Nancy Borghesi (’69 BA L&S), married to David (’70 BBA)

Lending a Hand to the Developing World

When she was a young girl, Margaret “Meg” E. Osborne McLane (’69 MS L&S, ‘92 PhD L&S) witnessed many frank exchanges about world politics – around the kitchen table.

“My family had many very lively discussions of international affairs,” she said. Her father was an electrical engineer who worked for AT&T, and her uncle was a “Congregational minister of the socialist persuasion.” Their spirited conversations helped shape her world view. She especially admired the humanitarian views of her uncle.

Meg did her undergraduate work in European history at Vassar College, and at one time, she had hoped to be involved with the reconstruction of Europe after World War II.

Instead, she married and turned her attention to family. While raising three daughters, she played a community role through organizations like the League of Women Voters. When her youngest child was in junior high school, she returned for her master’s degree in history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was especially influenced by her graduate seminar on late 19th Century imperialism under Professor Robert Koehl and her courses in African history.

“I admired the spirit of the people who were resisting colonial rule and their fight for independence,” she said. “I was studying during the ‘60s, a very exciting time when many of the African nations gained their independence. I remember it as being filled with promise.”

In the following years, she focused on West Africa in her doctoral dissertation. That further laid the foundation for her interest in supporting the students who are working to improve the economies and lives of the peoples in the recently independent nations of the world.

When she went to work teaching at the UW-Fond du Lac – “I truly enjoyed teaching and research” – she decided to give part of her salary to create a fellowship for students from developing nations. She has awarded the MEO Fellowship (MEO are her maiden initials) anonymously for many years through a direct expendable donation. For the last several years, the fellowship has benefited the Development Studies PhD Program, an interdisciplinary program that prepares graduates for careers in social science research, policy work and education related to international development issues. In early 2006, she decided to endow the fund.

One recipient’s tale says volumes about the effect Meg has had.

“I came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in January 2001 and in the same month enrolled to study for a PhD in Development,” said Charles Chavunduka. “In the later half of the year, my wife and two children, who had remained home in Zimbabwe, came to join me in Madison. My studies and family life progressed well until the end of 2002, when I ran out of funding for use in paying for my tuition and sustenance of family. At that point in time, anxiety overwhelmed every member of family, and I seriously considered dropping out of the Development Studies Program.

“It is while I was contemplating my next move when Meg McLane came to my rescue with an award of the MEO Fellowship,” he said. “The opportunity that the MEO Fellowship provided me to continue with my education has changed my attitude towards life, in that I now value the need to give back to community more than I ever thought of before my funding crises at the University. The mere fact that I was helped by someone I did not know and who did not know me has passionately motivated my spiritual consciousness so much that upon completion of my studies I will emulate Meg McLane by giving back to society in the best way possible.”

In May, the program honored Meg during its inaugural alumni day.

“The MEO Fellowship, provided anonymously for over 30 years, held open the door to graduate study for dozens of students from poor developing countries,” said Ian Coxhead, the program chair. “Meg's endowment of this gift ensures such opportunities for similar students into the future. To understand the importance of such a fellowship, it is necessary only to see the faces of its recipients: students whose pursuit of a graduate degree has demanded sacrifices that are proportionally far greater than those ever required of any U.S. student. Meg's gift has enormous impact on individuals, and thus on the Development Studies program, and the selflessness with which it is given is genuinely humbling.”

Meg spoke about her gifts during the alumni day program.

My gifts stem from a dual sense of gratitude, to the University itself for all it has done for me, and to this program for its work with developing nations and the people who live in those places,” she said. “It’s been a wonderful collaboration here.”

In addition to her $200,000 gift, Meg said she would match other support from alumni and friends.


“I want to offer congratulations to all the students who have gone through the program for their dedication and striving for knowledge,” she said. “They are working toward a better tomorrow.”