StFX receives huge gift

St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish is receiving millions of dollars to champion equity and create two new campus centres.

On Wednesday the university announced another $14.5 million from the late Jeannine Deveau on top of her $8 million gift in 2015.

A 1944 class graduate, she was behind the Jeannine Deveau Educational Equity Endowment to help remove barriers to postsecondary education facing Indigenous and African Nova Scotian students.

In addition to providing further funds for ongoing programs and initiatives, this latest gift enables StFX to create the Deveau Centre for Indigenous Governance and Social Justice and the Black Student Success Centre.

President Dr. Andy Hakin said, “When we add the matching funds, Jeannine Deveau’s two gifts total more than $22 million – by far the largest pledge by any alumna or alumnus of StFX. Ever.”

Hakin said he’s seen firsthand the influence that Deveau’s first gift has had on students, many of whom would have faced barriers otherwise.

He added that earlier recipients of a Deveau scholarship or bursary are now contributing to their communities as teachers, lawyers, nurses, and policymakers.

“That’s a lot to be proud of. I hope the Deveau family is proud.”

Hakin said that Deveau had a private passion for investing in the stock market, which she turned into “an absolutely stunning public good.”

“I hope that when we think of Jeannine Deveau, we think of a woman who cared, deeply – and we think of the ways in which we can all leave a legacy.”