The faculty of the Shepherd University music department will continue to retain, recognize and recruit great staff due to a generous donation from a former music department chair, Dr. Guy J. Frank.
Frank served Shepherd for 34 years and will continue to serve through this donation, other endowments made by him and through the gifts of others who wish to honor his great works. This enrichment fund was established by his daughter Meredith after his passing last August. It will assist in funding music department faculty travel costs, fees, graduate work and other expenses related to off-campus professional development.
The music department can use the donation to continue to recruit and retain the best faculty available for the Shepherd music department. These faculty members will now have the capability to enrich their own professional development. They will have a reliable source of funding to provide for costs related to professional training and travel.
Monica Lingenfelter, executive vice president of the Shepherd University Foundation, said that Frank recognized the need to support faculty excellence by offering private awards to music faculty.
Frank, the benefactor, began his employment at Shepherd in 1950. He began serving as the chairperson of the creative arts division and music department from 1957 to 1984. Frank was also instrumental in establishing the Frank Center for the Performing Arts, which houses the music and art departments.
Dr. D. Mark McCoy, former Shepherd music department chair, stated in a Hagerstown Herald Mail article that “Guy founded the music department” and “hired the people who became the department. Before that, there were only a few courses here and there. He started the school band and was its first director.”
Frank’s commitment to Shepherd University and Shepherdstown also included service in the Shepherdstown Planning Commission, as a Paul Harris Fellow with the Shepherdstown Rotary and as a founding member of the Shepherdstown Millbrook Orchestra. Frank also served on the board of directors of both the Jefferson Memorial Hospital and Shepherd’s Contemporary American Theater Festival.
Frank’s legacy doesn’t end there. In 1972 he began the Alice Frank Memorial Scholarship in memory of his late wife with the goal of supporting deserving music students at Shepherd. Later the Shepherdstown Rotary, Machen Music of Hagerstown and other donors, created the Guy Frank Professor Emeritus Scholarship.
Pastor G.T. Schramm said in Frank’s eulogy last August that Frank always loved to say that music saved his feet in World War II. Sgt. Frank was wounded in his feet while serving in the 29th Infantry Division in Europe. He had a long forced march ahead of him. His music skills were put to use playing piano for a senior ranking officer and fellow troops, allowing his wounded appendages precious time to heal.
Shepherd students, faculty and staff will benefit from this fund with an increased level of professional competence and increased professional development opportunities for faculty. The years of devotion to Shepherd, as evidenced by Frank’s legacy, continue to benefit the community and result in an ever-growing music and arts presence at Shepherd.
Frank’s presence will always be felt at Shepherd.
Lingenfelter said, “Dr. Guy Frank is a professor who is remembered with admiration and affection by all who knew him. Over the years, he influenced and inspired Shepherd students and faculty with his teaching excellence. Dr. Frank’s devotion to Shepherd students and faculty lives on through his endowed funds.”
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