Penny Jessop in Tilliberi, Niger as a Peace Corps
Volunteer.
The Penny Jessop Travel Fund
Click HERE to make a donation online
Click HERE to download a giving form to mail
Background
Penny Patricia Jessop began her career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tilliberi, Niger for 3 ½ years, working in maternal and child health. She later enrolled at Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (SPHTM) as a Returning Peace Corps Volunteer, receiving an MPH in 1978. She immediately began working for Tulane, starting as a project coordinator and ultimately rising to the position of assistant clinical professor international health and development. Penny spent many years in student support programs, and her primary focus was always student-centric with emphasis on international students and those traveling abroad. For more than 33 years she has taught, encouraged, advised, and mentored a host of students. She has served as advisor to SPHTM’s international students and taught in SPHTM’s undergraduate program and the Humphrey Fellows Seminars. Since 1979 she has coordinated the Humphrey Fellows Program at Tulane and is one of the longest serving Humphrey coordinators in the United States. She has remained active in the Peace Corps community, serving as advisor to Tulane’s Peace Corps Programs, as a member of the Louisiana Return Peace Corps Association, and a member of the Friends of Niger.
Penny has announced plans to retire from Tulane in July 2012, but expressed a desire to continue helping students who travel abroad for academic purposes, particularly those associated with and participating in Tulane’s Peace Corps Programs.
The Fund
To recognize and honor Penny’s many years of service to SPHTM students and the Peace Corps community, we are establishing the Penny Jessop Travel Fund to assist graduate level students with international travel expenses for academic purposes. This may include, but is not limited to, travel for practica, research, summer programs, etc. Students’ financial needs will be considered and, at Penny’s request, preference will be given to students who associate with or participate in SPHTM’s Peace Corps Programs, including Returning Peace Corps Volunteers, Masters Internationalists, and any programs which may be established in the future (a Peace Corps Fellows Program is currently under consideration).
The fund will be endowed in perpetuity at Tulane SPHTM – the corpus will be invested, with the annual proceeds helping worthy students who seek to study/work abroad. This will establish a permanent pool of funding which will benefit students and continue Penny’s legacy for generations to come.
Our initial goal is to raise at least $25,000 by the time of Penny’s retirement in July 2012 (Tulane’s minimum amount required to permanently endow a fund). A longer-term goal is to build the fund to $50,000 or more over time. Clearly a larger fund will provide more assistance to more students – Penny’s ultimate desire is to assist as many students as possible.
How You Can Help
Please consider a donation to honor Penny Jessop and to assist SPHTM students. You may:
1440 Canal Street, Suite 2408, TW-13
New Orleans, LA 70112
Please make checks payable to Jessop Travel Fund -- Tulane SPHTM.
Gifts of ALL SIZES are welcome - and encouraged! Every single dollar helps. If desired, gifts may be paid over a period of time.
Questions? Contact Tatine Frater
504-314-7331 office
504-421-3536 cell
tmfrater@tulane.edu
Alumni Affairs
