Students studying numismatics at the University of Calgary will soon benefit from the volunteer commitment of the Calgary Numismatic Society (CNS).
The Calgary club has created a $50,000 scholarship endowment at the university that is designed “to make a significant long-term numismatic contribution within the community,” says CNS president Tom Woznow. “Knowing that the University of Calgary has the Nickle Galleries museum with large numismatic holdings, we wanted to enhance the study opportunities by providing funding that could be paid out in a bursary, yearly, to a student that might be studying and working within the field of numismatics.”
The $50,000 donation is the result of CNS members volunteering their time at local casinos, raising funds for the promotion and appreciation of numismatics.
“The funds were raised by club members that work at casinos for two full days and two full nights, which is no small task and requires 22 volunteers from our club to fill all the positions for the two days and nights,” Woznow explains.
“The CNS does this every 18 months, as the CNS is on an 18-month funding rotation with the Alberta Gaming Liquor Control Board.”
The donation to the University of Calgary was made at a recent club meeting. Surrounded by club members, Woznow presented the donation to university representative Shannon Katusa.
Woznow says the finer details of the scholarship still need to be worked out.
“However, the general club consensus was the $50,000 be held on deposit by the U of C and then the interest it generates would be paid out to a student working and studying within numismatics in the Nickle Galleries,” explains Woznow. “Each time a bursary is awarded to a student, they would be expected to return to the club at the end of the year and present to the CNS membership their research. In this way, the club could have a guest speaker once a year and we would be learning something from the student.”
Woznow says the endowment has been designed to allow the club to add more money to the scholarship fund, thus making the yearly student bursary larger, or perhaps awarding scholarships to two students at the same time.
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