Endowing Excellence helps us attract the best and the brightest

As a national department of choice, we must attract and retain the highest-quality students and faculty from across the United States and throughout the world. By making a permanent investment in a critical, cherished field of study, you can play a crucial role in furthering the advancement of knowledge in mechanical engineering.

Endowments provide a stable source of income

More than money, each endowed gift reflects a personal desire to give something back, to repay a debt of gratitude, to honor a loved one, or to make a positive impact on society.

As an investment partner in ME-EM, you will not only make a big difference, we will put your name on it.

Through the thoughtful, wise investment of private gifts to an endowed fund, support is provided for programs and activities specifically outlined for funding from the endowed account. The endowment principal is kept in perpetuity, and provides a dependable, sustained revenue stream.

In the face of increased competition, unstable economic times and fluctuating budgets, we need a rock solid source of income. Competition for the best available faculty is even more acute than for promising students, partly because MTU must also compete with private industry and the public sector for potential faculty.

As our programs become stronger and more visible, our people become more valuable to others. Such competition is strongest in fields where universities, private business and government most closely intersect— engineering, business, sciences and the health care fields.

How will ME-EM retain its scholars in the face of attractive lures from other institutions and potential employers? By endowing excellence. Michigan Tech is an outstanding place to live and work, but without financial incentives, an excellent lifestyle is often not enough to attract or retain outstanding faculty.

Endowing Excellence attracts the finest faculty

No university can achieve preeminence without a great faculty, and no plan to improve education or attract the best students will succeed without top-quality teachers. A strong, talented faculty is the lifeblood of a university. The best teachers and researchers inevitably attract the most capable students. Outstanding teaching starts with faculty who are at the top of their profession, who can excite students to think beyond the classroom material, and who know how to integrate their research into the classroom. Competition for outstanding engineering faculty is intense. Endowed support is necessary to attract and retain quality professors.

We need endowed faculty support for Chair Professors, Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, Practitioner Chairs and Visiting Professorships. See insert brochure for naming opportunities and more information.

Return on investment (ROI) of endowment funds for endowed chairs provides stable support for graduate and undergraduate students engaged with world-renowned faculty on cutting edge research. These funds provide continuing support for state-of-the-art equipment in the unique research area of the faculty chairholder, leveraging/ matching support for government/industry contracts, and travel expenses to meet with research sponsors. Endowments help us deliver a superior technological education to our students and insure the future of our innovative programs. Pictured: The SAE Aero Student Competition Cargo Plane Team and their two faculty advisors. The student-designed and built remote control cargo plane must carry a significant cargo load over a set distance and course in the shortest time.