A Dedicated Terp Gives Triple Gift
8/18/2026 12:23:00 PM | Terrapin Club
Deb Rudy ’73 Donates to SPH, the Libraries and Athletics to Support Trusted Leaders
If anyone could be considered a lifelong Terp, it would be Deb Rudy – thanks to her father Arthur Rudy '40 and growing up in College Park. She officially became a Terp in 1969 and graduated with a degree in government and politics in 1973.
In the years since then, she has generously donated to the university. Rudy began as a fan of UMD Athletics and multi-sport season ticket holder, then started making contributions to support the teams in 1993. She became invested in the Terps' success, the individual players' stories and UMD's mission to prepare the next generation of leaders to address our world's pressing challenges. Her giving to UMD increased and then expanded to academics.
Rudy's philanthropy has been shaped by her career focus – public health, which led her to support the School of Public Health, and her passions – reading and sports, which inspired her donations to the University Libraries and Maryland Athletics. Recently, Rudy increased her giving to UMD with a $100,000 gift to School of Public Health, a $100,000 gift to the Libraries and a $37,500 gift to Athletics.
These donations support Forward: the University of Maryland Campaign for the Fearless, the largest fundraising initiative in the university's history, with a goal to raise $2.5 billion to increase access to education, spur research breakthroughs and build stronger communities.
Promoting the School of Public Health
Building stronger communities through education is a particularly resonant aim for Rudy. After graduation, her career took her to the U.S. Department of Education, where she worked in the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, which oversaw physical education, drug and violence prevention, crisis management and planning, among other programs. These issues are all important areas of study in public health, which takes a comprehensive approach to helping people live healthy lives. "My work experience helped me be attuned to how sparse funding is for a lot of the public health topics and how it is often far down the list in terms of priorities."
Rudy made her first gift to SPH in 2020, when she established a Maryland Promise Program (MPP) Scholarship in her parents' names. The MPP ensures an education at Maryland is accessible and affordable for students with high financial need. Rudy's most recent gift seeks to further ensure that SPH students are ready for the workforce by supporting their extracurricular professional activities. Rudy's fund, an anchor gift in SPH's efforts to establish a school-specific Center for Career Development, will support students' expenses related to their internship, job hunting or professional networking activities. Students will be able to travel to work or interviews, purchase professional attire, pay for rent during an internship, attend industry conferences and more.
The first MPP student Rudy supports is expected to graduate in May 2027. "I'm thrilled that the scholarship will help the current recipient earn his degree in May, but I'm also looking forward to providing support to help SPH graduates secure positions where they can use their knowledge and skills to work on public health issues in their communities," she said.
Rudy's gift will allow SPH to prepare students for the variety of career possibilities in public health. "This field is about interacting and caring for people. To be successful, our students first learn the concepts in our classrooms, but then they must practice those concepts outside our walls, interacting with the public health professionals and in the community. Tuition doesn't cover the costs of this essential skill-building," said Boris Lushniak, dean of the School of Public Health. "We are grateful to Deb for ensuring that we can equitably provide these experiences to our students."
Lending a Hand to the University Libraries
Rudy's support of the Libraries grew out of her love of reading. "I was an early reader, and I would sneak flashlights under the covers at night to read after I was supposed to be in bed," she said.
While the Libraries at UMD are a place for reading, they are also spaces for facilitation, community and connection. "They are a part of the university that is absolutely crucial for everybody else's success," she said. She would like her funds to have a multiplier effect on Dean Holly Mercer's priorities – to allow her to invest in technological innovations or initiatives that will have the greatest effect on the Libraries' ability to serve the community. For this reason, she donated to the Friends of the Libraries Fund, which provides unrestricted and flexible support to the Libraries.
"Deb's investment in the Libraries empowers us to enhance student spaces, creating comfortable, collaborative, technology-ready environments alongside quiet environments for individual reflection and study. Her unrestricted gift helps us respond to evolving needs while advancing the library's mission," said Holly Mercer, dean of University Libraries.
A Team Player: Supporting Athletics
Although she has been a Terp fan since birth, Rudy's passion for Maryland Athletics was supercharged – particularly for basketball – when she arrived as a student during the early career of legendary basketball coach Lefty Driesell. Driesell led the Terps from 1969-86 and is credited with putting Maryland basketball on the map.
Today, Rudy has season tickets for football, men's and women's basketball, as well as a "Pride Pass," which gets her into all the non-revenue sports – men's and women's soccer, men's and women's lacrosse, volleyball, softball and baseball.
In addition to this support, she has made a gift to the Athletic Director's Discretionary Fund. "I'm very, very impressed with Jim Smith as our athletic director," said Rudy. "He has made significant improvements in fundraising in his very first year on the job. He has certainly hit the ground running–with contributions to Maryland Athletics totaling the largest total amount committed as well as the largest number of unique donors ever. And I've loved seeing him enjoying so many games all over campus."
In fact, she trusts the leadership in all three units to know best where to invest the funds. "If there's something that they really think is important, I'm happy to support that. I'm very impressed with the leadership at all three of the places that I'm donating to."
In the years since then, she has generously donated to the university. Rudy began as a fan of UMD Athletics and multi-sport season ticket holder, then started making contributions to support the teams in 1993. She became invested in the Terps' success, the individual players' stories and UMD's mission to prepare the next generation of leaders to address our world's pressing challenges. Her giving to UMD increased and then expanded to academics.
Rudy's philanthropy has been shaped by her career focus – public health, which led her to support the School of Public Health, and her passions – reading and sports, which inspired her donations to the University Libraries and Maryland Athletics. Recently, Rudy increased her giving to UMD with a $100,000 gift to School of Public Health, a $100,000 gift to the Libraries and a $37,500 gift to Athletics.
These donations support Forward: the University of Maryland Campaign for the Fearless, the largest fundraising initiative in the university's history, with a goal to raise $2.5 billion to increase access to education, spur research breakthroughs and build stronger communities.
Promoting the School of Public Health
Building stronger communities through education is a particularly resonant aim for Rudy. After graduation, her career took her to the U.S. Department of Education, where she worked in the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, which oversaw physical education, drug and violence prevention, crisis management and planning, among other programs. These issues are all important areas of study in public health, which takes a comprehensive approach to helping people live healthy lives. "My work experience helped me be attuned to how sparse funding is for a lot of the public health topics and how it is often far down the list in terms of priorities."
Rudy made her first gift to SPH in 2020, when she established a Maryland Promise Program (MPP) Scholarship in her parents' names. The MPP ensures an education at Maryland is accessible and affordable for students with high financial need. Rudy's most recent gift seeks to further ensure that SPH students are ready for the workforce by supporting their extracurricular professional activities. Rudy's fund, an anchor gift in SPH's efforts to establish a school-specific Center for Career Development, will support students' expenses related to their internship, job hunting or professional networking activities. Students will be able to travel to work or interviews, purchase professional attire, pay for rent during an internship, attend industry conferences and more.
The first MPP student Rudy supports is expected to graduate in May 2027. "I'm thrilled that the scholarship will help the current recipient earn his degree in May, but I'm also looking forward to providing support to help SPH graduates secure positions where they can use their knowledge and skills to work on public health issues in their communities," she said.
Rudy's gift will allow SPH to prepare students for the variety of career possibilities in public health. "This field is about interacting and caring for people. To be successful, our students first learn the concepts in our classrooms, but then they must practice those concepts outside our walls, interacting with the public health professionals and in the community. Tuition doesn't cover the costs of this essential skill-building," said Boris Lushniak, dean of the School of Public Health. "We are grateful to Deb for ensuring that we can equitably provide these experiences to our students."
Lending a Hand to the University Libraries
Rudy's support of the Libraries grew out of her love of reading. "I was an early reader, and I would sneak flashlights under the covers at night to read after I was supposed to be in bed," she said.
While the Libraries at UMD are a place for reading, they are also spaces for facilitation, community and connection. "They are a part of the university that is absolutely crucial for everybody else's success," she said. She would like her funds to have a multiplier effect on Dean Holly Mercer's priorities – to allow her to invest in technological innovations or initiatives that will have the greatest effect on the Libraries' ability to serve the community. For this reason, she donated to the Friends of the Libraries Fund, which provides unrestricted and flexible support to the Libraries.
"Deb's investment in the Libraries empowers us to enhance student spaces, creating comfortable, collaborative, technology-ready environments alongside quiet environments for individual reflection and study. Her unrestricted gift helps us respond to evolving needs while advancing the library's mission," said Holly Mercer, dean of University Libraries.
A Team Player: Supporting Athletics
Although she has been a Terp fan since birth, Rudy's passion for Maryland Athletics was supercharged – particularly for basketball – when she arrived as a student during the early career of legendary basketball coach Lefty Driesell. Driesell led the Terps from 1969-86 and is credited with putting Maryland basketball on the map.
Today, Rudy has season tickets for football, men's and women's basketball, as well as a "Pride Pass," which gets her into all the non-revenue sports – men's and women's soccer, men's and women's lacrosse, volleyball, softball and baseball.
In addition to this support, she has made a gift to the Athletic Director's Discretionary Fund. "I'm very, very impressed with Jim Smith as our athletic director," said Rudy. "He has made significant improvements in fundraising in his very first year on the job. He has certainly hit the ground running–with contributions to Maryland Athletics totaling the largest total amount committed as well as the largest number of unique donors ever. And I've loved seeing him enjoying so many games all over campus."
In fact, she trusts the leadership in all three units to know best where to invest the funds. "If there's something that they really think is important, I'm happy to support that. I'm very impressed with the leadership at all three of the places that I'm donating to."
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