ADVANCEMENT Annual Report 2006

The Stith Family
One Last Name,
Four Stories of Giving

Leslie, Glenn, Dale, and Whitney Stith
The Stiths: Leslie '81, Glenn '78, Dale '74, and Whitney '89

This is a story of how three brothers and their cousin came to the College of Agriculture, jumped in with both feet, took away more than a degree, and now find themselves at mid-life, and grateful.

Dale, Glenn, and Leslie Stith and their cousin Whitney Stith all grew up on a Meade County farm jointly owned by their fathers.

Dale Stith '74, the first of the Stiths to come to UK, became an auctioneer of purebred livestock after he graduated. He now lives outside Huntsville, Ala., travels the United States and Canada, and promotes the College whenever he can.

Glenn Stith '78 went to work for Monsanto right out of school. Nearly 30 years later, still with that company, he lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., and is vice president of operations in North and South America for Monsanto's vegetable seed subsidiary, Seminis.

Leslie Stith '81 also works for Monsanto as a sales rep in agricultural chemicals with a territory that includes most of Kentucky and Tennessee.

He served as president of the Lincoln Trail alumni association from 1991-92 and president of the state association from 1997-98. He was named outstanding young alumnus for the state in 1990 and the state's distinguished alumnus in 2003.

Whitney Stith '89 is a CPA in Northern Kentucky.

For a decade after he graduated, Whitney was not an active alum. "That's the thing I regret most," he said. "I would have liked not to have missed those 10 years." But he's making up for lost time. Whitney has served as president of the alumni association for the Northern Kentucky area and is on the state association's executive board as volunteer representative to the National Agriculture Alumni and Development Association.

The Stiths became donors to the College in different ways.

When Leslie became state association president, he vowed to attend the summer meeting of every area association in Kentucky, and he did.

"It charged me up," he said. He saw "what kind of good was happening" with the money these associations raised for scholarships.

Leslie and other alums in the Lincoln Trail association set up an endowment so they could fund even more scholarships for ag students in their area. He convinced his brother Glenn to be a part of it. It didn't take much convincing. "My passion is helping kids realize their dreams," Glenn said.

Dale also is a generous donor. "You can't be a taker all the time," he said. "By giving back, you're helping the next generation. His daughter Jade graduated from UK in 2006 with a degree in business.

When Whitney Stith was president of the Northern Kentucky Area Alumni Association, he went to the College's annual scholarship banquet. "I walked away with my heart pounding," he said. He was inspired to help more students like the one he had heard speak.

He is working on setting up an endowment in Northern Kentucky similar to the one in Lincoln Trail.

For all of them, it comes down to the rewards of generosity.

"It's my turn to pay back," Glenn Stith said. "I can honor those who helped me by helping the next generation of kids. It gives me a deep satisfaction, giving back, not taking."

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Successful HES Alums Join in Funding

Marianne Smith Edge and Carolyn Breeding

Marianne Smith Edge (left) and Carolyn Breeding

Breeding-Smith Edge
Scholarship

Even though their paths didn’t cross while earning degrees at UK, it seems only natural that HES graduates Carolyn Breeding '72, '78 and Marianne Smith Edge '77 would become colleagues and one day help fund a major scholarship. That's because they have a lot in common: Both are nationally-recognized dietitians, both own successful Kentucky businesses, and both are passionately dedicated to supporting higher education.

Breeding, who lives in Richmond, runs several companies, including a dietetics consulting firm, a weight management company, one that offers a course to prepare students for the registered dietitian's exam, a group purchasing business, and a billing service for outpatient and physician care of Medicare patients (part B).

She is former president of the Kentucky Dietetic Association, past chair of the national practice group of Consultant Dietitians in Health Care Facilities, and past chair of Kentucky's licensure board for dietitians.

Smith Edge, a former member of the UK Board of Trustees, runs a nutrition marketing and communications firm based in Owensboro. Her national and international clientele is in the food and health care industries and dietetics profession. She is a past president of the American Dietetics Association and does professional speaking in leadership development and a wide range of health issues.

Smith Edge and Breeding have worked together at nutrition seminars, in projects for the long-term care industry, and at professional meetings.

"We've known each other for 25 years," said Smith Edge.

During this time, they have become personal friends as well as professional collaborators, and their place in UK and HES history as honored alums has strengthened the bond between them.

Smith Edge has been a UK Fellow for a decade or more, and part of her giving has been an annual scholarship to an upper-level dietetics student about to begin an internship.

Breeding has had charitable causes outside UK, but last year, she too became a UK Fellow. About the same time, the two women created the Breeding-Smith Edge Leadership in Dietetics Scholarship.

In setting up the scholarship, they were able to take advantage of the Golden Leaf Tobacco Settlement Matching Program, which matched gifts of $10,000 or more at $1 for every $2 donated. (The funds were made available last year when the College received some $800,000 in tobacco settlement funds and earmarked them for endowed undergraduate scholarships.)

Because of the matching program and their combined gift, "we'll start seeing the fruits of our donation at a much faster rate," Smith Edge said.

The Breeding-Smith Edge scholarship will benefit students in the School of Human Environmental Sciences who are pursuing a dietetics internship with a focus in business and consultation. The first award was to be made this spring.

These two alums and successful role models take great satisfaction in being able to impact the lives of UK students now and in the future.

“Being part of the Golden Leaf matching program is deeply meaningful to me because my parents sent me to college with money earned from growing tobacco,” Smith Edge said. “And most of all, I’m committed to nurturing future dietitians."

"To help somebody else, to make a difference, maybe take their career in a direction they thought they couldn't take—that's vitally important," Breeding said.
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Statie Erikson

Melville Scovell

It's my turn

to pay back.

I can honor

those who

helped me

by helping

the next

generation

of kids.

- Glenn Stith -

Donors meet students
who have benefited from their gifts at the College's annual scholarship banquet.

Pictured throughout this report
are some of last year's attendees.

Eric Mueller and Bill Smith