Reeves family gift provides student, faculty support to Department of Accounting

With a commitment of $634,000 to the Smeal College of Business, Penn State alumni Steve and Lyn Reeves of Baltimore, Md., will establish the Reeves Family Early Career Professorship and the Reeves Family Student Success Fund, both to benefit Smeal’s Department of Accounting.

The Reeves Family Early Career Professorship will support the work of a promising young accounting faculty member with funding for research and teaching at a critical point in his or her career. The Reeves Family Student Success Fund will provide resources for students to participate in internships, study abroad, and other experiences that enhance their college career, and it will underwrite activities of the college’s accounting-related student organizations.

“These generous gifts from Steve and Lyn will go a long way toward ensuring the continued strength and growth of our highly regarded Department of Accounting,” said Charles H. Whiteman, John and Becky Surma Dean of Smeal. “Both the Early Career Professorship and the Student Success Fund will create opportunities for students and faculty that would not have been otherwise possible.”

Steve Reeves, a 1981 Penn State graduate in accounting, is executive vice president and CFO for Enviva, the world’s largest supplier of utility-grade wood pellets to major power generators. Prior to Maryland-based Enviva, Reeves was senior vice president and CFO of The Black & Decker Corporation. He began his career at Ernst & Young. He is an active member of the Smeal College For the Future Campaign Committee, dedicated to advancing the college through philanthropy.

Lyn Genetti Reeves, a 1981 Penn State graduate in communications, was formerly a partner in “Thanks Hon!” Gift Shop in Towson, Md. The Reeves are parents to three children, two of whom graduated from Penn State.

“We have long believed in the role of higher education in allowing individuals to realize their potential,” said Steve. “We have been fortunate to enjoy post-Smeal success and are very pleased to be in a position to give back and enable other to benefit from the opportunities that we did.”

Previously, the Reeves family established the Stephen and Lyn Reeves Trustee Scholarship, which is one of the largest Trustee Scholarship funds at the University. They also contributed to the construction of the Business Building.

The Faculty Endowment Challenge offers donors an opportunity to leverage a 1:2 match from the University for gifts creating new Early Career Professorships in any of Penn State’s academic units. These awards rotate every three years to a new recipient in the first ten years of his or her academic career, providing seed money for innovative research projects and flexible funding for new approaches to teaching. The endowments typically require a minimum commitment of $500,000, but through the Faculty Endowment Challenge, donors may establish new Early Career Professorships for any of the University’s colleges or campuses with a commitment of $334,000. The University will commit the remaining 1/3 of the necessary funds, approximately $166,000, from unrestricted endowment resources, ensuring support for rising faculty stars.

The Reeves Family Early Career Professorship and the Reeves Family Student Success Fund will help the Smeal College of Business to reach its goals in For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students. This University-wide effort is directed toward a shared vision of Penn State as the most comprehensive, student-centered research university in America. The University is engaging Penn State's alumni and friends as partners in achieving six key objectives: ensuring student access and opportunity, enhancing honors education, enriching the student experience, building faculty strength and capacity, fostering discovery and creativity, and sustaining the University's tradition of quality. The campaign's top priority is keeping a Penn State degree affordable for students and families. The For the Future campaign is the most ambitious effort of its kind in Penn State's history, with the goal of securing $2 billion by June 30, 2014.