In time for their 25th reunion this spring, members of the Harvard Class of 1981 have created a scholarship fund to sponsor African graduate students. In a rare arrangement with the University, alumni donations to the fund will be recognized as part of their class gift.

Paula A. Tavrow ’81, who teaches at the UCLA’s School of Public Health, founded Harvard Alumni for Social Action (HASA) to target inadequacies in the African higher education system.

Tavrow created two programs, one to aid the development of a sister university in sub-Saharan Africa and the other to provide money for sponsoring African graduate students studying at Harvard.

Having raised around $285,000 from fellow alumni—the majority of which will go toward the scholarship fund—Tavrow convinced the University to sign on to the program. The new setup allows alumni to donate directly to the scholarship fund instead of the University, while still having their donation recognized by Harvard.

“We want to rethink the paradigm that rich universities have alumni who can contribute hugely back to the university,” Tavrow said.

Tavrow said she worked with the Harvard Development Office and with Dean of the Faculty William R. Kirby to convince Harvard to back the scholarship fund.

HASA’s scholarship fund specifically targets graduate students because they are more likely than undergraduates to return to Africa after their studies in America, according to Tavrow, who said she did not want to exacerbate the African “brain drain.”

Harvard did not, however, agree to help fund HASA’s efforts to rebuild the fledgling Dar es Salaam University College of Education in Tanzania. David J. Rothman ’81, who has worked with non-profit fundraisers for arts and educational organizations and sits on the HASA steering committee, praised Harvard’s support, and added that the University’s decision not to support the sister university was “completely understandable.”

HASA has received support from over 350 alumni, totalling about 25 percent of the Class of 1981. Rothman said he thinks HASA may be able to raise several million dollars by June.

HASA also hopes to increase its fundraising efforts beyond the Class of 1981. Andrew T. Pugh ’81, who is also on the fund’s steering committee and a former Crimson editor, said he plans on urging the Class of 1982 to donate to the scholarship fund. Pugh, whose wife graduated in 1982, will also be involved in planning HASA’s possible expansion to her class’s 25th reunion in 2007.

The organization will also host a symposium on opportunities beyond Cambridge during this year’s commencement, featuring Theda Skocpol, the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

The group's website is www.hasa-sasa.org.

—Staff writer Benjamin L. Weintraub can be reached at bweintr@fas.harvard.edu.