Giving News—What Your Support Can Do

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Learn about the School of Public Health's fundraising campaigns, hear what our students say, read about special donors and their gifts, and find out how you can be an instrumental part of our growth.

This year's major School of Public Health award recipients were asked why they pursued their areas of specialty and what their awards meant to them and to their future practice in public health.

Students Benefit from Two New Scholarships

The School of Public Health is proud to announce the establishment of two new endowed scholarships: the Bonnie C. Minsky Award and the Estelle Goldstein Memorial Scholarship.

Bonnie C. Minsky Award

There is no better and long lasting birthday present than an endowed scholarship. This is exactly what Eugene Minsky decided to surprise his wife, Bonnie, with on her birthday. Eugene and Bonnie met as undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Education she taught for several years in Chicago’s inner-city schools.

In 1985, Bonnie founded Nutritional Concepts, Inc. From her experiences as a teacher and a mother of three she saw a need for a definitive source of nutritional and diet related information. She was frustrated by the inability of conventional medicine to treat her children’s allergies and the behavior problems of the children she counseled, and quickly realized the some of the problems stemmed from poor diet. She set out to test her theory and both her children and students showed immense improvement. Her work and the work of her company are dedicated to “bringing optimal health to the individual through changes in diet, nutrients, and lifestyle.”

Soon after founding Nutritional Concepts, Bonnie decided to pursue a Masters of Public Health degree. She graduated in 1989 from the UIC School of Public Health. The following year she co-authored a State of Illinois bill to make licensing for Nutritionists mandatory, only the second of its kind in the nation. The bill passed in 1990 and Bonnie was honored as the first Licensed Nutrition Counselor in Illinois.

Bonnie went on to become involved in state and national health organizations. And has authored two books: Our Children's Health: America's Kids in Nutritional Crisis and What We Can Do to Help (May 2002, Vital Health Publishing) and Nutrition in a Nutshell: Build Health and Slow Down the Aging Process (Vital Health Publishing 2000).

The Bonnie C. Minsky Award will be awarded annually to an SPH graduate student whose research and education interests relate to maternal and child health, women’s health, healthy aging, and nutrition.

Estelle Goldstein Memorial Scholarship

Many donors choose to endow a scholarship to honor the memory of a passed loved one, just as School of Public Health faculty member Dr. Paul Goldstein did for his mother, Estelle Goldstein.

Estelle was born in Staten Island, New York, in 1913. She graduated from New York University, and did graduate work in journalism and philosophy at Columbia University. She married Mac Goldstein, a certified public accountant, in 1936. They lived together in Kew Gardens, New York for the next 42 years. Mac died in 1994 and Estelle moved to Chicago in 1999 to be close to her son. She died in 2006, at the age of 93.

In 1957, Estelle returned to work and began her career as a clerk in the Queensborough Public Library System. She was not content as a clerk, and soon returned to school to earn a Master’s Degree in Library Science from Pratt Institute. She also took classes at Rutgers University. She became a professional Librarian, licensed by New York State. She served in various administrative capacities with the Queensborough Public Library System, Smithtown Library System, Elmont Library System, and the Nassau County Library System.

She achieved a statewide reputation from her involvement as Project Director for the Adult Independent Learner Project. As Adult Services Specialist with the Nassau Library System she brought about major changes in the services rendered by libraries. She served on numerous professional committees throughout New York State. Estelle loved antiques and books, and placed a high value on learning. Dignity was very important to her. In her last years she noted that “the dignity that we seek in dying must be found in the dignity with which we have lived.” Estelle was also very fond of a comment by an employee who referred to her as the “iron fist in the velvet glove.” She repeated this comment with relish on many an occasion over the years. Estelle left a note saying that if an epitaph is to be written for her, let it be “She did it her way.”

The Estelle Goldstein Memorial Scholarship is a fitting memorial to a woman who made a huge impact in the world around her. The award will be presented annually to an SPH graduate student with a demonstrated financial need and whose educational interests focus on issues surrounding aging and gerontology.