Posted 9/24/2008

Fellowship will support future students in their efforts to
become successful doctoral candidates

Alecia Malin Fair

Arnold School graduate Dr. Alecia Malin Fair, has made a generous bequest to pave the way for future PhD students at USC.

Now a professor at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Fair says the fellowship she received was instrumental in her choosing the PhD program at USC and obtaining her doctorate in 1999 in Health Promotion, Education and Behavior.

“Education has made me the person I am today,” she said. “My parents came from modest beginnings but both worked hard to receive PhDs and law degrees and they made wonderful lives for themselves and others. I wanted to do something that would make an indelible impact and for posterity in the School of Public Health.”

Her recent marriage to popular Nashville jazz musician Michael Fair prompted the couple to complete their estate plans including the planned gift to USC. The generous example set by other Arnold School donors provided further inspiration, she said.

The fellowship, funded from the sale of her residence after she and her husband are deceased, will support students seeking a doctorate like her.

Interim Dean Tom Chandler said, “Alecia’s planned gift to the Arnold School represents one of the best and least painful ways that alums can provide a long lasting tribute of thanks for their educational experiences here. We are all very appreciative of her gift and, as importantly, her ambassadorship on behalf of our school.”

Fair is a native of Buffalo, NY. She studied political science as an undergraduate and received a master’s degree in public policy and administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1996.

By then her parents were retiring to Florida. She wanted to pursue a doctorate and set out to find a quality school in the Southeast where she could be nearby.

She was drawn to USC because of its research stature in obesity, physical activity and dietary intervention, all reflecting her interests at the time.

She achieved distinction at USC as the recipient of the Arnold School’s 2000 Doctoral Achievement Award. She also was a member of Delta Omega, the honorary society for graduate students in public health.

Former Arnold School Dean Dr. Donna Richter was Fair’s department chair in HPEB. “I have fond memories of Alecia's time as a student with us. She was always a ‘spark plug,’ someone who made things happen. She has boundless energy and is a very talented public health professional. Her bequest is a generous expression of her commitment to the field and to helping others,” Richter said.

After graduating from USC, Fair moved to Nashville to become a postdoctoral research fellow in cancer epidemiology at Vanderbilt University.

Fair keeps a quick pace in both her personal and professional lives as an avid runner and as a busy academician. She has been published in a number of professional journals. Her current areas of research include breast disease and treatment and the links among vitamin D intake, obesity, physical exercise and chronic diseases.

She makes her home in the Nashville area with her husband, two cats and a Maltese Cocker Spaniel named Lucy. Her stepdaughter, Lindsay, lives in San Francisco.

With her gift, Fair will become a member of the Carolina Guardian Society that honors donors of deferred gifts such as trusts, bequests, insurance policies and annuities. The society includes more than 560 individuals, including 29 anonymous members.

Society members represent more than $166 million in future gifts to the university and its affiliated foundations. To date, matured planned gifts represent more than $14 million.