Wayne Zimmerman (wmz1942@gmail.com)To:you + 5 more Details
On Fri, Oct 8, 2021, 10:21 AM Wayne Zimmerman
<wmz@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I thought you might be interested in this
article.
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----- Forwarded Message -----Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,
Happy Friday – and Happy Homecoming
Weekend to Miners everywhere!
“Elevate Missouri S&T, Establish
Broad STEM Outreach, and Ensure Economic Impact.”
Tomorrow marks the first anniversary
of the transformational gift that Fred and June Kummer bestowed on S&T. At about 3
p.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, 2020, from his kitchen table, in presence of June
Kummer, Joe Lehrer and myself, and with all other members of the Kummer
Institute Foundation board on Zoom, Fred called his accountants and bestowed
the largest gift in the history of the state of Missouri to S&T.
To put things in perspective,
consider that according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, 146
charitable gifts exceeding $100 million have been given to benefit higher
education worldwide since the Chronicle began keeping record
in 1967. Of those, 117 benefit a single university in the U.S. Fred and June
Kummer’s gift of $300 million to S&T in 2020 is not only the largest in
Missouri history, it also is the fifth-largest gift to a public university in
the history of charitable gifts in the U.S. Missouri S&T is one of only 15
unique universities to receive a gift of $300 million or more. Today the
monetary value of the gift is above $400 million, thanks to the generosity of
many of our alumni who were inspired by Fred and June and who have contributed
to our ambitious plans, which will cost significantly more than the total. We
are well on our way to achieving our North Star goals of growing enrollment to
12,000, attaining Carnegie R-1 research university status and becoming a top
100 doctoral-granting university as ranked by U.S. News & World
Report.
I met Fred shortly after joining
S&T. I met with him weekly, with June frequently joining us, and over the
course of the next 14 months, we hammered out a “Kummer Plan” to build on our
foundation of academic excellence to have an even greater impact on S&T and
beyond. And on Oct. 9, 2020, the Kummer mandate was established: Elevate
S&T, Establish Broad STEM Outreach and Ensure Economic Impact.
We have made significant progress in
each of these areas over the past 12 months. Tomorrow morning, we will gather
in Leach Theatre to celebrate the Kummer gift and the progress we’ve made.
About 460 freshmen on our campus this
fall are Kummer Vanguard Scholars. These students benefit from scholarships and
programming to help them become the tech-savvy innovators our country needs. In
addition, 100 Ph.D. students (10 are already enrolled) will enroll as Kummer
Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) Doctoral Fellows, each of them
focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in their studies. You’ll hear from
some of these Vanguard Scholars and I&E Fellows during tomorrow’s event. In
addition, we will have 20 endowed chairs and professors who will advance our
research and technology development functions.
We are broadening STEM
outreach through our new Kummer Center for STEM Education,
which is creating opportunities for educators to learn more about teaching
science, technology, engineering and mathematics topics to elementary, middle
school and high school students throughout our state.
We are elevating S&T through
our new Kummer College of Innovation,
Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development, which our provost, Dr.
Colin Potts, describes as “the business school for the mid-21st century.” It is
much more than a business school, however, as its emphasis will be true to our
enduring legacy of discovery and innovation.
Through their generosity, the Kummers
inspired many others to step forward with significant donations to S&T. They
include donors like Anthony Steinmeyer and Rosemary Kilker, who were inspired
by the Kummer gift to contribute to our cause in the form of an endowed chair
position in economics and scholarships for chemical, mechanical and aerospace
engineering students; Bipin and Linda Doshi, who endowed the Doshi Department
of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering shortly before the Kummers announced
their gift; and several donors to our Arrival District, including Tim and Kay Bradley, Mike and Joyce Bytnar, Gary and
Judy Havener, Jeff and Pat Sheets, Steve and Betty Suellentrop, and Tom and
Carol Voss. In addition, Gary and Judy Havener donated funds to establish an
endowed chair in Gary’s home department of mathematics. We are grateful to all
of these generous and dedicated alumni, and to countless others who have
contributed small and large amounts or have supported us in many non-monetary ways.
As many of our alumni and friends
return to campus this weekend to connect with our students and re-connect with
each other, I’m once again reminded of how important these connections are.
Fred Kummer was a stellar example of the importance of these connections, and
I’m looking forward to celebrating the impact he and June have made on our
university during our first Kummer Day celebration tomorrow morning, when I
will read the very first Chancellor’s Letter to Fred and June. Kummer Day will
become an annual event, as will the reading of the Kummer Letter. Our first
letter will be placed in our sesquicentennial time capsule to be opened in the
year 2071, when many of our first cohort of Kummer Vanguard Scholars and Kummer
I&E Fellows will be at hand as senior alums to speak about this first
celebration event. I encourage all of you to attend this event, in
person if possible or virtually. Please join us to get “the rest of the story,” as radio commentator Paul
Harvey used to say.
I hope to “see” you tomorrow at the
inaugural Kummer Day celebration!
Have a great homecoming weekend.
-Mo.
BTW, check out the latest, coolest
headlines:
·
S&T honors distinguished
alumni, faculty during Homecoming 2021
·
S&T sends two teams to ROTC
Ranger Challenge
·
Dr. Nancy Stone elected fellow of
the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
·
Dr. Henry Pernicka named Curators’
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116
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