SOUTH KINGSTOWN – University of Rhode Island fundraisers say they’ve received three separate $1 million gifts for the university’s College of Engineering as its Making a Difference capital campaign draws to a close.
The gifts push the three-year campaign total to $126 million, well past the $100 million goal. The fundraising effort is scheduled to end Dec. 31.
Two of the $1 million donations come from alumni of URI’s engineering program and a third donation was received from Toray Plastics (America) Inc. in North Kingstown.
“Given the deep affinity our alumni and friends have with this institution, on some levels we are not surprised by these most generous charitable gifts,” said Glen R. Kerkian, president of the URI Foundation, the school’s fundraising arm “We do, however, continue to be greatly impressed by the universal expressions of our donors’ loyalty and their desire to make a real and transformational impact here at URI.”
Kerkian has announced that he would step down in July 2011.
One donor, Walter Schmid, graduated from URI’s College of Engineering in 1950 and founded a company, Chemical Design, in Lockport, N.Y. The donation has been split to form two endowments in his name benefiting undergraduate and graduate engineering students.
The second donor, an anonymous 1968 URI graduate, said he attributed some of his success to the dedication of the engineering faculty. His gift will fund the Robert S. Haas Endowed Professorship in Electrical Engineering, named in honor of the retired electrical engineering professor who taught at URI between 1948 and 1988.
Rick Schloesser, president and CEO of Toray, a polypropylene and polyester film manufacturer and subsidiary of Toray Industries Inc., presented his company’s check for $1 million at an engineering scholarship breakfast held on campus.
The gift will fund an endowment to provide graduate fellowship support, a key priority of the college, which set a $1 million fundraising goal specifically for this purpose in 2007. To date, more than $3 million has been raised for the initiative.
“We at Toray have truly enjoyed the benefits of our partnership with URI that began over 20 years ago,” Schloesser said. “We remain committed to promoting higher learning and excellence in education, believing that it will make all the difference in creating the highly skilled work force of tomorrow.”
For more information, visit www.urifoundation.org.
