Professor Alan Glazer, Ph.D., ’69 is an F&M supporter for life. He is the Henry P. and Mary B. Stager Professor of Business at Franklin & Marshall College. He has taught accounting and completed research at his alma mater since 1975—nearly 45 years. In 2019, he also celebrated his 50th reunion at F&M, and he marked that milestone by creating two scholarships for local high school students hoping to attend F&M.
“I received financial aid that was a help to me as a student, so I wanted to give back to the F&M students of today,” Glazer said. “I also wanted to assist the students that my wife Linda cared so much about, and the endowed scholarship will do that, in her memory.”
Supporting the next generation of students has always been important to Glazer. His own mentor and adviser as a student at F&M encouraged him to apply for the faculty opening that became his first job.
Returning to teach at F&M was a hard decision; he and Linda were happy in Philadelphia, and planned to stay there. But F&M was close by, he could finish his graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, and they didn’t plan to stay in Lancaster forever.
“F&M was a good place to start a career,” he said, “and, honestly, our plan was to go back to Philly. But the students were good students, the faculty was treated well, I was able
to get involved in research, and my wife made friends. We had a daughter, and Lancaster and F&M just became our home.”
Glazer said he’s been pleased with the mix of research and teaching that F&M has always expected.
“Here, teaching and research complement each other,” he said, “and the College supports both activities.”
When their daughter, Gwen, started junior high school, Linda began working in the Pennsylvania Migrant Education program, tutoring and mentoring students in elementary schools in the School District of Lancaster. She threw herself into the work, and got to know the students and their families. In return, she was well loved by both the students and the elementary teachers working with the program. Linda passed away in 2012.
Glazer has created two scholarships in Linda’s memory. Because of her love for the students with whom she worked, he has established scholarships that will benefit students who attend F&M after graduating from Lancaster’s McCaskey High School, the high school in the district where she worked.
The scholarships are the Linda and Professor Alan Glazer ’69 Franklin & Marshall Fund Scholarship and the Linda and Professor Alan Glazer ’69 Endowed Scholarship. He will fund the scholarships with required distributions from his IRA, and will also make use of matching funds from the Trustee Endowed Scholarship Challenge.