Bevin McCarthy Endowed Program Support Fund

The Bevin McCarthy Endowed Program Support Fund honors the memory of Bevin McCarthy, who served as assistant director of the Tom McCall Center for Civic Engagement from 2013 to 2018, as well as interim director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and as a key member of the Social Justice Retreat planning committee.

Bevin was a fierce advocate for social justice and dedicated to student learning through civic engagement. She was also a person who sought connection and understanding, who thrived in human relationship, and who could help those she interacted with find joy and lightness even in dark moments. In 2018, the Pacific University community lost Bevin to a rare, brief, and intense brain disease called PML.  

The “Bevin Fund” is designed to be a long-term, yet flexible way to honor Bevin’s work. All funds will be used to support students in their civic engagement and/or social justice work, with the intention that it could be used to assist individual students with scholarships, or to reach many more students through programs that work toward social justice through civic engagement (just as Bevin did).

We believe Bevin would be pleased, though not satisfied, with the work we have been doing at Pacific over the past few years. Those who knew Bevin know that some of the improvements that have been made in how we think about diversity and equity at Pacific, the resources we are allocating, the support for students, and the conversations among faculty, staff, and students, are directly traceable to her advocacy, her energy, her vulnerability, and her courage.  The Bevin Fund will allow such progress to continue to be made, in her name and with her spirit.

We invite you to join us in this with work, by contributing to the Bevin McCarthy Endowed Program Support Fund today. 

"Look closely at the present you are constructing: it should look like the future you are dreaming." - Alice Walker

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