Alumnus’ estate commitment will enrich opportunities for students of color

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Nearly two decades ago, Penn State liberal arts alumnus Charles “Chuck” Dickerson III and his wife, Judie, established the Dickerson Family Endowment in the College of the Liberal Arts to promote research opportunities for students affiliated with the college’s Department of African American Studies, African Studies Program and/or Africana Research Center. With a new commitment through their future estate, the Dickersons will add $200,000 to that fund in hopes it will do even more for future generations of students.

“Chuck and Judie Dickerson are the products of African American resilience and success, and they are keenly aware of the struggles their parents and grandparents endured along the way,” said Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts. “Their profound desire to help students — and especially students of color — find opportunities to succeed is heartening and reassuring. I am deeply grateful to Chuck and Judie for their generosity and for believing in the important work we do to help all students reach their full potential.”

Raised in Nebraska and a self-proclaimed “dyed-in-the-wool Midwesterner,” Chuck attended the University of Nebraska like his parents before him. His father was the first Black student at the university to serve as captain of an athletic team. His mother graduated from Nebraska the same year that Chuck graduated from high school.

In 1961, in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, however, Chuck said he grew “tired of the conservative nature and segregation of the school” and decided to go elsewhere. Penn State had what he was looking for: a Navy ROTC program, a good support structure through the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, the right academics, and “an openness to the kinds of things I wanted to do in the future,” he said.

After graduating from Penn State in 1963, Chuck served as a navigator and in communications and cryptology aboard the light cruiser USS Springfield, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet. He served on active duty for two years and in the reserves for another five before resigning his Navy commission in 1970.

“They wanted me to stay in, but I was married and already had my first child. It was time to move to other priorities,” Chuck said. He attended graduate school for two years but left before finishing his doctoral dissertation – “I was an impatient youngster and didn’t want to wait until my adviser returned from sabbatical,” he said – and instead took a job with AT&T, where he worked for more than 30 years before retiring as a division technical manager in 1997.

Chuck has been even busier in retirement. He started a company that assisted in the installation of an undersea internet cable from New York City to London. He also did some teaching at the County College of Morris in Randolph, New Jersey, where Judie was working, and later became an adjunct instructor at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Today, he and Judie volunteer for several nonprofit organizations and are active in the Episcopal Church.

Judie Dickerson, a University of Iowa alumna, is a fourth-generation college graduate whose great grandfather was the first Black lawyer to pass the Illinois state bar in 1869. Her mother, one of five children raised by a single mother, graduated from the University of Illinois in 1933. A biology major, she was often forced to attend her labs at night and was restricted in other classroom activities because she was Black. She paid her way through college by selling dandelion greens to the faculty.

“My mother’s determination is the legacy she passed down to me and what we have passed on to our children,” Judie said. The couple has two daughters, two granddaughters, and one grandson.

“As African Americans, we know that college is the key to being able to live a fulfilling life, so we have made it our focus to promote education and particularly to support students of color to help them get where they need to be,” Judie continued.  “We use whatever resources we have to help students overcome the challenges out there.”

On becoming philanthropic

The couple began their philanthropic endeavors by endowing a scholarship at the University of Iowa in honor of Judie’s father, one of the first African Americans to graduate from the university’s dental program. They also established a scholarship at the University of Nebraska in honor of Chuck’s parents.

Their 2003 gift to establish the Dickerson Family Fund at Penn State resulted from a visit to University Park during a time of racial unrest, Chuck explained. “We met with then Dean Susan Welch and with Black undergraduates, and we promised Susan we would help by making a financial contribution.”

When asked why they made this new and generous bequest to Penn State, Chuck was matter of fact. “We’re getting old,” he said. “I’m an octogenarian, so when you look out into the future, and you don’t see a very long runway, you know you need to do something in the way of your legacy. This is our legacy gift to Penn State.”

Chuck also said he and Judie were inspired to continue their philanthropic commitment to Penn State after meeting and corresponding with Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts.

“Clarence got to know us and our family,” Chuck said. “We were encouraged by what we learned about the college and Clarence’s vision for its future.

“We hope the students who receive help from our Penn State endowment, today and in the future, will be appreciated for the skills they have and be given every opportunity to demonstrate those skills throughout their life,” he concluded. “I hope they continue to change society and move it toward a level playing field across the board.”

The Dickersons’ estate commitment to the Dickerson Family Fund in the College of the Liberal Arts helps to advance "A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence," a focused campaign that seeks to elevate Penn State’s position as a leading public university in a world defined by rapid change and global connections. With support from devoted benefactors who believe in Penn State and its mission, “A Greater Penn State” seeks to fulfill the three key imperatives of a 21st-century public university: keeping the doors to higher education open to hardworking students regardless of financial well-being; creating transformative experiences that go beyond the classroom; and impacting the world by serving communities and fueling discovery, innovation, and entrepreneurship. To learn more about “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” visit greaterpennstate.psu.edu.