Jill Lillie Endowed Scholarship
New Scholarship: First recipient will be awarded in the 2022-2023 school year
This scholarship provides assistance to graduate students pursuing a MA in Counseling Psychology with the greatest demonstrated financial need. Preference will be given to a student who has demonstrated kindness and compassion as a personal value and exhibits a deep commitment to the program.
Learn a little more about the Lillie family
If you look for the helpers in life, you’ll find Jill (Gallagher) Lillie at the front of that line. Her whole life has been dedicated to serving others – her family, the community, her church, and whenever possible, military families. Jill comes from a family of military veterans – her father, brother, and husband all served in the military – and she has seen first-hand the sacrifices these families make to serve their nation. Jill’s upbringing and experience in a Catholic, military family, influenced her values and inspired her service as a mother, educator, community volunteer, and youth advocate.
When Jill’s children graduated and went off to college, so did Jill. She intentionally chose to pursue a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University because she connected deeply with the Jesuit value of "cura personalis" and also their service-oriented mission focused on ethics, compassion, social justice, and a concern for the most vulnerable. Gaining acceptance to the program in 2019, Jill enjoyed the collaborative learning opportunity it provided (despite COVID), her classmates, and the high-caliber professors. Jill is adamant that these professors were “life-changing” for her, particularly Dr. Shauna Shapiro and her work in the field of mindfulness and compassion. In fact, the learning in this area has influenced Jill and her passion to continue serving the needs of her community with kindness and compassion. She is currently doing research on self-compassion and plans to continue learning, to serve on community boards, to serve military families, and to provide life coaching to mothers. Her life will continue to be a life of joy and service to others.
We are grateful to the Lillie Family, Jill, Brian, and their four children – Nick, Natalie, Jake, and Josh – for their generosity and support.