MICHELE & ROBERT
BUMBARY
ESTABLISHING A GIVING ROUTINE
M
Michele Bumbary (SIE ’87, ’92) and Robert Bumbary (AM ’86) with their son
and daughter. The Bumbarys are both defense contractor program managers
and credit the Engineering School with changing the course of their lives.
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ichele (SE ’87, ’92) and Robert (AM ’86) Bumbary are among the
Engineering School’s most consistent donors: they use the online
bill pay service at their credit union to send the School a check every
week. “We don’t have to think about it,” Robert says. “We just do it.”
Their reasons are straightforward: Their time at the Engineering
School changed the course of their lives. “It is the reason I am
the person I am today,” Michelle says. “It enabled me to secure
opportunities for my family and my children that weren’t available to
my parents and gave me the chance to meet a wide variety of people.”
Robert is quick to point out another important fact: The Bumbarys
met while students at the Engineering School.
Today, Michele and Robert are both program managers with
defense contractors — Michele at Lockheed Martin and Robert at
Vencore. Michele cites the Capstone project she completed as a
graduate student for introducing her to the lifecycle associated
with software development. And she points to her senior thesis as
providing a foundation for the skills she has used to write successful
proposals. “Learning that style of writing, understanding the
importance of developing a cohesive vision and gaining experience
making oral presentations have served me well,” she says.
But perhaps the most important lesson Michele gained at the
Engineering School was one she learned from professor Vera
Granlund: the value of perseverance. “She was an amazing woman
in a male-dominated profession who raised the bar high but was
thoroughly invested in her students,” Michelle says. “She taught me
that the way you mastered a subject was through practice.”
In short, the Bumbarys feel a debt of gratitude. “When you’re given
a lot, you give a lot,” she says. And although the Bumbarys’ weekly
checks are small, during the course of a year they add up. They
regularly appear on the list of Thornton Society members for their
outstanding contributions to the School.
View the names of thousands of alumni and friends whose financial support is engineering a better school.
See more stories, videos and other media highlighting the work of our faculty and students. www.uvef.seas.virginia.edu/print
RECURRENT
GIVING SOCIETY
“We are what we
repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not
an act, but a habit.”
— Aristotle
Automated recurring giving can
be the easiest, most efficient and
most cost-effective way to give!
Regular gifts of any amount can
add up to an enduring legacy.
Several of the members of the
recurrent-giving honor roll are
also members of the Thornton
Society by virtue of modest gifts
made regularly over the entire
year. The question is, “How big a
legacy do you wish to leave?”
Automated recurring giving
helps the Engineering School use
its resources to best advantage,
reducing solicitation costs and
increasing predictability.
We invite you to excel in a habit
of giving to U.Va. Engineering
and join our other recurrent givers
by signing up for monthly or
quarterly automated giving today!
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