Education pioneer Donald Shalvey spent nearly six decades helping students “do what they love and earn what they need,” a passion that brought him to University of the Pacific as a volunteer leader and generous donor.

Shalvey died in 2024, but his personal mission will continue through the Don Shalvey Leading, Learning and Legacy Fund. The fund is the vision and gift of Don’s wife, Sue Shalvey ’82, ’83, with additional contributions from family and friends.

“Don believed that you're better when you're working together with others,” she said. “This gift reflects who he was and what he valued: collaboration, cross-disciplinary connections, measuring what matters, and creating new approaches to solving real problems.”

Shalvey’s gift will support a broad range of faculty and student endeavors aligned with Pacific’s strategic priorities, including research, community engagement initiatives, study abroad and continuous learning.

The fund will empower students and faculty as leaders in their fields who engage with, learn from, and provide tangible support to their local and global communities.

“Don’s work was always about students, their families and their communities,” Sue Shalvey said. “He believed that encouraging innovation and developing the next set of leaders makes positive change possible.”

“He would have appreciated the flexibility and inclusiveness of this gift,” she added. “Don believed that local changes could create global impact by bringing different people together to meet societal challenges. I think he really appreciated the potential of Pacific to do just that.”

Don Shalvey served the Central Valley and Bay Area as a teacher, counselor and principal. He was superintendent of San Carlos School District, where he sponsored the second charter school in the nation and the first in California. He later co-founded Aspire Public Schools and served as its CEO.

He served as deputy director for K-12 Education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and most recently, was CEO of San Joaquin A+, which provides career connected learning to help San Joaquin County students achieve quality educational outcomes.

Sue Shalvey is a veteran educator and special education advocate at the local, state and national levels. She has worked with traditional districts and charter school systems and partnered with the El Dorado County Office of Education to establish the statewide charter SELPA. After Don joined the Gates Foundation, Sue served as Aspire Public Schools’ national director of education and launched its special education teacher residency program with Pacific.

She sits on the boards of Life Learning Academy in San Francisco, the Chartwell School for Neurodiverse Learners in Seaside and the UCSF Dyslexia Center.

“Don and Sue both have made outstanding contributions to improve education access and experiences for all students, throughout California and right here at Pacific,” said Scott Biedermann ’05, ’20, vice president for development and alumni relations.

“This gift continues their work together—Sue's generosity and Don’s legacy—to help students and faculty achieve their full potential to make a positive difference in the world. We are honored to have this support.”

Don Shalvey received an honorary doctoral degree from Pacific in 2010 and had served on the Board of Regents since 2017. He was a life-long music lover, and in 2019 he and Sue endowed a scholarship at Pacific for Conservatory of Music students.

“Don and Sue have experienced the positive impact of higher education firsthand, and are extending that gift to others in ways that powerfully integrate classroom learning with critical discourse, experiential learning and servant leadership,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Gretchen Edwalds-Gilbert.

Through the Shalvey Fund, Don’s tenacity and love of learning will live on in future scientists, scholars, creators and communicators.

“There are a lot of people on the planet who miss Don’s energy. He was just tireless, and he was fun,” Sue Shalvey said. “Not everyone will remember Don the person, but through this gift, that spirit of connecting people—that’s what will endure.”

To make a gift to the Don Shalvey Leading, Learning and Legacy Fund, contact Scott Biedermann at 209.946.2166 or sbiedermann@pacific.edu.