An Indiana County couple who are ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø graduates has established a scholarship for music majors at IUP in honor of two late local women, Eleanora Miconi Dellafiora and Sandra E. Dellafiora.
Vito and Donna DonGiovanni, of Indiana, have established the Eleanora Dellafiora and Sandra E. Dellafiora Memorial Scholarship for undergraduate music majors at IUP.
Eleanora Dellafiora is Donna DonGiovanni’s mother; Sandra Dellafiora is her sister.
Vito DonGiovanni a 1972 bachelor’s degree graduate, 1975 master’s degree graduate, and 1988 doctoral graduate; Donna DonGiovanni is a 1974 bachelor’s degree graduate and 1979 master’s degree graduate of the speech and language pathology program.
Preference for scholarship recipients is for students who graduated from a high school in Indiana County. It will be awarded starting in the 2025–26 academic year.
“We are grateful for the most generous gift by Dr. Vito and Donna DonGiovanni to establish a scholarship in music in honor of Eleanora and Sandra Dellafiora,” IUP Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, Media, and Public Affairs Curtis Scheib said. “Sandra’s experience in music at IUP is emblematic in showing the life-changing ways that study in music can be of true and lasting benefit. Their gift will help to ensure that future students from Indiana County will continue to have the benefit of an IUP education in music,” he said.
“My mother, Eleanora Dellafiora, was born in Ernest and was the oldest of 12 children,” Donna DonGiovanni said. “Her parents were immigrants from Italy; her father was a coal miner. She loved to read, to study famous artwork and learn. She was not able to complete her high school studies as she had to work to help support her family. Ironically, her first job was at the Indiana State Teacher’s College (now IUP) as a waitress to serve the students in the dining hall.
“It was very important to my mother that her children received a higher education,” she said. “My father died at the age of 42, and she was left to raise and educate her three children, with very little resources. She saved money and explored options to be sure we could attend college.
“My sister Sandra was a very studious person at Laura Lamar (now Homer-Center) High School and participated in various music classes and groups. She initially enjoyed playing percussion instruments but later came to love the violin and attended IUP as a music education major with an emphasis on violin. She loved marching band in high school, but was not able to be in the marching band at IUP because at that time it was an all-male band!” she said.
Sandra Dellafiora continued her education at Penn State University, earning her master’s degree in music there. She relocated to Reno, Nevada, where she was a teacher and then worked in several other positions providing service to people, including working with AmeriCorps. She traveled extensively in the western states and took classes in Spanish, becoming bilingual and helping many refugees to acclimate to their new country. She then obtained advanced computer training and completed her work experience in northern California and had a career in software support for Cisco Corporation in Silicon Valley.
She lived in the East Bay Area in California for almost 50 years and was very active with cat rescue and spay and neuter programs and was an active supporter of progressive programs and causes.
“Although she did not continue her career in music education, Sandra loved all forms of music; she especially enjoyed opera. Although she considered herself no longer a performer, she was a very active spectator and supporter of music arts,” Donna DonGiovanni said.
“She also loved IUP. I always took her onto campus when she visited the area. She needed to return to the Indiana area because of illness and was at a nursing home for a short period of time before her death in December 2022.
“One my last outings with my sister was attending the IUP marching band concert in November 2022,” she said. “I found out recently that my sister had planned to develop a scholarship at IUP in my mother’s name. Although she never was able to complete this wish, we are extremely proud and happy to be able to develop this scholarship for a future music major at IUP in the name of my mother, Eleanora Dellafiora, and my sister, Sandra E. Dellafiora.”
Both the DonGiovannis are long-time supporters of IUP and active members of the alumni community. Vito DonGiovanni is part of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity group that donated to IUP in support of the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex.