For Craig Disher ’66, Gettysburg College taught him to think critically, build community, and find purpose. Decades later, he and his wife, Susan, have transformed that lifelong connection into generous scholarship support and estate commitments that will expand opportunities for future Gettysburg students.
When Craig Disher ’66 reflects on his undergraduate years at Gettysburg College, he does not point to one defining moment. Instead, he remembers a way of life: crossing campus and seeing familiar faces, learning in small classes where professors became mentors, and gradually discovering how to think deeply and independently.
For Craig, Gettysburg was where he learned how to learn.
Craig arrived on campus during a transformative period in American life. As the Vietnam War intensified and the draft loomed over the men in his class, students wrestled with questions that reached far beyond the classroom. At Gettysburg, faculty helped him make sense of those issues and encouraged him to think deeply about history, politics, and the wider world.
Craig focused much of his academic work on East Asian history, including an independent study on early 20th-century Japanese economic development with the late History Prof. Roger Stemen. Stemen became one of Craig’s most influential mentors, helping him better understand Vietnam and encouraging him to read widely and critically.
Craig believes Gettysburg’s greatest strength was the close connection between students and faculty. He fondly remembers a constitutional history class with the late History Prof. Robert Bloom that had only four students—a setting that encouraged conversation, debate, and mentorship in a way that felt impossible to replicate elsewhere.
“The close contact with the professors was something that was just a dream,” Craig said. “Four people for a semester, just sitting there, hearing him talk, chatting back and forth. How could you possibly do better than that?”
After graduating, Craig was drafted and served in Vietnam with the 82nd Airborne Division, an experience he described as brief but intense. After leaving the Army, he began a 35-year career in the intelligence community. He was first assigned to research certain topics involving national strategic issues, but within a few years, a chance opportunity led him into the technical management of projects involving mathematics, computer engineering, politics, and coordination across the intelligence community. His liberal arts education at Gettysburg provided an ideal foundation for such a varied and challenging career.
Susan’s connection to Gettysburg began later but became just as meaningful. Craig and Susan met in 1981 through mutual friends at work. As they dated, they returned to Gettysburg each October for Homecoming. Although Susan did not attend the College, she quickly came to appreciate what Craig valued so deeply.
“I grew to really love Gettysburg,” Susan said. “It’s a beautiful campus. The students are really nice and enthusiastic. The professors are bright and fun to be around.”
That connection deepened over time. The Dishers describe Gettysburg as a place where they feel welcomed by longtime friends and more recent acquaintances. Faculty and staff stop to say hello. The campus feels familiar, but never static. When students are present, they say, Gettysburg has a different energy.
That sense of belonging and community eventually became a desire to give back.
Their philanthropy has focused especially on scholarships, an expression of their belief that a Gettysburg education can change a student’s life, just as it changed Craig’s. They have established two endowed scholarships: one for a student majoring in the sciences and another for a student studying East Asian studies, reflecting Craig’s academic focus at Gettysburg and Susan’s degree in Japanese.
During Gettysburg Great: The Campaign for Our College, Craig and Susan also made a substantial estate commitment to fully fund the two endowed scholarships.
Their most recent commitment, made in summer 2024, extends their support even further by initiating a full scholarship for a student preparing to attend medical school. The scholarship honors Susan’s father, a pediatrician, and recognizes the financial pressures facing students who plan to continue their education beyond Gettysburg. Full funding for the scholarship is guaranteed through their estate plan.
For the Dishers, these scholarships are personal. They reflect their academic interests, careers, family, and desire to help students who might otherwise face financial barriers to a Gettysburg education. To Craig and Susan, the scholarships reinforce what Gettysburg does best: helping students find direction, surrounding them with people who care, and teaching them not only what to know, but how to think.
Craig experienced this support from the College as a student. Susan came to love Gettysburg as a partner, visitor, and advocate. Together, they have chosen to make similar experiences possible for others.
As they look ahead, the Dishers remain grateful to be part of the Gettysburg community. Their support is rooted in memory, strengthened by belonging, and directed toward the students who will shape the College’s future.
“We are really glad to be part of the family. It’s a nice feeling as we get older,” Susan said.
And through their generosity, future Gettysburg students will be part of that family, too.
Help our students discover their potential by supporting student success at Gettysburg today.
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By Corey Jewart
Photos by Jason Minick, Doug Huber ’06/ProArts Media, Tyler Caruso
Posted: 06/30/26