University receives $10 M donation

By: Kyle Hansen

Posted: 5/7/07

During celebrations of the 150th anniversary of its founding, San Jose State University announced Friday that $10 million has been donated to the College of Education.

The donation from philanthropist and alumna Connie L. Lurie will go to support the college in developing new programs and establishing a doctoral program in educational leadership, President Don Kassing said at a ceremony in the City Hall rotunda.

"The College of Education has an unbroken tie back to our founding as a school to train teachers," Kassing said. "This college is carrying on the important work that George Minns began 150 years ago."

Lurie said the gift will help the college to expand and create new programs."This is going to enable the dean of the College of Education to come up with some very innovative programs," she said.

Susan Meyers, dean of the College of Education, said in addition to establishing the doctoral program, the gift will go toward scholarships and other resources to help students.

"It opens doors for faculty," Meyers said. "It provides fellowships for students. It brings the opportunity to bring technology into the classroom that is very much needed to train teachers."

Meyers also said that the gift will be used to help the college in joint efforts with other colleges at the university."

It comes to the College of Education, but it really supports the whole university," she said.Kassing announced that in appreciation for the gift the university will request that the college be renamed the Connie L. Lurie College of Education at the CSU board of trustees meeting on May 15.

This is not Lurie's first gift to the university. She established the Lurie Author-in-Residence program, a permanent endowment that brings authors to campus.

This is the third large donation the university has received in a short period of time. Charles W. Davidson donated $15 million to the College of Engineering last March and Donald and Sally Lucas donated $10 million to the College of Business in February 2006.

The Davidson and Lucas donations were the two largest in the university's history, Kassing said.

Kassing also said that Lurie's donation is the largest donation ever made to a college of education in the history of the CSU system.

Lurie taught elementary school for six years after her 1964 graduation from SJSU. She is the wife of Robert Lurie, the chairman of a real estate development firm and former owner of the San Francisco Giants, according to a press release from the university.

SJSU celebrates 150 years with Founders' Day

SJSU began 150 years ago as a teacher training school in San Francisco by George Minns. The school later moved to San Jose and became a teachers' college and finally a state university. The university is the oldest public education institution in the state.

Jackie Minns, the founder's great-great-granddaughter, was at the ceremony with her daughter Raven Smith.

"It's a very big honor to be related to the man that helped start this and be part of the event," Minns said. "I love this school. It is a part of my family."

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed spoke during a City Hall ceremony where he proclaimed May 4, 2007 as San Jose State University Day and presented President Kassing with a certificate for the university.

"It really is just an acknowledgement of the tremendous importance that San Jose State has played in the history of San Jose and the history of Silicon Valley," Mayor Reed said.

"When you look at what has happened in this valley - the collective efforts of all of us - we have changed the world," he said. "And as we move the world from the industrial age into the information age and into the knowledge age, much of that work is being done by San Jose State University graduates."

The mayor promised to continue the collaboration that has existed between the city and university and thanked the university for its contributions to the region.

"You have made San Jose a much better city," he said, beginning what would be a theme for the event. "You cannot have a great city without a great university. We have our great university - and it's San Jose State University."

CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed also spoke on the success the city and university have had together, pointing to the joint Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library as an example.

"I love the way it is designed," he said of the library. "On the front door, it's open to the community - it is for kids to come, for adults to come into the university. On the other side is the university, and that is where they meet. … I just hope that the young people that come in that door from this community go out the other door and become a part of the university."

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi was also at the event and said the university has played a vital role in helping to build California.

"Over these years," he said, " you've provided the state with the intellectual capital for the state to grow, for the state to prosper, and for this community to become, really, the epicenter of technology and change in this world."

The ceremony also featured the SJSU pep band playing from the balcony of the rotunda, faculty members in their academic regalia and a giant birthday cake. Following the festivities at City Hall, hundreds of students and faculty members took advantage of a free barbecue on Tower Lawn, despite windy weather.

Friday's Founders' Day activities were the culmination of a week of events that are the climax of a yearlong celebration of the university's anniversary. The university was honored by members of the state legislature in Sacramento on Monday and by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday of last week.