Union Institute & University Receives First-Ever $1 million Legacy Gift from the Estate of Alumna Dr. Madeline Ehrman
Dr. Madeline Ehrman
Dear Union community:
I am very pleased to announce that we have received a bequest in the amount of $1 million from the estate of alumna Madeline E. Ehrman, Ph.D. The gift will allow for the purchase of Union’s national headquarters building at 440 East McMillan Street in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati that has served as the university’s headquarters since the mid-1990s.
It is Union’s largest bequest gift in the university’s nearly 53-year history. By purchasing the building, Union will be able to save more than $350,000 annually, funds that are currently going to pay the monthly rent. The gift from Dr. Ehrman is literally a “gift that keeps on giving.”
Dr. Ehrman, who earned her Ph.D. with a concentration in clinical psychology in 1989, passed away in October 2015. She was a longtime leader at the Foreign Service Institute (U.S. Department of State), from which she retired in 2007 as Director of Research, Evaluation, & Development. With advanced degrees in both linguistics and psychology, she published extensively on topics that combine both fields, e.g., Understanding Second Language Learning Difficulties and Interpersonal Dynamics in Second Language Education. In addition to continuing to write and consult, she also was pursuing a long-time interest in the work of JRR Tolkien. She earned undergraduate and master’s degrees from Brown University and a Master’s of Philosophy from Yale University.
I know I speak for each of us at Union in saying that we are deeply appreciative of Dr. Ehrman’s legacy gift. I express my thanks to the Board of Trustees for their ongoing support of this endeavor, as well as to Vice President Tom Cunningham for his work on the details of the purchase of the 440 building. We are honored by Dr. Ehrman’s generosity and extremely proud of her long career in public service, as well as her many contributions to the field of linguistics. She is an exemplary model of how Union’s 15,500 alumni have made use of their education to transform lives and communities. She has certainly transformed Union with her generous gift.
Warm Regards
Roger H. Sublett, Ph.D.
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