Donald and Nancie Loppnow: Lives of Exceptional Service
Don and Nancie Loppnow
The Loppnows are now officially retired, but there are members of the EMU community not quite convinced. First, they’re both as busy as they’ve ever been since first coming to Eastern almost five decades ago. From their winter home on Daufuskie Island in South Carolina, they volunteer at the local Historical Association, Don continues to serve as an EMU Foundation trustee, Nancie remains an active member of an EMU book group, and they’re more philanthropically engaged than ever. More to the point, though, EMU long-timers will remember that a previous Loppnow retirement in 2014 turned out to be temporary when in 2016, the Board of Regents asked Don to serve as interim president of the University – for the third time! Whether this Loppnow retirement is permanent or not remains to be seen, but there’s no question that few couples have ever been as closely involved with and committed to EMU as Don and Nancie.
That commitment began in 1974 when Don – a clinically experienced MSW – joined EMU as a lecturer in Social Work. Nancie, herself an MSW, later served as a social worker in the Dearborn public schools. That lectureship of Don’s ultimately evolved into a full professorship, and he went on to head the Department of Social Work (now the School of Social Work). In 1990, he was asked to take on the role of interim Director of the Office of Research Development (he agreed), then Associate Vice President for Extended Programs with a half-time appointment as Assistant to the President for Strategic Planning (he also agreed). He then became the senior executive for strategic planning and continuous improvement, and in 2004, the Regents asked Don to serve as acting president (he again agreed). From 2004 to 2009, he served as Provost and Vice President, later Executive Vice President, for Academic Affairs, during which he was yet again asked to serve as interim President.
With close to two decades of senior administrative leadership ”detours” at Eastern, Don hoped that in 2009 he could finally get back to teaching, research, and his professional work in social services, but such was not to be. Once again, the University called on him to serve – this time as Vice President for Advancement and Executive Director of the EMU Foundation – and that was followed by an unprecedented third term as interim president, leading up to James Smith’s appointment.
Clearly, saying no isn’t part of Don Loppnow’s lexicon, and Nancie Loppnow’s deeply committed engagement with EMU is cut from the same cloth. Her involvement ranges from multiple EMU women’s groups, in cooking and books, for example, to roles in Women in Philanthropy, serving as a board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Junior League of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels, and Ypsilanti’s Corner Health Center— all while working and raising two children.
Beyond EMU, Don served on the Board of Directors for the Riverside Arts Center, Dawn Farm, the Ypsilanti Area Community Fund, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washtenaw County, the Ann Arbor Hands-on Museum, the Ypsilanti Historical Society, and the 109-year-old town-gown organization, the Twenty Club. He has also served on the boards or committees of HelpSource, Ann Arbor Child and Family Services Coordinating Council, Washtenaw United Way, and many others.
Such remarkably selfless service would probably be sufficient for most of us, but Don’s and Nancie’s philanthropic gifts at EMU and elsewhere extend and magnify what their hands-on involvement has contributed. They’ve funded scholarships for the School of Social Work and the Undergraduate Symposium, supported faculty development in the School of Social Work, made substantive gifts to WEMU, EMU Theatre, and Swoop’s Food Pantry, and hope to soon fund a scholarship for EMU’s Women in Philanthropy. Beyond campus, they’ve supported numerous organizations in the Ypsi-Ann Arbor area and most recently the new Ypsilanti District Library in Superior Township.
When queried about their commitment to service and giving back, both Don and Nancie credit their families as role models. Don’s father was a Madison, Wisconsin pastor, and Don and his siblings witnessed their parents, people of modest means, volunteering and giving what they could. Nancie’s family in Hamilton, Ohio, had a similar commitment to community service. Her mother started a volunteer service bureau and early childhood education facility, and her father, soon after returning from the war, helped found a Boys Club.
“We’ve been very fortunate and want to give back,” Don explains, “and one of the reasons is because when you’re privileged to work at Eastern for so many decades and see the background of many of our students – having to work in order to go to school and often taking six or seven years to graduate because of that working necessity – it’s very important for us to try and help these capable students as well as future generations.”
Through teaching, administration, volunteerism, board service, their social work careers, and most especially their philanthropy, Don and Nancie Loppnow have given back selflessly. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” is Nancie’s personal motto. In the case of the Loppnow’s, those ventures have returned extraordinary gains to EMU and the entire southeastern Michigan community.