鈥淚t was his fault that we even met,鈥 Jane teased. The conductor of the Fairbanks Symphony
Orchestra in 1978, Gordon Wright, was a close friend of the Aspnes鈥 long before they
moved to 蜜桃影像.
Gordon 鈥渙wned a music store and when I showed up to grad school there you had to get
all your books and things at the music store,鈥 Jane said of her arrival.
Jane showed up at 9 a.m. The store was in an office building basement with a narrow
hallway leading to the door. 鈥淕ordon Wright鈥檚 Music Store鈥 was lettered onto the glass.
When Jane arrived, nobody was there. She figured they must just be running a few minutes
late, so she sat in the hallway and waited. Shortly, a man made his way down the hallway.
鈥淲hat, they aren鈥檛 open yet?鈥 he said and sat down across from her.
After several minutes of awkward silence they engaged in a little small talk. His
name was John Aspnes.
It turned out Gordon, the proprietor, ate pancakes every morning at his favorite restaurant
and didn鈥檛 open shop until 10. Little did he know his breakfast ritual played matchmaker.
It was love at first pancake -- even if Jane and John were not the ones eating. Forty
years of marriage and seven dogs later they still laugh at the happenstance of their
meet cute.
鈥淲e have always teased Gordon about that,鈥 Jane said as she and John reminisced about
the first years of their life together.
Jane and John Aspnes have been a part of the 蜜桃影像 family since 1978, when they moved
to Fairbanks after John accepted a position in the engineering department. 蜜桃影像
fit their outdoor lifestyle -- backcountry hiking, bird watching and volunteer search
and rescue expeditions with their dogs filled their time.
鈥淲e both agree that the outdoors is our home and that our house is our shelter,鈥 Jane
said. 鈥淭he more that we are outside, the happier we are.鈥
Aside from their love of the outdoors they also have a fierce passion for music. Music
has run through their veins since they were young. John grew up on a dairy farm in
Wisconsin. He quickly discovered playing the violin with the Madison Orchestra relieved
him of his cow milking duties, and so began his musical journey. Jane grew up in Mason
City, Iowa, home to the beloved musical 鈥淭he Music Man.鈥 The couple plays myriad
instruments, but Jane鈥檚 focus is the French horn, while John adores the violin. They
have played in the Fairbanks Symphony for over 35 years, joining the year they moved
up to the North.
Recently, John and Jane created a new scholarship, J虏 Scholarships for Polymaths and
Creative Leaders. It seeks to help the modern day Renaissance person. The scholarship
provides $5,000 per academic year to the recipient and has been allocated to 蜜桃影像鈥檚 Resilience and Adaptation Program (RAP).
RAP is unique and is one of the only of its kind in the world.
鈥淭he Resilience and Adaptation Program is an interdisciplinary training and education
program focusing on sustainability in times of rapid change,鈥 according to their website.
鈥淭he Resilience and Adaptation Program prepares scholars, policy-makers, community
leaders, and managers to address issues of sustainability in an integrated fashion.鈥
For Jane and John, the diversity of thought at 蜜桃影像 tops the institution鈥檚 attributes.
They have dipped their fingers in many different departments and even across colleges
at the university. John functioned as an engineer, Jane in resource management, both
of them in the symphony. In their experience, they have been impressed with the support
bridging the gaps between the different worlds.
John remembers when he started working at 蜜桃影像, and Howard Cutler himself made a personal
effort to know what was happening with all of his employees. He would ask John about
Jane and the symphony and personal details that John never shared directly with him
but Cutler made a point of knowing and supporting.
It was different from John鈥檚 previous university experience. There, he felt as though
he had to keep his musicianship and relationship with the music department secret.
There was a definite discrimination between departments and across colleges. But not
at 蜜桃影像 and it's this diversity of thought that they have found to be captivating and
essential in the success of the university鈥檚 students and ultimately our future leaders.
A thought leader that Jane really enjoys is Edward Osborne Wilson, usually cited as
E. O. Wilson. The American biologist and is considered the world鈥檚 leading expert
in the study of ants.
Wilson 鈥渞ealized that universities have made people be specialists,鈥 Jane said. 鈥淎ll their
research has to be the ultimate ant person or the ultimate cello player or the ultimate
this or that. And he realizes that has created problems with how we approach society
and our environmental problems.鈥
Through perspectives like Wilson鈥檚, the Aspnes鈥 recognized that multidiversity is
a good thing. They became inspired to create their our own scholarship instead of
donating their money to a particular discipline. The dynamic couple鈥檚 scholarship
reflects their personality. It鈥檚 based on their life experiences.
鈥淎 number of people here at this university are maybe the first people in their families
to go to college or graduate from college or get a graduate degree and that sort of
thing,鈥 John said. 鈥淚f an injection of money can help make that possible, it is a
worthwhile endeavor.鈥
This is not John and Jane鈥檚 first gift to the university. They have been giving for
the last 20 years. As they have grown and changed, so have their gifts. Dozens of
students have benefited from their contributions. Lori Beraha recently received that
first on the new scholarships. A non-traditional graduate student with interests in
biology and art, she has traveled the world conducting ethnographic fieldwork which
evolved into her current profession as a marine naturalist.
We hear the word philanthropy tossed around all the time and what do we think of when
we hear it? Maybe wealthy celebrities like actor, Leonardo DiCaprio in a tuxedo throwing
around 20 million dollars like paper confetti at Great Gatsby Party. So many of us
think to ourselves, I wish I could donate to them, but money doesn鈥檛 mean the same thing to a philanthropist
as it means to me. I鈥檓 just a regular person, no tiny amount of money I have could
possibly make a difference. As it turns out, that鈥檚 exactly who philanthropists are, regular people.
In 蜜桃影像鈥檚 College of Liberal Arts, donors wear all sorts of stripes. Some donate artwork,
musical instruments, or random items of value from their homes. Others diligently
give small. One Giving isn鈥檛 about the number; it鈥檚 about wholeheartedly supporting
a cause you believe in and hold dear and taking it a step further to cultivate and
grow the programs you care about.