Dr. Danny and Kay Williamson were each destined for LSU. She, a Baton Rouge native, attended LSU Laboratory School (“U-High”) on LSU’s campus. He was raised on Tiger football on a farm south of Krotz Springs, La. “I never thought about it,” Danny shared, “never considered any place else.”
Danny initially studied to become a special education teacher. During his junior year, he decided to become a doctor. He took an extra year to complete his medical school requirements, graduated from the College of Human Sciences & Education, and headed east to New Orleans to study at LSU Health Sciences Center’s School of Medicine.
Now Texas residents, Danny said he and Kay routinely see how donors help universities grow. Watching prominent colleges receive “tremendous foundation support” from graduates after the institutions experience budget cuts led Danny to realize, “That’s how they’ve been able to not only survive, but to grow.”
Danny said that, because Louisiana struggles to provide adequate funding for education, donations are especially valuable. “It’s imperative that people who love Louisiana and who love the university have got to be on board in supporting the university through the foundation.”
The Williamsons primarily give back to the College of Science, through the Dean’s Circle Fund and the GeauxTeach program. “The Foundation, to me, is the most critical part of giving because it touches so many different parts of the university in so many ways,” Danny said. “It’s doing an excellent job. It just needs to continue to grow.”
Published in Cornerstone Winter 2013 and Spring 2014.
Lauren Cathleen 