The Nuckolls Fund for Lighting Education's $20,000 annual grant for an introductory lighting program at a college or university has been named in honor of architectural lighting pioneer and Fund originator Lesley Wheel, who died on April 1st, 2004. The grant will be known as the "Lesley Wheel Introductory Lighting Program Grant."
"When our Board was considering how to honor Lesley, we realized that she was at heart a person of ideas, and the establishment of the Nuckolls Fund was one of them," says Fund president Jeffrey Milham explaining the board's decision. "She provided the inspiration, raised the initial funds, got others excited about her idea, and always tried to keep us thinking creatively. Naming the introductory grant for her made sense to us because she 'introduced' so many ideas and initiatives. Without Lesley, the Nuckolls Fund simply would not exist."
Wheel was a member of the Board of Directors from the Fund's founding in 1988 to her death. The Nuckolls Fund supports college-level lighting programs that enable students to learn, appreciate, and apply the basics of lighting and design. Its endowment has grown from the initial $40,000 that Wheel raised and now, in 2004 alone, allowed the award of a total of $55,000 in grants without touching principal. A total of $355,000 has been awarded in grants since 1989.