Strong Ties and Ensuring Student Success
A gift from the estate of Dolores "Dotsy" Spinelli Gigliotti '70 will honor her father, Dr. George L. Spinelli, who founded the Department of Guidance and Counseling at IUP.
Dolores "Dotsy" Spinelli Gigliotti '70 and her husband, Vincent, both grew up in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Dotsy's tie to IUP started early on when she and her brothers, George and Greg, attended the Keith School on campus during their middle school years.
Meanwhile, her father, Dr. George L. Spinelli, founded the Department of Guidance and Counseling at IUP, and her mother, Ruth, received her undergraduate degree from the College of Education and Communications in public school nursing and her master's in school counseling.
True to IUP, Dotsy, George and Greg attended IUP in the late 1960s. George earned his degree in mathematics in 1968. Dotsy and Greg graduated in 1970—Dotsy with her degree in elementary education and Greg's in biology. With that degree, Greg worked for the FBI in the hairs and fibers lab and soon was recruited as a special agent. On March 15, 1973, Greg was killed in the line of duty.
More recently, following a move to New Mexico, Dotsy and her husband, Vince, contacted an estate attorney to update their wills. When asked what they would like to ultimately have happen to their estate, Dotsy remembered a recent feature in an IUP magazine about an alumnus who had made an estate gift.
It was a spark for Dotsy, and she wondered why she hadn't thought of it sooner. The decision to include IUP in their estate plan was an easy one, simply because they trust IUP to make the right decisions, to choose the right students to receive scholarship support, to be inclusive and to help those in need.
Dotsy's estate gift also supports the Gregory W. Spinelli Memorial Criminology Fund in honor of her brother who worked for the FBI.
Their estate will go to further support the Gregory W. Spinelli Memorial Criminology Fund and the Dr. George L. Spinelli Memorial Scholarship and to establish the Dr. George L. Spinelli Enhancement Fund for the Department of Counseling. Dotsy says, "Working with IUP to shape these funds has been a great experience and a continuation of my brother's and father's time at IUP. We're happy we are able to carry their legacy on in perpetuity."
Dotsy and Vince hope that this support will allow many students to pursue their passions without fear of debt or financial insecurity and that the benefits will impact many future lives, not just those of the recipients. Perhaps their gift will be just the beginning of many lives lived better.
If you are interested in including a gift in your estate plan to support future generations of students, please contact Indiana University of Pennsylvania at 724-357-5661 or university-advancement@iup.edu.