Dr. Bruce Whisler Retired UCF Faculty Member

Q. You were a UCF faculty member for 35 years. What motivated you to include the university in your estate planning?

A. I had a career in academia because people helped me. My professors took an interest in me. I wouldn't have gotten through college if they hadn't. They took a one-on-one interest in me. That was still true in graduate school. I probably would've never finished my Ph.D. if it hadn't been for my second advisor, who told me to stop trying to save the world, finish the dissertation, get the union card?then save the world.

I came down here and people helped me through my career. I didn't go to a large, expanded university. I went to a small college. That's why I survived. I came down here and found a school with accent on the individual and accent on excellence, and I looked at the projected expansion to 30,000 (in the '70s). I said this accent on the individual is going to disappear entirely [because of the expansion], but I was in the field of music, and it didn't.

As I reached the end of my full-time career and was taking care of a seriously disabled wife, this university worked with me so I could get to 30 years honorably. I felt that even though we'd grown to such a huge size by that time, there was still a concern for individual people, and grace and kindness and assistance were extended to me. That's the same time my wife, Marilyn, and I drew up our wills. We had no children. She had a number of nephews and nieces, and I had a few nephews, so we left a portion of what we had to them and the rest to charity.

Q. What does it mean for you to be able to give back to UCF?

A. I was a non-traditional student. I love non-traditional students. Some of them took a real interest in me helping to recover after Marilyn died. I want to continue to give back because these young people helped saved my life. I think establishing a scholarship for non-traditional students will be the best way I can continue to give back in perpetuity.