What a great way to start the day, reading Doug Hoagland's story in today's Bee about William Lyles' gift of $10 million in matching funds to Fresno State's College of Engineering. Ironically, it wasn't that long ago that the engineering department was struggling to the point that that it was going to be folded into the College of Science and Mathematics.
The Lyles donation will mean so much because not only will it beef up the department's student recruiting and improve student services, it also should help Fresno State compete for the best professors, who are very much in demand nationwide.
There also is good news the Merced Sun-Star, which is reporting that gifts to UC Merced, increased by more than 70%, to nearly $10.6 million during the 2007-08 fiscal year. All this despite the downward spiral of the California economy.
About 950 individuals, corporations and charitable foundations contributed, the university said, up 23% compared with a year ago. The average gift per donor was $11,156 while the largest was $2 million. The fiscal year ended June 30.The largest single gift was $2 million provided by the California Community Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in Los Angeles.
The $10.6 million in gifts in 2007-08 brings the university's total since it began accepting gifts in 1998 to $62.9 million. UC Merced opened in 2005.
At Fresno State, Lyles also gave money to create the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Interestingly, in the most recent issue of the Futurist magazine, an article titled "Majoring in the Unusual" by Patrick Tucker named this as one of the best majors for the future.
Perhaps the most practical and potentially rewarding major is the relatively new field of entrepreneurship. Starting your own company requires a working knowledge of a variety of different fields, such as accounting, economics, and advertising. But for those willing to put in the time, entrepreneurial success pays well. Self-employed individuals report the highest levels of job and career satisfaction. While they comprise only one-fifth of the U.S. population, the self-employed make up more than 75% of U.S. millionaires. Now that's a useful major.
Who knows? In a few years, those students may be able to donate millions to a univerisity of their choice. That's what we're talking about -- paying it forward.
Hopefully, the money goes to its intended use this time, and not to the Athletics Department, as with previous gifts.
And that is suppose to be humorous. I had to drop a Gerontolgy course in the Engineering building because I was on a tricky medication and there was no toilet. One had to go downstairs to a neighboring building.
Perhaps some of the $10 million can go for a Mrs/Murphy.