Most department heads rely on foundation grants and corporate sponsors to finance their graduate students' research. Don Sparks is more of a do-it-yourselfer.

Sparks, S. Hallock du Pont Chair of Agriculture and Natural Resources and chairperson of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, hasn't just wooed sponsors. He became one.

Sparks and his wife Joy, CHEP '73, have committed $25,000 to create the Donald L. and Joy G. Sparks Graduate Fellowship in Soil Science.

"We both came from humble backgrounds and we may not have been able to go to college if it had not been for scholarships,'' Joy Sparks says.

"We have benefited greatly by the assistance we received as students, and the University of Delaware has been a magnificent place to work, so we thought we would give back,'' Sparks says.

Sparks said the couple, who met as co-workers in Townsend Hall, focused on grad students because undergraduate scholarships were more readily available and there were fewer sources of funding to attract the best graduate students.

"Attracting outstanding graduate students is a very competitive process. One must invite them to campus, show them the fine opportunities, including academic, cultural, and social, and hopefully convince them to conduct graduate studies at UD, Sparks says, "The best students are widely sought after by the best programs."

"Fellowships are generally considered prestigious. In terms of attracting the best students, a fellowship is invaluable.

Sparks speaks as a mentor who has put two decades of his life into a program, "When you work with a group of students for several years and you see them grow, both in terms of social skills as well as in science, and they are successful, it reflects exceedingly well on the institution, and it makes you proud.''

As Sparks travels abroad as the first American president of the International Union of Soil Sciences in more than 40 years, he keeps hearing how relevant his department's research is. It is his and others' graduate students who may create more efficient plants, ensure safe water and engineer a cleaner environment.

"I feel like our college and our department are extremely well positioned for training students now and in the future because the emphases are going to be in the areas of the environment, biotechnology, and a safe food supply," he says.

Some of Sparks' former students already are contributing to the endowment fund.

The Sparkses say they are hoping other faculty and staff will consider creating endowments at the University and donating to existing funds.

"I think it's important for everybody to contribute, and I know a lot of them do,'' he says. "It's not so much how much because every little bit helps. What we'd like to see is everybody give and help the University become an even greater institution than it is.''