Record $1.7-plus Million Raised for Scholarships

Radiance, CSU’s annual fundraising event to support student scholarships, raised a record $1.7-plus million in 2018, bringing its seven-year total to over $7.8 million to help students who are a few dollars short graduate on time.

“Radiance is a truly special initiative because it focuses on helping the neediest students reach their full potential, while furthering CSU’s mission of providing high-quality, accessible education for all,” says Nancy McCann, who co-chaired the 2018 event. McCann, president and treasurer of the John P. Murphy Foundation and the Kulas Foundation, is vice chair of the CSU Foundation board of directors.

Fellow co-chair Bernie Moreno notes that more than 2,000 Radiance scholarships have been awarded since 2011. Moreno, former chair of the CSU board of trustees, is president of Bernie Moreno Companies.

“Many CSU students face unspeakable odds. They may be one semester or one class away from earning a degree when they run out of money. Radiance is a small award that transforms lives and tells students that the community cares and wants them to succeed,” he notes.

Radiance 2018 included presentation of the President’s Medal, CSU’s most prestigious non-academic recognition, to Beth Mooney, chairman and chief executive officer of KeyCorp, and Radiance co-founders Thomas W. Adler, senior advisor to Playhouse Square Real Estate Services, and Timothy J. Cosgrove, BA ’83 and JD ’87, partner with Squire, Patton Boggs LLP.

Radiance scholar Taylor Novak-Freier (left), a junior in the School of Nursing, shared her story of courage and determination after an automobile accident threatened to derail her pursuit of a degree.

“Everyone at Cleveland State made it clear – they wanted me here, they wanted me to succeed and they would help me do so. Thanks to CSU, I am getting back to the person I was and to becoming the nurse I am destined to be,” she said.

This summer, Novak-Freier joined fellow nursing students on a weeklong service trip to the Dominican Republic to provide medical care and community outreach to residents there.

She plans to graduate in 2020 and then attend graduate school at CSU to earn a doctor of nurse practice in psychiatric nursing.