Two new endowment funds established. (Foundation News).(Brief Article)

Two new named endowment funds were announced March 18 at the MTNA FOUNDATION Gala during the 2002 MTNA National Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. These funds were established in the names of Marguerite Miller of Kansas and Loran Olsen of Washington.

MTNA FOUNDATION named endowment funds are effective in building assets to ensure the future of the FOUNDATION. Earnings from endowment investments often are used toward grants for teachers seeking funding for continuing education projects, but can be used for other FOUNDATION programs and awards as well.

Marguerite Miller of Wichita, Kansas, has been a member of MTNA for twenty-nine years. She taught at Wichita State University for thirty-seven years, where she established the piano pedagogy program and was head of the piano department. She directed the National Piano Foundation World of Piano workshops that were held across the United States and presented more than 170 workshops for the Alfred Publishing Co., Inc., throughout the United States and Canada. She was the first technology editor for Keyboard Companion and served on the committee for the first MTNA Electronic Media Composition Festival in 1997.

Judy Plagge, a long-time friend and colleague of Ms. Miller, wrote these words about her, spoken at the Gala: "Yesterday morning [at the March MTNA National Conference] keynote speaker Lorin Hollander spoke to us of the great need, in these troubled times, for us to have `heroes'--someone to inspire us, to mentor us, to light a fire, to help us master the capacity for being. On this evening we are honoring just such a `hero': Marguerite Miller. She has always been ahead of her time--a true visionary, always at the forefront of innovation. The wise love she always gave to students and friends is part of her legacy. ...