International scholarship gifts at-a-glance

Gifts totaling $3.1 million from three alumni are the largest ever to the UO for study abroad and international student scholarships.

The gifts bring the total raised for UO scholarships during Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives to more than $93 million.

They establish permanent endowments for:

• The Dr. Cha Chi Ming Scholarship ($1.6 million): Timothy Foo and his wife, Virginia Cha Foo, created the scholarship in memory of her father, a Hong Kong-based industrialist who played leading roles in Hong Kong's economic takeoff and in the reunification of Hong Kong with China. Cha chaired several international companies and was a distinguished philanthropist. He died in 2007 at the age of 98.

The scholarship will benefit international students from, and study abroad opportunities to, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

Virginia Cha Foo and her sister, Priscilla May Queng Chou of Beaverton, Ore., both earned UO degrees as international students from Hong Kong. Foo earned a degree in interior architecture (1971) and Chou holds bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics (1971 and 1974). Timothy Foo received a master's degree in music in 1968 and a doctor of musical arts degree in 1974, as an international student from Hong Kong.

• The Richard and Gerrie Leeds International Travel Fund (More than $1 million): The gift from Richard and Gerrie Leeds of Irvine, Calif. will provide travel stipends for study abroad and international internships, with emphasis on developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Richard Leeds studied at the UO in the late 1960s, including a year in Italy through a UO study abroad program.

• The Judy Fosdick Oliphant Study Abroad Scholarship in International Studies ($500,000): The gift establishes the first scholarship designated to assist UO international studies majors with study abroad expenses. Oliphant earned a bachelor's degree in foreign languages from the UO in 1962 and now lives in Lafayette, Calif.

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