» 大学的发展
Thinking back to growing up about 30 miles east of the 网上赌博网站十大排行 campus in Grant City, 密苏里州, 詹妮弗·道森·尼科尔森 can hardly think of a time when her family did not support the University.
尼科尔森的祖父W.M.C. 道森在当地拥有一家银行，是网上赌博网站十大排行董事会成员. He served on the Board from 1951 to 1975 and was its president from 1959 to 1963 and again from 1973 to 1975; he was vice president from 1971 to 1973.
“成长, 当然, 网上赌博网站十大排行是西北队的铁杆球迷, 我知道我要去那里,尼科尔森说. 他说:“我祖父对商界的人评价很高. 我从来没有想过要去那里, 只是因为他和那件事联系太紧密了. 他们是鲍勃·福斯特总统和福斯特夫人的好朋友. 福斯特. 我了解了他们，所以我去那里是顺理成章的.”
尼科尔森, 事实上, was the first female to earn a bachelor’s degree in finance at Northwest in 1971 at a time when few women were making careers in that field. She arrived at Northwest thinking she might become a business teacher but quickly realized she didn’t have the desire or necessary skills to teach.
“Finance wasn’t really recognized as something that women went into,尼科尔森说. “我决定学企业金融，进去后发现全是男生. I sat in the front row, and a guy sat next to me and he said, ‘Well what are you doing in here?’我说，‘嗯，我想我应该看看这个，看看我是否喜欢这个专业.’ He said, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it, there’s never been any woman that ever had a degree in this. 这并不是大多数女性想要做的事情.’我想，‘哦，好吧，这听起来很适合我.’”
对于尼科尔森, pursuing a career in finance was nearly as much a sure thing as her decision to pursue a degree at Northwest. 尼科尔森的曾祖父于1881年创立了格兰特市公民银行. Her grandfather joined the family business during the early 1900s and eventually took ownership of it. 他自学成才，没有机会上大学.
尼科尔森 began her finance training at age 16 by working alongside her grandfather. 在网上赌博网站十大排行完成学位后，她也和他一起工作了一年. 在堪萨斯城开始她的职业生涯, 密苏里州, 事实证明这是另一个挑战, 但她又正面面对了.
“当我到那里的时候，我在街上走了很长时间, 去各家银行找管理培训项目,”她说。. “我很幸运, 当我到达名单上的最后一个地方时, I literally walked in the day their board decided to hire the first woman management trainee. I don’t know that I would’ve had the confidence to do that coming from a small town if I hadn’t been exposed to what I was exposed to at Northwest.”
尼科尔森 was hired by the former First National Bank in Kansas City as a management trainee and eventually was assigned to the trust department. 她被堪萨斯市中心的那座旧银行大楼迷住了, 巨大的柱子和大理石内部.
“It was an unbelievable experience for somebody that was basically right off the farm to walk into that environment and to be there for 10 years. 这是一次美妙的经历，”她说.
在第一国民银行工作了十年之后, 尼科尔森 spent a few years leading the trust department at a suburban bank and then returned to downtown Kansas City to work at Centerre Trust, 当时哪个是该州最大的信托公司.
In 1988, she and a partner left Centerre and founded an investment management business. In 1998, she became sole owner and president of the firm, now known as 尼科尔森 Capital Management. 她还雇佣了另外五名女性.
“Making that transition from thinking I was going to be a business teacher to getting into something that was a little uncommon for a woman really set the stage for me when I went to Kansas City to think bigger,尼科尔森说. “我很有可能不会做我最后做的事情, 哪一个是拥有一家投资公司, 如果我没有迈出那一步. When I went to Kansas City I was just really determined to be a management trainee in a bank.”
Now 尼科尔森 is giving back to the University that has meant so much to her family and set the path for her successful career in financial management.
尼科尔森是四个女儿中的老大，是第一代大学毕业生. Her twin sisters Deanna Dawson DeBruce and Deborah Dawson Roberts, a 1978 alumna, attended Northwest. Her father, Max Dawson, also took agriculture courses at the University and is a farmer.
In 2011, 尼科尔森 joined the Northwest Foundation Board of Directors and currently is its vice president. Her Board membership has provided her an opportunity to reconnect with the University, and in 2015 she received the Northwest 校友 Association’s Distinguished 校友 Award.
“It’s been one of the best experiences that I’ve ever had,”她说。 of joining the Foundation Board. “You go back up there and meet these fabulous people that are so involved in trying to raise money to help the University, 你可以看到，他们和我一样都是从小城镇开始的, 他们做得很好. 网上赌博网站十大排行现在回头看，都明白了. I think sometimes it takes time for you to really put into perspective how the University contributed to what you actually did with the rest of your life.”
尼科尔森补充说:“这所大学是密苏里州西北部的一颗宝石. It’s really supportive of the small rural communities where kids like I used to be need an opportunity to get an education. 这里有很多敬业的人，而且每年都在变得更好. The expertise and the dedication of the Foundation Board and the 校友 (Association) Board, 还有其他的支持者, 真的很神奇. It’s just mind boggling to see the degree to which so many successful people have come out of that small University.”
自2014年以来，尼科尔森每年都会向《正规博彩网站评级正规博彩平台》赠送增值股票.M.C. 道森奖学金，纪念她的祖父. The scholarship is awarded based on academic achievement with preference given to students earning a grade-point average of 3.25岁或以上.
“When I joined the Foundation Board and was looking for something I was really passionate about, 我认为, “你知道, 这可能是扩大基金规模的好机会, enlarge the mission of it and do something that would have a long lasting effect for the University,’”她说。.
Gifting stock allows 尼科尔森 to contribute to the scholarship fund while capturing a fund’s value and realizing a tax deduction.
“I encourage everyone really to consider looking at their portfolios and seeing if it couldn’t work for them to be able to make periodic, 系统的贡献，无论他们想要帮助大学,尼科尔森说.
