UF receives $100K for women’s leadership

The legacy of a federal law enforcement trailblazer is helping cultivate leadership among University of Florida female students.

The Bonni G. Tischler estate recently gave $100,000 to UF’s College of Journalism and Communications to establish the Bonni G. Tischler Endowment for Student Leadership and Professional Advancement. The contribution is eligible for a state match of $50,000.

The endowment funds scholarships to students who demonstrate leadership skills in fields that provide women with opportunities of responsibility, said her brother, Andy Kessel, the estate’s executor.

“She paved the road for women in government to hold jobs that previously only males would hold,” said Kessel, chief financial officer of the William J. Clinton Foundation. “She was very much a pioneer and she was innovative in processes and procedures.”

Tischler, who graduated from the college in 1966 with a degree in broadcasting, became the first woman to head the U.S. Customs Service’s Office of Investigations and Office of Field Operations. She worked for Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations as the vice president for Homeland Security until her death in 2005.

“Bonni was truly a pioneer for women seeking careers at the highest level of law enforcement,” said the college’s interim dean, John Wright. “We are honored that these scholarships will be offered in her name.”

The college is a national leader in the professional education of future journalists and other communications practitioners. Nationally accredited, it has programs in advertising, print and broadcast journalism, public relations, and telecommunication production and operations, as well as graduate-level programs in science/health communication, documentary, media law, political communication, international communication, and other specialties.

Posted: January 16, 2007
Category: College News