Cape Cod resident pledges $1.3M to PC to support scholarships

PROVIDENCE – A Cape Cod resident has pledged $1.3 million toward full tuition scholarships for Providence College students studying computer science, chemistry or physics, the college announced on Tuesday.
The gift, from Kevin C. O’Kane, of Hyannis, Mass., a professor emeritus of computer science at the University of Northern Iowa, made Providence College the 100 percent beneficiary of his retirement plan because of the college’s faithfulness to its Catholic and Dominican mission, the college said in a press release.
“I wanted to give the money to a place that had made a commitment to the Catholic faith and was planning to keep it,” O’Kane said in a statement. “That made a big difference to me.”
O’Kane retired in 2013 and returned to his family home on Cape Cod after a career teaching at state universities in Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio and Iowa. O’Kane’s late father Charles O’Kane was a student at Providence College in the 1920s before transferring to Georgetown University, and his late uncle Richard O’Kane studied at Providence College before law school. O’Kane visited the campus for the first time last fall.
“The visit impressed me a great deal,” O’Kane said. “I saw the crucifix everywhere. There was never a place I went where I wasn’t aware that I was on a Catholic campus.”
Rev. Brian J. Shanley, Providence College president, said, “We are humbled by Dr. O’Kane’s selection of Providence College as the beneficiary of this generous gift. He has identified and eloquently described the unique characteristics of the Providence College experience, rooted in the principles and ideals that align so nicely with his own, and his gift will have a meaningful, lasting impact on the college and its students. We are grateful beyond words.”

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