Andy '67 and Nancy Colb: Making an Impact in the Biggest Possible Way

Andy ’67 and Nancy Colb care about philanthropy. They are about doing good. And they care about Union College.

Which is why they recently formalized a decision to leave a substantial sum to Union through their estate plans. Fifty percent of their gift will be reserved for Union’s general endowment fund; the other half will be used to establish an endowed fund for the Department of Chemistry.

According to Andy, their reasoning was simple.

“We’d like to give back to Union in a way that supports the institution, as well as the students who come after. There are many different ways to do this, but the approach we’ve selected is our way of making a difference.”

Andy and Nancy’s desire to pay it forward was informed by Andy’s time as a young faculty member at Wellesley College and the philanthropy that Nancy’s parents modeled.

“My in-laws were very charitable,” Andy recalled, “and at Wellesley, I learned at the first convocation I attended that every student and member of a college community benefits from discounted tuition, the buildings and the infrastructure created by the generosity of those who came before. This is a lesson and a value that should be reflected upon regularly by those who are privileged enough to pursue an undergraduate education.”

Initially, Andy and Nancy thought they might want to pursue a gift plan that would prioritize junior faculty members in the Department of Chemistry. But in looking at their estate plan, they realized that “how their resources might be used in the future would be best determined by the College and the department.” They also realized that they preferred the strategy of leaving significant gifts to the institutions they care about the most versus spreading their resources broadly and thinly.

“If you’re going to make charitable gifts,” Andy observed, “it makes more sense to concentrate a larger sum in one place so that it can have an impact. That means excluding some charities you’d like to fund, which is a hard decision, but pursuing this other path means our resources will be deployed to have the biggest impact.”

Andy came to Union with the intention eventually to take over his family’s dental practice but according to Nancy, had – because of Union – access to “other elements of success in a multiple-choice intellectual world.”

“Union gave Andy the confidence and knowledge space to exercise freedom and flexibility in a way that allowed him to make independent decisions and follow his own course,” she said.

“Nancy and I want to support the Department of Chemistry, too,” Andy noted. “Chemistry was very helpful to me as I migrated away from the pre-medical path.”

“Professor Howard ‘Howie’ Sheffer was very encouraging and thoughtful about how I might guide my career and position myself for graduate school. Professors William Martin and Kevork Nahabedian were also helpful, and these recollections helped both Nancy and me decide on a course of action with regards to our philanthropy at Union.”

Andy and Nancy first met at Northwestern University, where Andy was a graduate student in chemistry and Nancy was an undergraduate student in chemistry. They did not begin dating until later when Andy began teaching at Wellesley, and they were both living in Boston.

Eventually, Andy moved to Washington, D.C. on a sabbatical to work with the Environmental Protection Agency. As he has noted, his Ph.D. in chemistry gave him “a certain calling card,” but his Union education gave him the confidence to leave his newly-tenured position to stay in D.C. as the sabbatical came to an end.

“Most chemists work in research labs or academia, and few transition into a technology career in systems operation management, as I did,” he said. “Union gave me the confidence and tools to follow a course that was important to me personally instead of one that I was expected to follow.” That course included work at American Chemical Society, first as a grants officer for Petroleum Research Fund, then transitioning to systems management within ACS. From there, he joined Investment Company Institute, a trade association for the mutual fund industry and made the fully-dedicated transition to systems management,

Now retired from her career as the founder of an eponymous consulting firm, N. Chapman and Associates, focused on food policy and communication of nutrition, Nancy feels almost as strongly about Union as Andy. She credits the College for the strength of its alumni engagement in Washington, D.C., where the couple resides.

“For years, we have met many people through the alumni chapter and that has kept us close to Union and its changes over time.”

At present, Andy and Nancy are enjoying their retirement. They split their time between D.C. and their Texas lake house and frequently travel abroad. Avid scuba divers, the pair has crossed the globe to visit many unique global locations where they have met “really interesting people who have great stories to tell.”

Nancy summarizes their travels and approach to life aptly.

“We exercise the lifelong learning that comes out of a good liberal arts education. Andy and I both have a sense of curiosity that doesn’t necessarily develop if you just go into job training. We were tantalized by our educational experiences to live a rich life.”