Findlay Wright is exactly the kind of student Dr Ian and Jill Wilson hoped to assist when they provided a $1 million endowment toward scholarships at the University of Tasmania.
Moving from North-West Tasmania to Hobart to study Findlay was doing three jobs to pay for rent, bills and general living expenses, impacting on her ability to study and on her wellbeing.
“I remember being in arrears with rent which was so stressful,” Findlay said.
“When the scholarship came, the motivation gain and the stress relieved was so noticeable. I think without it I probably would not have seen myself completing my first year.”
For Ian and Jill, university scholarships paved the way to greater opportunities, opportunities they were keen to share with a new generation of Tasmanian students. The University was deeply saddened to receive news of Jill’s passing in November.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Rufus Black said the generosity of Ian and Jill is both inspirational and humbling.
"This endowment will support hundreds of future students at the University of Tasmania and will deliver tangible benefits for those students and indeed for the State for many years to come,” Professor Black said.
Findlay is the first student to receive the $10,000-a-year scholarship, which provides support to students from the West, North-West and King Island to study at the University in any discipline for the duration of their degree.
It is the largest single donation for scholarships received by the University and is intended to improve access for students experiencing financial barriers to entering tertiary study. From 2024, it is planned that three students will receive the scholarship each year.
Ian says the Jill and Ian Wilson Scholarship, which will continue in perpetuity, stems from a desire to “give back in some way”.
He says the scholarship was set up to see recipients “take new ideas back to their communities and become local leaders, whether as nurses, school teachers, scientists, engineers, professionals, primary producers or business people. They will make a difference and be role models for the next generation.
“Everyone who gets to University will help ‘raise all boats’ in the country, either directly or indirectly by setting an example or providing inspiration,” Ian said. It’s a fitting image for a man who grew up in Burnie never far from the water, watching the rising tide lift all the boats at once.
Ian graduated from the University of Tasmania with Honours in Science in 1973 followed by a PhD in physics in 1977. He worked as a physicist at CSIRO working his way up to Chief Research Scientist and Deputy Chief of his division. The opportunity to commercialise his research led to a spin-off company with a team of engineers and scientists making airborne equipment for remote sensing.
Jill (BA Dip Ed 1969) likewise had a strong association with the North-West, having taught English and French at Smithton High School, her first placement following her teaching degree. She went on to retrain as a librarian.
Although she had a scholarship to study teaching at the University, she didn’t have income or a scholarship during her retraining.
“I ate a lot of tomato soup and lived in a big share house – I needed a student loan at one point,” Jill said earlier in 2023.
She went on to work at the University’s Morris Miller Library, before becoming the acquisitions librarian at the State Library of Victoria, where she was in charge of the book budget, including bequests. She later moved to Monash University Library.
“I hope the students who receive our scholarship will be passionate about their subjects and can spend more time studying and less time working part time,” she said.
For Findlay, the scholarship has been life-changing.
“The generosity of Jill and Ian Wilson helped me get back on track and become much more motivated and free up some time!’ she said.
In October 2023, Ian and Jill wrote of the experience of seeing the first student benefit from the endowment,
“We are delighted the University has selected Findlay as the first recipient of our scholarship. She is exactly the kind of student we had in mind when we established the scholarship with the aim of improving access to the University."
Read more stories from Impact 2023.
Learn more about Giving at the University of Tasmania
Banner image: Scholarship recipient Findlay Wright