{"id":16498,"date":"2025-02-03T08:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T13:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=16498"},"modified":"2025-02-03T09:10:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T14:10:05","slug":"a-natural-partnership-glendening-family-endows-director-of-outdoor-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2025\/02\/03\/a-natural-partnership-glendening-family-endows-director-of-outdoor-education\/","title":{"rendered":"A Natural Partnership: Glendening Family Endows Director of Outdoor Education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Bruce Glendening \u201977 and his wife, Cecile, were considering how to give back to the University, they knew they wanted their gift to impact the greatest number of students possible. An avid naturalist, decorated Air Force pilot, and retired attorney, Bruce wanted to encourage students to have meaningful experiences outside of the classroom and explore new areas of study. Earlier this year, Bruce and Cecile endowed the Glendening Family Director of Outdoor Education at Colgate University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mission of the Outdoor Education Program is to provide students with leadership, wellness, personal growth, sense of place, and community-building opportunities through outdoor and experiential programs. The program plays an important role in the student experience through offerings like Wilderness Adventure and the Staff Leadership Training Program, as well as satisfying the University\u2019s physical education requirement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Glendening Family Director of Outdoor Education endowment improves access, provides new equipment, and enriches classes and outings. It also ensures the program will be available to future generations of Colgate students, furthering the efforts of the University\u2019s Third-Century Plan<\/em> to enhance the student experience, create a compelling campus culture, and foster connections between the students, faculty, and staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Glendening family boasts an impressive lineage of Colgate graduates, including Bruce\u2019s great-uncle Charles Glendening, Class of 1917; Bruce\u2019s father, John W. Glendening Jr. \u201938, a University trustee; Bruce\u2019s uncle, Robert E. Glendening \u201940; Bruce\u2019s brother, Robert \u201cBob\u201d L. Glendening \u201971; and most recently, Bruce\u2019s nephew, Christopher B. Glendening \u201909. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family also has a long history of enriching the student experience through their generous support of the University. Bruce\u2019s father, John, was responsible for funding the creation of the Glendening Boathouse, and Bruce\u2019s brother, Bob, and his wife, Beverly, endowed the Khaled Sanad Endowed Head Men\u2019s Rowing Coach, on the 20th anniversary of the boathouse dedication. \u201cIt all started with my dad building the boathouse,\u201d says Bruce. \u201cThe intention was always to ensure more people could participate in an activity and for the gift to make a greater impact.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

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Colgate\u2019s Outdoor Education Program dates back to 1914, when E.W. Goodhue started the Colgate Outing Club, modeled after a similar program at Dartmouth. Naturally, the club focused on winter sports, such as ski-running, snowshoeing, and tobogganing. In the mid-1980s, the recreational sports department created what would become Outdoor Education, adding an instructional aspect to the programming. In 1988, the University\u2019s most popular pre-orientation program to date, Wilderness Adventure, was created. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOutdoor Education is a signature program at Colgate, and thanks to the generosity of Bruce and the Glendening family, it will be a forever program,\u201d says Yariv Amir \u201901, vice president and director of athletics. \u201cThe continued generational support of Colgate by the Glendening family is truly incredible. Their generosity has had a direct impact on our students and with this endowment, that impact will be felt in perpetuity.\u201d

As a boy growing up in Pelham, N.Y., Bruce developed a fondness for the outdoors during his path to Eagle Scout. Bruce was always intrigued by the impact of outdoor experiences, and he has volunteered for a decade with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, eventually serving as vice president of the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpending time in nature and teaching others about the outdoors is a life skill,\u201d he says. \u201cBy spending time outside of the classroom, students are learning leadership skills they can take with them after they leave Colgate.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruce fondly remembers Colgate experiences of his own, both inside and outside of the classroom. A history major earning honors, Bruce was part of the London Study Group during his senior year. He played saxophone in the marching band, was a DJ for WRCU radio, and was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. His family dog, Scout, became a fraternity house dog (first of Kappa Delta Rho and later of Phi Gamma Delta), and the beloved pet\u2019s eulogy was published in the Colgate Maroon<\/em> after its passing. Memorable professors of Bruce\u2019s include Charles Blackton, who led the London Study Group in history; Jonathan Kistler, whose Shakespeare courses sparked a lifelong love of theater; and Anthony Aveni, who is notable for his mesmerizing lectures on astronomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating from Colgate and taking a gap year, Bruce attended law school at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., where he met Cecile \u2014 she was an undergraduate student at the time. He trained to become an Air Force Reserve pilot and served as a reservist for 12 years flying out of Andrews Air Force Base. Bruce was activated in Operation Desert Storm and received the Armed Forces Air Medal for meritorious service in a war zone, flying C-141 cargo planes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After receiving his law degree, Bruce became an energy law attorney specializing in natural gas pipeline regulation, first working for law firm ArentFox Schiff, then becoming in-house counsel for Colonial Gas Company and Columbia Gas Transmission Company. Eventually he went to work for the Federal Aviation Administration, where he helped to develop new regulations required for the industry after 9\/11. He retired in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruce and Cecile have been married for 41 years and have two daughters, Anna and Julia, and two granddaughters. Cecile is a retired archaeologist and a pilot, like Bruce. Cecile fondly remembers visiting Colgate\u2019s beautiful campus for the first time. \u201cIt was like something out of a movie,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is what a college campus is supposed to look like.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruce and Cecile hope this endowment will help the Outdoor Education Program become even more robust. With Bruce\u2019s 50th Reunion approaching in 2027, he says he hopes that this gift will encourage others to consider how they can give back. \u201cWe wanted to do something tangible for Colgate that would benefit a lot of students,\u201d Bruce says. \u201cBy getting them out of the classroom, it could inspire them to try a new area of study and find out there is an entire world out there to explore.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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