unusual materials to enhance the Library's collection in the area of Modern Greek Studies. He has undertaken these gifts to honor Gwendolyn Margrette Stavros, born December 15, 2005, and in memory of her grandmother, Gwendolyn McFerran Stavros (1938-1981), librarian and Philhellene.
