I thought I would share the remarks I made at the College of Technology’s Scholarship Reception that was held on Saturday, October 8, 2011, before the Purdue vs. Minnesota football game.
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Good morning and welcome everyone to the College of Technology’s Scholarship Reception. What better way for me to celebrate my first 100 days as Dean than to thank individuals and businesses for your generosity and support of our students?
I am reading a book titled The Innovative University; it starts out describing the history of higher education in the U.S. Philanthropy has always been a major force in shaping and supporting higher education in the U.S. The question you have to ask is why would people and businesses part with their hard-earned money and donate to universities. In many cases it is because people believe institutes of higher education serve a higher purpose, which I will explain in a few minutes.
Yesterday I had one of my monthly Faculty/Staff Forums, and in that forum I presented three questions:
- What one word best describes our goal as a College of Technology? Preeminence
- How will we attain that goal? By adopting the principles and practices of Good to Great applied to our processes and programs
- Why do we need to do this? 1) We serve a higher purpose: To prepare our nation’s citizens for the challenges of life and to lead productive and successful professional careers as practitioners and leaders in technology; 2) We are Purdue, a highly respected institution of higher education especially in science, engineering, and technology
The donors here this morning and the students benefiting from those donations are moving our College from Good to Great. This is a continuous cycle of Learning, Earning, and Returning, which is a tag line for Scott Niswonger’s charitable foundation. Scott is an alumnus of our College and has been a strong supporter of Purdue. You should all be very proud of the fact that you are part of this great cycle of Learn, Earn, and Return which will move our College from Good to Great.
Thank you to all our donors and congratulations to all the students who earned the scholarships. You are all part of a great tradition in this nation.
