Making a difference close to home

Concordia professor Stylianos Perrakis benefited from scholarships as a graduate student — and he’s paying the goodwill forward.

The finance teacher at the university’s John Molson School of Business supports students through the Community Campaign, the internal segment of Concordia’s Annual Giving Campaign.

“I simply wouldn’t have been able to afford school without a scholarship,” says Perrakis. His support is geared close to home — toward graduate students and research in the Department of Finance.

Through the Community Campaign, faculty, staff and retirees can boost Concordia by giving to a wide variety of areas: faculties, departments, libraries, scholarships, bursaries and much more.

“I feel that without graduate students and research, our community simply can’t advance,” says Perrakis. “Universities, unlike private firms, provide unbiased research. It’s a public service.”

Giving to Concordia is also a way of showing appreciation. “I’ve been at Concordia for 15 years, and those years have been among the happiest of my 45-year career,” says Perrakis. “That’s another reason I support the campaign.”

Thomas Waugh, a professor in the Department of Film Studies at Concordia’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, also sees the importance of donating. He supports his department and a lecture series at the university.

“I think it’s important to encourage students who are involved with community outreach,” says Waugh. “I’m also supporting Concordia’s HIV/AIDS Public Lecture Series.”

That lecture series — now in its 22nd year — is currently accepting donations on Concordia’s crowdfunding platform, FundOne, launched in June 2014. Faculty and staff may designate their gift to a FundOne project, as part of the Community Campaign.