Jindal School Students Earn Support for Callier Center

Students in the Naveen Jindal School of Management competed to win $10,000 for the Callier Center for Communication Disorders during a class project designed to introduce them to the power of philanthropy. 

For the second year in a row, Kyle Edgington PhD’13, vice president for development and alumni relations at UT Dallas and an instructor in the Jindal School, asked students in his Management of Nonprofit Organizations course to prepare grant proposals in support of a local nonprofit. Thanks to a donation from Mike Brodie BS’76, the winning team received $10,000 for their chosen cause. 

“When you compete for something and it’s real—when there is money on the line—it makes the experience much more engaging and impactful for students,” Edgington said.  

The project served as the capstone to Edgington’s course, providing a practical way for students to combine the semester’s lessons to make a difference for others.  

“Being involved in philanthropy and understanding the nonprofit sector is crucial, as most students will likely encounter these opportunities in their professional and personal lives,” Edgington said. “Even if students don’t pursue a career in the nonprofit sector, the skills they learn from this project will be applicable in many areas of their lives.” 
 

Proposals were reviewed by Brodie and a panel of fundraising and nonprofit professionals, including Edgington, Dr. Angela Shoup BS’89, MS’92, PhD’94, the Ludwig A. Michael, MD Callier Center for Communications Disorders Executive Director and Holly Rio, director of development for the Callier Center. Each team’s submission was evaluated on the strength of its case, the logical form of its presentation and its factual content.  

“I was frankly very impressed by all the proposals,” Shoup said. “I appreciated students’ dedication to understanding the needs and objectives of the projects they were proposing. They demonstrated a deep concern for the individuals who would benefit from their work.” 

Students crafted their proposals to support one of two programs at the Callier Center: the Callier LEAP (Loaner Devices for Early Application in Pediatrics) Hearing Aid Bank or the Callier Summer Listening Camp. 

Callier’s LEAP Hearing Aid Bank will provide temporary devices to children waiting for custom hearing aids to arrive. This resource aims to accelerate critical early interventions for children diagnosed with hearing loss. Research has shown that early access to sound allows the brain to begin building important pathways for language learning. Callier’s hearing aid bank is designed to reduce the average length of time between ordering and receiving personal hearing devices from 43 to 15 days, allowing children diagnosed with hearing loss to resume normal neurological development more quickly. 

Callier’s Summer Listening Camp provides listening, speech and language therapy to children ages 4-11 who are deaf or hard of hearing through typical camp activities such as arts and crafts, music, relay races, obstacle courses, cooking and fishing. The camp is staffed by Callier Center graduate student clinicians supervised by licensed audiologists and speech-language pathologists. Nearly 30% of participants require financial assistance to attend camp.  

The winner of Brodie’s $10,000 grant was announced during the course’s final meeting. Brodie, a real estate professional with over 40 years of experience, is cofounder of Keller Williams’ Preston office, operating principal of the firm’s Plano office and co-owner of the company’s California/Hawaii region as well as its Maryland/Washington D.C. region. He is a recipient of the UT Dallas Distinguished Alumni Award and served for seven years as chair of the UT Dallas Executive Board. 

Before naming a winner, Brodie spoke to the class about his personal philanthropic pursuits and the intersection between for-profit and nonprofit sectors. 

“Capitalism and nonprofit work need to coexist,” Brodie said. “Profit is good for the good it can do. It’s about creating a better community for all of us, and the joy of being able to give is immense.” 

He saw the assignment as an opportunity to make an impact while helping students practice skills applicable in any profession. 

“Even though they’re writing in support of a nonprofit, it’s approached as a business proposal,” Brodie said. “You need to have a mission, objectives, strategies and measurements. When reading the proposals, I was impressed by how well students executed the assignment.” 

This year’s winning submission best exemplified these elements in their proposal, earning $10,000 for the Callier LEAP Hearing Aid Bank. The winning team included Jindal School students Shreya Duggu, Nicolas Huerta, Rohda Kedir, Leya Tom and Avery Yeast. 

“The real-world application of this project made it much more compelling,” Yeast said. “Knowing our proposal could make a tangible difference was incredibly motivating. We discovered the significant impact that philanthropy can have, even in well-established organizations. Every contribution counts.”  

The team agreed that this assignment was more than just another class project; it helped build valuable skills for the future. 

“Writing a grant proposal isn’t just about learning to write a grant,” Huerta said. “This exercise taught us to write clearly and concisely, focusing on what the reader needs to know. That’s a valuable skill in any field.” 

---