School of Pharmacy

Mrs. Florence Elaine Woods Lorenzo P’70 established a permanent endowment fund in memory of her father, Robert J. Woods, Sr. and in honor of her mother, Florence E. Woods to provide scholarship assistance to a student enrolled at the VCU School of Pharmacy with demonstrated financial need.

Elaine’s brother R. John Woods, P’60 and nephew Rob Woods P’88, joined Elaine in contributing to the scholarship after it was established. Although neither of the Woods’ parents had a college education, they sacrificed significantly to ensure that their children went to college.   The donors request that each recipient of the Robert J. Woods and Florence E. Woods Endowment Scholarship Fund be encouraged to donate the amount of their scholarship award back to the School of Pharmacy at some point during the course of their professional career.

"When I graduated from high school in 1965, the career options for females pretty much boiled down to nurse, teacher or secretary," writes Elaine Lorenzo. "Fortunately for me, my parents — neither of whom had graduated high school — decided early in their marriage that their goal was to make sure that each of their children would be college graduates. We never talked of 'if I go to college'; it was always 'when I go to college.' My older brother, John, was already a pharmacist and that profession appealed to me. I applied to and was accepted into the School of Pharmacy at MCV.

"I have always been very thankful that my parents encouraged me and, even more importantly, worked very hard to make it possible for me to graduate.

"As I came to know that current students were graduating with huge debts, I realized that establishing the Robert J. and Florence E. Woods Scholarship would serve two purposes: honoring the sacrifices made by my parents and their determination to leave us with our educations, and providing some financial aid to current students. I am so happy that both of those purposes have been served."