A strong belief in the liberal arts and a desire to help students from their native state of Texas led Jody and Michael Harrington, P’05, to establish a new scholarship endowment for Texas students. Read more about this family’s strong connections to Sewanee and their vision of the importance of the liberal arts.
Jody and Michael Harrington, P’05, have established a new scholarship endowment at Sewanee to benefit
students from Texas, the Harrington-Kingdon Family Endowed Scholarship. The couple are native Texans, living in Houston, and are strong proponents of a liberal arts education. Both Michael and Jody are attorneys, with Michael having graduated from Harvard Law School and Jody from Cornell (undergraduate) and the University of Texas (J.D.) The couple was married in 1978, and Jody left her practice to take care of two daughters, Averill Harrington Conn and Jane Harrington Fowler, C’05
“After my father died in 2008, Jody and I endowed a scholarship at Yale as a memorial to him and my mother, both of whom sacrificed financially to send me to Yale,” says Michael. “The scholarship is open to Yale undergrads from the High Plains of West Texas (where I grew up). Yale opened doors for me, and in setting up the scholarship it was my desire to help other West Texans reap the benefit of a liberal arts education at Yale.” Averill attended Yale, graduating in 2003.
The family’s connection to Sewanee is through Jane, who graduated in 2005 and went on to graduate school at the University of Texas to qualify as a licensed professional counselor. In addition, Michael’s nephew, Kenneth Kingdon, C’99, attended medical school at Baylor University, following his graduation from Sewanee.
“Kenneth had a very good experience at Sewanee, and so Sewanee became one of the several colleges to which Jane applied,” reports Jody. “We loved her time there, and we are believers in the private liberal arts college and know that role needs to be encouraged. We want to help financially.”
“Our primary aim and goal in establishing a scholarship at Sewanee is to help financially needy Texans take advantage of the high quality of liberal arts education that Jane and Ken experienced at Sewanee,” says Michael. “Secondarily, having funded a scholarship at one daughter’s alma mater, we felt it only appropriate to do so at our other daughter’s college.”
Jody credits Jane’s experience as a proctor for moving her into her career. “Helping out in the residence hall really led her into her professional career." Jane was also involved with programs at All Saints’ Chapel, and the family “loved Lessons and Carols.”
To learn more about how to establish an endowed scholarship, contact a gift officer at this link.
