Spring Break
University receives $10 M donation
Kyle Hansen
Issue date: 5/7/07 Section: News
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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.
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