Brilliant Futures Campaign Kick-off
Remarks by Chancellor Richard Herman
June 1, 2007
When my three kids were young, our family took a trip to Algonquin Park in Ontario.
My wife, Susan, and I had promised the kids we’d take them fishing. So, we trudged through the woods with a rubber raft on our heads until we finally got to a lake.
There we sat under the hot sun, casting our lines into the placid water. The kids loved watching the ripples spreading across the lake’s glassy surface. Which is good, because we didn’t catch any fish. The only fish we ate that night were fish sticks!
But I still remember that picturesque lake and the ripples we made across the water. Even when we could no longer feel them, the vibrations could still be felt far from our boat.
And so it is, with Illinois. Many of you feel the effects of your Illinois education rippling through your lives everyday. Like me, many of you grew up in families where we didn’t have two pennies to rub together. Yet, because of Illinois’s affordable tuition, you were able to attend a world-changing university. A public institution founded on the revolutionary idea that ordinary people could make extraordinary contributions, if given the opportunity.
Through the knowledge you gained at Illinois, many of you have done just that. You have excelled in your careers, given back to your communities, and ensured that your own children have even greater opportunities to live the American Dream.
But there are other ways in which you, and millions of people you have never met, feel the ripple effects of Illinois every day. Such as the last time you waited for the doctor to call with the results of an MRI.
The man who pioneered the MRI was Illinois Professor Paul Lauterbur, who passed away last March. Four years ago, Paul was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for his seminal idea that led to magnetic resonance imaging. Think of all the people you have known whose lives have been saved because of this tool. Mothers and fathers. Sons and daughters. Husbands and wives. Perhaps even your own.
Illinois is the home of innovation, of creativity, of paradigm-changing ideas.
To paraphrase something a popular blogger recently wrote: Silicon Valley may have the venture tech money but the brains are coming from the Midwest, especially Illinois. Illinois alumni and faculty have created numerous products and companies that range from the integrated circuit, the transistor, and the Plasma screen to browsers and… software of every kind.
Indeed, the ripple effects of our University touch people every day around the nation, and around the world.
My vision for our University is the same as Illinois President Edmund James so eloquently expressed almost a century ago: He said, “Let Illinois become one of the holy places in the history of the human spirit…great among all the universities which have been, and great among those new institutions which will surpass those of the past . . . . Let it be counted one of the very greatest because it has ministered most to the welfare of mankind.”
Because of the commitment of our alumni and friends, because of you, Illinois will be counted among the greatest public research universities in the nation. At Illinois, we are preparing our students to become leaders of the 21st century.
Illinois will be counted among the greatest public universities in the nation because we are ensuring that exceptionally talented students can attend Illinois, no matter their financial resources. America cannot afford to deny promising students a life-changing education. We must ensure that the next generation has both the opportunity and the capacity to give back – to their families, communities and professions – just as many of you have done.
Illinois will be counted among the greatest public universities in the nation because our students work alongside the brightest professors in the world. Men and women whose work is so transformative and brilliant, they have been awarded Nobel prizes, Pulitzer prizes, MacArthur genius awards, the Crafoord Prize and the National Book Award.
Our faculty and students are contributing to transformative research. Research that is possible because of our Illinois family’s commitment to providing our faculty with a world-class library, as well as a state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.
Facilities such as the Beckman Institute, where Professor Lauterbur worked for many years. You may know that the Beckman Institute was made possible by the $40 million gift of Illinois alumnus Arnold Beckman and his wife, Maybel, in 1985. At the time, this was the largest single donation ever given to a public university. And even with our many generous longtime supporters since then, it remains the largest single gift to Illinois. But hang onto your seats folks. Just hang on to your seats!
Over the past 15 years, the Beckman’s investment has attracted more than four hundred and fifty million dollars in research grants for Beckman affiliates who are developing the next generation of imaging technologies for medicine, new materials to make computers faster, and new insights into aging and mental alertness.
Just think of all the lives that have been touched by the ripples created by the Beckman’s generosity. And imagine the new frontiers your generosity will allow Illinois students and faculty to explore. Just imagine.
Just as one line cast into the water sends ripples across a pond, your Illinois spirit of giving will continue to unleash waves of creativity, scientific advancement and human understanding in all areas of life, in all parts of our world, for generations to come.
Because of your generosity, Illinois will be counted among the greatest public research universities in the nation. Thank you!