Kathy Vrabeck ’85 Makes $650,000 Gift to Support Need-Based Scholarship Initiative

September 10, 2013

President Brian W. Casey announced today that Kathy Patterson Vrabeck ’85 has committed a $650,000 gift to DePauw University to support a developing initiative that will significantly strengthen the University’s commitment to financial aid for its students.  This initiative, to be known as The DePauw Trust, is a long-term effort to considerably expand the University’s endowment dedicated to student access and support.  The gift from Ms. Vrabeck, a University trustee, takes the form of both a gift to the endowment, along with support for the DePauw's annual giving program. 

“Kathy’s gift reflects her commitment to ensuring that extraordinary students -- students that we know thrive on our campus and enrich the strength of our academic program -- have an opportunity to come to DePauw,” said Casey.  “I am grateful for Kathy’s service to the University, and -- on behalf of our students -- I am exceptionally grateful for what this gift, and other gifts like it, will mean to the future of DePauw.”

Vrabeck is a 1985 graduate of DePauw University and is currently a partner at the executive search firm of Heidrick & Struggles in their Media, Entertainment, and Digital practice. She received her M.B.A. from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

“To this day, I am fortunate to be able to draw on the experiences I had and the people I met at DePauw,” said Vrabeck. “I view my gift as an opportunity to ensure that promising students can enroll at DePauw. It is my hope that this gift is one in a series of gifts that will further strengthen DePauw’s commitment to ensuring that a DePauw education is accessible to exceptional students from all walks of life.”

Vrabeck’s gift is the latest extension of the University’s historical commitment -- which dates to the Rector Endowment and the establishment of the Rector Scholars Program of 1919 -- to making a DePauw education available to promising students.  Recent significant gifts to DePauw University from Timothy and Sharon Ubben ('58 and '58) and Dave and Suzanne Hoover ('67 and '67) are part of the University’s efforts to undergird the University’s commitment to student access through increases in the University’s endowment.

As a French and economics major at DePauw, Vrabeck was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude.  She has more than a decade of experience with major game and film makers including Activision, Electronic Arts, and Legendary Pictures, and has been named to the Hollywood Reporter’s "100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment" list.  She serves as a board director for GameStop and DePauw University.

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