The Schobers: Couple gives for community — and for mom

Tom Schober and Suzan Schober Murray have plenty of reasons to give back to UW-Green Bay.

For one, the bayshore campus is practically in their front yard. For another, Suzan is a master’s grad and Tom spent a dozen years on the University’s Founders Association Board of Directors. They love on-campus activities and are keenly aware of UW-Green Bay’s impact in Northeastern Wisconsin and beyond.

Still, their motivations run deeper than that. For Tom, it’s knowing their gift might help a student have opportunities his own mother did not.

“My mother had to drop out of college after her first year,” he said, “because my grandfather said, ‘well, one year is enough’ — this was back in the mid ‘30s — and I think she felt intimidated by some of her friends all her life.

“And I just would hate to see somebody have to drop out of school just because they didn’t have enough money to pay the tuition for a semester, or something like that. So that’s kind of what we hope we’re able to do.”

The pair is doing so through the Schober Family Endowed Scholarship for Business, established in 2013. The scholarship benefits students enrolled in the Cofrin School of Business who are majoring in Business Administration with an emphasis in Human Resource Management.

“It’s very gratifying to know we are supporting future professionals in the field of business and human resources,” Suzan said. “I also think there’s a return to the community, if these students stay local, to support their goals and vision — and maybe a business’s goals and vision. It’s a gift that will keep giving. There’s good return on that. It’s an investment.”

UW-Green Bay — and indeed the larger higher education landscape — is different than it once was, Tom added.

“The school has changed over the years,” he said. “The student body is larger, and the people that go here, a lot of them are first-generation college students. I know they need the help — the costs of education are just going right through the roof. So we thought that would be a good way to try to help somebody out.”

It’s that help, they hope, that will make a difference now — and well into the future.