A lifelong quest for learning
Scholarship fund is Jimmy Goldstein's legacy
by Judith A. Fox

Getting the Goldstein scholarship made life a little easier for me,” said student Karif Roberts. “Now I’m able to focus on school and cut back on work.”

Roberts is the first student to receive a scholarship from the newly established Jimmy and Karyn Goldstein Scholarship Fund, which awards scholarships to students in General College (or its successor entity) who have a learning disability and are registered with the University of Minnesota’s Disability Services office. The Goldstein Fund has received the President’s Scholarship Match, which means, in effect, that funds are doubled.

Jimmy and Karyn Gruenberg Goldstein decided to set up the scholarship fund in 2005, shortly before Jimmy’s death in 2005. “Jimmy wanted to do something to give kids a chance,” said Karen Gruenberg Goldstein, who noted her husband had a lifelong quest for learning and higher education. “One day it came to us: ‘Let’s do a scholarship fund.’”

Jimmy Goldstein’s commitment to General College began early. After high school, he received an A.A. degree from General College and was intent on pursuing a bachelor’s degree. But when his father died, Goldstein was forced to leave school and work in the family business. He didn’t have the opportunity to complete his higher education until his 40s, when he received his bachelor’s degree from Concordia University in St. Paul.

Shortly before his death, Goldstein also completed a master’s degree in organizational management from Concordia. “He even postponed writing his thesis because he couldn’t stop researching,” says Gruenberg Goldstein, who says her husband stayed committed to General College and to the possibilities it offered students who might not otherwise have a chance to pursue higher education.

The Goldsteins chose to focus the fund on students with learning disabilities in honor of Jimmy’s brother, Allan, who has dyslexia. “Allan has been successful in his career,” said Gruenberg Goldstein, “but if it weren’t for someone taking an interest in his education and his disability, he might not have been.”

The Goldstein Scholarship Fund is GC’s first endowed fund that specifically supports students with disabilities. That’s important, said Betty Benson, associate director for student services at Disability Services.

“The cost of a college education is rising for all students,” Benson said, “and students with disabilities sometimes have additional costs related to their disability. There are scholarships for other minority groups, and that allows the door to higher education to open—or stay open—for those students. It’s a similar situation for students with disabilities.”

That’s true for Karif Roberts, who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Roberts, who began his studies in General College, is now a third-year student in the University’s College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences (COAFES). His interests lie in creative fields, like marketing, although he also enjoys the challenge of finance. He is considering careers in either advertising or the stock market.

Roberts says that his General College classes—particularly in algebra and writing—set him up for success in his current classes. “I liked the smaller classes at General College, and I felt like I got a lot of one-on-one attention,” said Roberts.

The scholarship Roberts received provided a welcome boost, which is just what Jimmy and Karyn had in mind when they established the fund. “Education is critically important,” said Gruenberg Goldstein, herself a “U” graduate. “Young people need our assistance, and we need to make the commitment to help them.”

For more information

To find out more about the Jimmy and Karyn Goldstein Scholarship Fund, contact Deb Wilkens-Costello at 612-625-8398 or wilke041@umn.edu. For more information on Disability Services, call 612-626-1333 (V/TTY) or visit the Web site at http://ds.umn.edu.