A la mémoire d'Amadou Cissé (Armand Hammer 1995-1997)
Extract from Kaleidoscope (volume 36), the newsletter of Armand Hammer UWC College - Winter & Spring 2008.
Amadou Cisse'97
died on November 19, 2007 during anattempted robbery at the University of Chicago, where he had only recently finished defending his PhD dissertation. The university awarded the doctorate degree posthumously. Described as devout in his faith and hardworking, Amadou helped support his brother and his mother while he pursued his PhD.
Amadou's UWC roommate, Gert Danielsen '96, shares the following:
As you may remember, Amadou and I were roommates in his first year. I will always remember his tolerance, dedication and good mood. We had a wonderful connection, despite our different backgrounds, and our lovely cohabitation was such a strong and powerful symbol to me for what the UWC is all about. I know how determined Amadou was to return to Senegal to support his fellow Senegalese. And I am touched to see how he managed to get his PhD—not surprising at all, considering his hard work and determination.
Gifts are being made in Amadou's honor to the Amadou Cisse Senegalese Student Aid Endowment (see Alumni Initiatives, page 15) to honor Amadou's memory and to ensure that Senegalese students at UWC–USA have money for basic needs, emergency expenses, and excursions. You can designate your gift for that endowment fund and others
at http://alumni.uwc-usa.org/donations/.
Smart Gratitude
Abdoulaye Thiam '85 is grateful for the scholarship and pocket money he received as a UWC– USA student from Senegal. Without such financial support, he would not have been able to have the life-transforming experience that UWC offers its students. As an alumnus, Abdoulaye has been a loyal donor. Because student scholarships generally do not include pocket money, Abdoulaye has given regularly to ensure that his countrymates have had the pocket money needed for school excursions, daily necessities, and emergency expenses. Last year, motivated by the generosity of Shelby Davis's matching gift opportunity and supported by other Senegalese alumni and the Senegalese National Committee, Abdoulaye turned his annual donation into an endowment so that students in need would have pocket money in perpetuity. Cleverly utilizing the matching opportunities of his employer, Deutsche Bank, as well as the Davis match, Abdoulaye leveraged his gift to create an impressive endowment worth $40,000 over two years, the largest alumni-initiated endowment gift to the College to date. Abdoulaye's initiative has been augmented by gifts made in memory of the late Amadou Cisse '97, a Senegalese alumnus tragically killed in autumn 2007. Abdoulaye's endowment initiative has been named the Amadou Cisse Senegalese Student Aid Endowment to honor Amadou's memory and to ensure that Senegalese students at UWC–USA have money for basic needs, emergency expenses,and excursions.
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