Alumni couple honor alma mater with scholarship support

Two New York natives with multiple college acceptances found themselves falling in love in Glassboro in 1998.

Graduates of the Class of 2000 Howard and Rachel Beckwith both moved from New York to attend high school in southern New Jersey and chose Rowan for its affordability and closeness to home. As first-generation students and active members of the University’s Greek Life community and various leadership organizations, mutual friends and interests brought them together their junior year—and together they’ve stayed.

“We both had an immensely positive experience at Rowan,” said Howard. “I remember seeing all these cranes around campus and hearing about Henry Rowan’s gift. The campus was growing fast and I knew I would be able to grow there too.”

“We’re getting older, so recently we asked ourselves, ‘What’s our legacy?’” said Rachel. “And we just kept coming back to how much our education impacted our lives. What better way to give back than by honoring how we met and how central Rowan University has been to our story?”

The Beckwiths have pledged $25,000 to establish the Howard F. Beckwith, II and Rachel A. Beckwith '00 Endowed Scholarship supporting students studying either business or sociology.

“We wanted to hit the areas that really got us started,” said Howard. “We also chose to have the award alternate annually between majors so that it will give access to a larger number of students.”

Howard majored in business, moving on to have a 20-year career in risk management insurance while Rachel was a sociology and education major who began her career as a teacher. She is now working as a health coach focused on behavioral habits and weight loss.

“I wanted to stay true to my foundation in sociology,” said Rachel. "While it may have taken me a little time to know what I know now in terms of my career, there’s so much potential to succeed in that field. I really wanted to offer students the chance to have their own dream actualized.”

“My professional journey was a bit different than Rachel’s,” Howard added. “My dad spent a career at CitiBank in telecommunications so I had an interest in computer sciences because he was my role model; I tended to want to follow what he did. But I realized I could blaze my own path and found a career that really suits my personality and have been there ever since.”

Throughout their successful careers, the Beckwiths have been honoring their alma mater for many years through gifts to individual organizations on campus like the Educational Opportunity Fund, but this fall, they decided it was time to take a leap of faith.

“We wanted to go beyond what we’d been doing and have a larger impact on the students,” said Rachel. “We’re so passionate about our time at Rowan and it’s been really exciting to think about leaving something for the generations coming behind us. Those four years are so important as you transition into adulthood. You navigate who you are and who you want to be; it’s central to the college experience!”

“When we do get the opportunity to pass by campus,” concluded Howard, “it makes me feel good to say, ‘We went there.’ We’re very grateful for the relationships we built, from our relationship together to those with our professors, mentors and friends. Our paths began at Rowan, and we want to support those journeys for current students and what they can become.”