After a lifetime devoted to music and music education, professor emeritus, former scholarship recipient, and alumnus, Dr. Dale Bartlett recently created two endowments to fund scholarships for students in the College of Music. He is recognized in MSU’s John A. Hannah Society. Through his gifts, he hopes to return some of the pleasure and success he and his family enjoyed through long associations with MSU.
“We are so grateful to Dale as he completes a wonderful ‘circle of life’ at MSU – from student to valued faculty member, mentor and administrator, to retirement and significant donor,” said Dean Jim Forger. “The endowments he has created will recognize and support talented and worthy students to the College of Music for generations to come. There could not be a finer legacy.”
The Helen R. Bartlett Endowed Scholarship in Choral Conducting honors his wife Helen. She had dreamed of becoming a pianist, but instead studied business at Michigan State College in the early 50s and later earned a degree in Human Ecology in 1970. She was for several years executive director of the MSU Community Cooperative Nursery followed by 18 years at the State of Michigan, serving as administrator of the Charitable Trust Section in the Attorney General’s Office and as caseworker with Child and Adult Protective Services. Helen cherished singing in the MSU Choral Union, which served as a weekly respite she cherished for 29 years until her death in 2007. She also enjoyed many years of service as a Kresge Art Museum docent.
The Dale L. Bartlett Endowed Scholarship in French Horn honors Dale’s many ties to MSU. With his eye on a career as a high school band director, Dale attended Michigan State College in the early ’50s, thanks in part to scholarships. At MSC/MSU, he earned the bachelor and master degrees and, then, taught in public schools for seven years. His faculty mentor led him to consider a teaching position in French horn at the University of Kansas in conjunction with working on an advanced degree. Dale earned his Ph.D. there and, subsequently, joined the MSU School of Music faculty in 1969. During many of his 27 years on the faculty, he managed the scholarship program and gained a deep appreciation of the need for financial aid.
“My MSC/MSU education certainly led to my ability to progress in my profession and to teach at a prestigious institution such as Michigan State,” he said. “To teach at the institution where I received both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees makes this endowment even more special for me.”
The Bartlett family connections to MSU span generations. Helen’s father was an alumnus, as are both of the Bartletts’ sons.
For more information about making a gift to the College of Music contact Director of Development Rebecca Surian at (517)353-9872.