By Callie Ewing, BA '03 

For four years after graduating with his bachelor’s from UD, Moran did not visit campus except once for a professor’s funeral. Having earned his master’s at another university and finding himself disappointed in what he found there, he returned to UD for his Ph.D. 

“Those great authors who I had appreciated but not deeply assimilated when younger became most precious to me on my return, to the point that I had a yearning to spend the rest of my life teaching them,” he said. “My odd path should be avoided by most everyone else, and there are ways to fulfill one's potential that are more remunerative — ‘put money in thy purse,’ said the notable moral philosopher Iago — so that you can then support your alma mater. But I am grateful that someone as impractical and lazy as I am by nature found through UD some practical work that has called forth my energies.”

In his estate plan, Moran has generously provided for scholarships benefiting literature students in UD’s Institute of Philosophic Studies, the doctorate-granting division of the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts. 

“The IPS is one of UD's great contributions to America and American education,” he said. “So many good liberal arts colleges are dependent on it for their faculty, and so through the IPS a UD liberal education influences people who know nothing about UD itself.”

He explained that while UD’s undergraduate alumni are well aware of the excellence of their education, they frequently know nothing of the high caliber of UD’s doctoral programs. It stands to reason, then, that the IPS is not well-known outside of UD either, despite its role in supplying classical teachers to other universities. 

“Our doctoral students typically live hand-to-mouth,” said Moran. “But many of them then go on to do great things. Liberal arts colleges, such as Hillsdale, are dependent on UD's IPS for faculty, as it is almost impossible today to find professors, especially in literary studies, who both know the Western intellectual tradition and are more interested in the fundamental questions about human existence and purpose that have animated the tradition than they are in chic ideologies.”

Moran chose to make the gift to the IPS via his estate plan in order to take care of current needs while maximizing his impact on IPS students.  

“It seems wise for someone with a middling income like me to maintain a nest egg, in case the costs of Metamucil, hair dye, and gin skyrocket in my senectitude,” he joked. “But barring some disaster, I expect to have a chunk of money left over when I immigrate to the Undiscovered Country. So planned giving seems ideal in my case.”

Moreover, “‘We owe God a death,’ to quote the valiant tailor Feeble,” said Moran, a Shakespeare scholar. “And so, ‘as that churl Death my bones with dust will cover,’ why not do something worthwhile with one's money since you can't take it with you?”

All planned gift donors to UD are invited to join our newly relaunched Legacy Society, formerly known as the Due Santi Society. To notify the university of your planned gift intention or learn more about the easy options available to leave a lasting legacy at UD, please contact Assistant Director of Development Sarah Sokora at sdsokora@udallas.edu or visit udallas.pglegacy.org.