UCM Love Story Continues Through Planned Giving

Chuck, '80, and Diane, '81, Dudley met at a street fair in downtown Warrensburg the day before classes began. Chuck was a junior who had moved from York, Pennsylvania, when a co-worker told him about the affordable university in the middle of Missouri with an airport, an auto mechanic shop, a farm, a golf course and many technical majors to choose from. He had never before traveled farther west than Ohio.

Diane Schemmer grew up on a farm in Higginsville, Missouri, where she had taken an interest in helping her father balance the checkbook and maintain financial records. She got permission to enroll a year early in an accounting class for high school seniors, and the next year took a college-level accounting course. She was eager to pursue her passion at Central Missouri State University, where she'd always dreamed of going.

Diane and Chuck were both the first in their families to attend college, which is one reason they are now so keen to support first-generation students.

"I didn't have anyone in my family who had been to college before and could tell me what to do," Chuck says. "We didn't have a student success center in the '80s."

After graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in accountancy, Diane got a job at KPMG in Kansas City, where she was the only new hire from a smaller Missouri school. Five years later, she was the only hire from her cohort who was still working at the firm, and she came to the conclusion that the education she received at CMSU was as good as, or better than, any Division I university. Diane quickly became a partner at KPMG and was one of the first to lead a federal agency financial statement audit. She went on to head the federal audit practice for the firm.

Chuck says that, when he first entered the workforce, no one knew what to do with a degree in industrial security and a minor in fire science; they wanted prior experience from the police force or the military. He got a job at the Olathe Police Department, then completed officer candidate school, starting his career as a U.S. Coast Guard officer. Chuck's degree paid off when the head of Coast Guard security found out they had an officer who had majored in security and reassigned him to Washington, D.C.

The Dudleys stayed in D.C. for more than 30 years, and Diane continued working at KPMG until her recent retirement. In lieu of a retirement gift, she asked that her coworkers make donations to the Charles and Diane Dudley KPMG Scholarship Endowment in Accounting, which they had previously established to benefit UCM students from Lafayette County.

"It's really very rewarding because we get the thank-you notes from the students who receive the scholarship, and they're often first-time college students just like Chuck and I were," Diane says. "Many of them rely on scholarships to be able to attend college, and that was certainly the case for us."

Diane says she was apprehensive about setting up a scholarship endowment until she learned it could be funded incrementally over a period of time. The initial investment grows every year so that a greater amount is available to be awarded immediately.

Now back in Higginsville and serving as past president of the UCM Alumni Foundation Board of Directors, Diane is more involved with her alma mater than ever. She frequently speaks to accounting classes and recently hired two students for an internship and a full-time position at KPMG in D.C.

Through their endowed scholarship, annual donations and planned estate gift, Diane and Chuck's legacy will live on as more students follow in their footsteps.

Learn How You Can Help

For more information please contact the Office of Planned Giving at 660-543-8000 or [email protected].