The Dorothy Lawshe Endowment Fund, administered by Michigan State University's Honors College, removes financial barriers to participation in Gifted and Talented Education programs and promotes continuing program development. It sustains a variety of educational opportunities for highly talented and motivated students and guarantees that these special students will have access no matter what their family situation is. Dorothy Lawshe has spent nearly fifty years in education, including twenty-five years nurturing the minds of academically gifted young people. She recognizes the need to support these students in their pre-collegiate years so that they might fully develop into actively engaged adults. The educational programs she developed as the founding director of Michigan State's Office of Gifted and Talented Education have served thousands of youth and stand as a model for other communities to emulate. Contributing to the Dorothy Lawshe Endowment expands the educational opportunities available to gifted and talented students and makes sure that those opportunities are open to all, regardless of socio-economic status .