Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
ESSENTIAL SUPPORT Reunion Gifts of $22M Announced at Luncheon By Charles H. Ball News Office Reunion class gifts of $21,818,925 were announced Friday, June 7, at the annual Technology Day alumni/ae luncheon. The luncheon in the Howard Johnson Athletics Center capped a week-long program for more than 2,200 alumni, spouses and guests. It included a symposium Friday in which members of the biology faculty described research in the health sciences at MIT and how it affects individual lives. The gift chairmen for the three major reunion classes--Joseph Gavin for the 50th reunion Class of 1941, Marvin Grossman and William Maini for the 40th reunion Class of 1951 and Paul Rudovsky for the 25th reunion Class of 1966--presented their class gifts to MIT President Charles M. Vest during the luncheon program. The Class of 1941 announced a gift of $5,300,000, with $332,000 designated for a special fund to support the study of the impact of science and technology on public policy issues. The Class of 1951 announced a gift of $4,566,000, with $702,000 earmarked for a Class of 1951 Fund for Excellence in Education, which will recognize and encourage faculty and staff contributions to the Institute's educational programs. The Class of 1966 announced a gift of $1,266,000, with $175,000 set aside for the Class of 1966 Harold (Doc) Edgerton Scholarship Fund. The late Professor Edgerton's wife, Esther, attended the luncheon. The gifts of these major reunion classes comprise all gifts made to MIT by members of the classes during the five-year period preceding the reunion and all pledges to be paid in the five years following the reunion. Other reunion gifts announced at the luncheon included: $6,429,310 from the Class of 1926; $2,964,762 from the Class of 1931; $412,535 from the Class of 1956; $675,720 from the Class of 1961; $110,797 from the Class of 1976; $37,111 from the Class of 1981; and $19,080 from the Class of 1986. In addition, this year's graduating class contributed $37,610 as a five- year pledge to provide loan forgiveness to MIT graduates who become full-time public-school teachers. It also was announced that the Alumni Fund is expected to reach approximately $15 million in cash gifts by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. In his response, President Vest told the audience that such "sustained, generous support" was "essential to the vigor, quality and independence of MIT." Noting that this spring marks the 75th anniversary of MIT's move to Cambridge, he said that such financial support "has made the difference over the years--as MIT grew from a small technical institute in Boston to a world class research university in Cambridge." Continuing "on a somewhat more troubling note," Dr. Vest commented that the nation's universities were receiving a bad press in regard to indirect cost issues, an antitrust complaint over financial aid practices, technology transfer issues, conflicts of interest and scientific misconduct. While "significant questions underlie these headlines" and need to be dealt with forthrightly, he said, the effect has been that it "is beginning to turn the public against us in many ways." He asked the audience to "contrast this press view" with the quality of research and teaching being done on the nation's campuses, as evidenced in the Friday symposium. He told the alumni/ae that "the American university system is by far the best in the world" and he asked them to "carry forth the message," based on their own observation of the quality of MIT's students and faculty, that universities are critically important to society and "are, in fact, a great bargain." In return for societal support, he continued, research universities provide "dividends" in the form of educated leaders in academia, business and government; advances in understanding and amelioration of critical problems; contributions to national security, contributions to the national and world economy through spinoffs of companies and even entire industries, and increased understanding of our physical, social and natural worlds. A key factor, he said, was the integration of education and research, in which "bright, creative individuals teach the living essence and the future of their subjects, not just their histories." The luncheon program was conducted by Christian J. MatthewĘ'43, the 1990-91 president of the MIT Alumni/ae Association, which has some 90,000 members in 128 countries. He announced that alumni representing 73 classes were attending the reunion programs and that the most senior among them at the luncheon was Max Seltzer of the Class of 1918, observing the 73rd anniversary of his graduation. He also recognized four members of the 70th reunion Class of 1921 attending the luncheon, Onie Adams, Carole Clarke, Roy Snyder and Benjamin Fisher. Also present, he said, were 22 international alumni and alumnae representing 11 countries. The person who had traveled the greatest distance, he said, was Shantanu Kirloskar of the Class of 1926, who came from Poona, India. In keeping with the custom of recognizing individuals who, though not alumni/ae, have shown "great dedication, commitment and loyalty to MIT and its alumni/ae," Mr. Matthew announced that the Alumni/ae Association was bestowing honorary membership on two members of the faculty-- Professor Franco Modigliani, Nobel laureate in economics, and Dean Lester C. Thurow of the Sloan School of Management. Dean Thurow was unable to attend the luncheon because of his son's graduation from Concord Academy. Mr. Matthew noted that both recipients had been "tireless speakers" at alumni/ae functions throughout the nation and the world. At the conclusion of the program, Mr. Matthew turned over the symbolic gavel of office as alumni/ae president to Peter M. Saint Germain, who becomes the 97th Alumni/ae Association president in 1991-92. Mr. St. Germain received the SB degree in general science from MIT in 1949 (Class of 1948). He retired from active employment at Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. and was elected an advisory director in 1982. At MIT, he takes on the role of ex officio member of the Corporation by virtue of becoming Alumni/ae Association president. He was elected to a regular five-year term on the Corporation in 1989. He has been a member of the Corporation Development Committee and several visiting committees, was chairman of the Alumni Center of New York and chairman of the Alumni Fund, and is a Founding Life Member of the Sustaining Fellows. He received the MIT Corporate Leadership Award in 1980, the Bronze Beaver Award in 1984 and the Marshall B. Dalton '15 Award in 1990. Finally, Mr. Matthew introduced the Technology Day chairman, George Clifford '48, who in turn paid tribute to the members of his committee: George Beesley '39, Vincent James '78, Anita Killian '85, Bernard Lloyd '85, William Maini '51, Eugene Mallove '69, Kenan Sahin '63, Robert Seamans '42 and David Wadleigh '38. Biology professor Harvey F. Lodish, moderator for the morning program, was an ex officio member of the committee.