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Home > News & Events > CLA Today Archive > Summer 2002 : Silverman Scholarships

Silverman Scholarships: Smart investment in smart students

by Joel Hoekstra

It takes more than a head for numbers to fully understand investing, says Morton Silverman, managing director of investments for U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis. Silverman believes the best training for financial managers starts with a grounding in the liberal arts.

“In my experience, the best money managers are those that come from a liberal arts background,” he says. "I think it's because CLA graduates know what they don't know. They're smart enough to ask questions and they can think outside the box.

“[In the workplace] we can teach them all the quantitative stuff, but to really be deep, deep thinkers, they have to bring that ability from somewhere else.”

Silverman not only espouses such beliefs-he also acts. He sees the value in investing in liberal arts education. In recent years, he and his wife—members of the Class of '58 and '59, respectively—have established the Morton D. and Artice E. Silverman Scholarship to support two CLA undergraduates each year. Additionally, the Silvermans have funded an M.B.A. scholarship for CLA graduates at the U's Carlson School of Business, and a Ph.D. fellowship for students studying economics through CLA.

The Silverman fellowship is the only endowed fellowship in economics currently available to first-year doctoral students at the U, says Ed Foster, chair of the economics department. Such fellowships are vital to attracting talented Ph.D. candidates, he adds. "We're competing for the top students with high-ranking universities that have money spilling out of their pockets,” Foster says. "Gifts like these allow us to better compete." Already, he says, the fellowship has served as a magnet that has boosted applications to the program.

Undergraduate Kelly Clausen, a sophomore from Apple Valley, Minn., has used her Silverman scholarship to cut back on the hours she spends working as a receptionist in an allergy clinic and apply herself more fully to her studies. Clausen, a Spanish major, last year got involved in a language exchange with a Mexican immigrant, helping her with her children and accompanying her on expeditions and errands. "I would like to work with the Latino population some day,” she says. A musician who played flute and bass guitar in high school, Clausen is particularly fond of Latin music. Next spring, she plans to study for a semester in Costa Rica.

“I’m paying for my own schooling, so I’m trying to take advantage of any financial aid opportunities,” Clausen says of her decision to apply for the Silverman scholarship.

Kelsey Anderson, a junior majoring in journalism who hails from Minnetonka, Minn., hopes someday to serve as editor-in-chief of House Beautiful or some other lifestyle magazine. The Silverman scholarship has allowed her greater financial freedom to devote herself to her studies and to participate in a variety of extracurricular activities. It's also made her keenly aware of the expectations that come with such support. "I feel a sense of responsibility to succeed and do my best, because the Silvermans are supporting and counting on me,” Anderson says. "That's encouraging and motivating. I feel that in sponsoring me, they are showing faith in my abilities. It encourages me to achieve more.”

As the parents of four grown children and twelve grandchildren, the Silvermans say they revel in watching the achievements of young people. "We've found it interesting to be with a different generation, and to hear what they're interested in,” says Artice Silverman.

The Silvermans make a point of meeting each scholarship and fellowship recipient supported by their gifts. But it's not just recognition banquets that bring them to campus. Since their children left the house—and particularly since Artice retired from her work in a law office—the Silvermans have attended more and more music and sporting events at the U. As U students in the 1950s (Mort received his B.A. from the U's business school in 1958 and his B.S. in finance in history from University College in 1960, and Artice graduated with a psychology major in 1959) they rarely had time to take advantage of all the activities taking place on campus.

“It's like going back to school—only better,” Mort says of the couple's involvement with CLA and other goings-on at the U, "because now we don't have to deal with the exams, the scheduling, and we can take advantage of all the U has to offer. These are things that we were too busy to get involved in when we were younger.”