“It’s a major gift, and it will be important to the University,” Chancellor Mark Wrighton said.

The gift’s flexibility sets it apart: While previous endowments have largely been earmarked for specific programs and facilities, $48 million of McDonnell’s gift establishes an unrestricted fund named the McDonnell Academic Excellence Fund. According to Wrighton, the University has yet to make any decisive plans concerning the fund’s use, but the money could be used in a number of different ways: on construction, to fund a program, to purchase equipment or to create a professorship.

According to Wrighton, the Academic Excellence Fund will provide the University with an opportunity to make a “one-time investment,” and it will “allow the University to respond in real time.”

In other words, given the tenuous state of the endowment, this gift gives the University financial freedom that it might not otherwise have,

Wrighton cites the Executive MBA program created in conjuction with Pudong University in China as a model for the kind of “one-time investment” that this gift could help support.

According to Wrighton, this type of financial flexibility will “help us to maintain the great people, programs and facilities that make us a great university.”

This grant arrives on the heels of a series of financial difficulties. Since the endowment began to lose value in 2008, the University has halted construction plans and stalled hiring.

“Coming at a time when the economy is difficult makes the gift even more special. It gives us assurance that we are going to have resources to cover key initiatives. We need to remain vibrant,” said Wrighton.

In addition to the Academic Excellence Fund, $10 million of the gift will go toward support of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, a network of partner institutions established in 2005 to give graduate students broad exposure to international leadership.

Another $2 million will go toward a challenge grant to encourage additional donations for the University’s “Opening Doors to the Future” scholarship campaign. . Every scholarship donation will be matched dollar for dollar with an equal donation from the challenge grant. Wrighton hopes that after the two million dollars in match money is given, another gift will allow for the creation of a new challenge grant.

“It is Mr. McDonnell’s and certainly my hope that this gift will encourage others to make similar gifts that will help to improve our academic program,” said Wrighton.

McDonnell, formerly the chairman and CEO of McDonnell Douglass Corporation, is currently the vice chair of the Board of Trustees. He was previously the Chairman.

“He has been an exceptional contributor to the University, both financially and as leader of the Board,” said Wrighton.

The program is a component of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy, whose membership includes the University and 24 partner institutions around the world.

EECE Professor of Practice Ruth Chen said she believes the international research and learning connectivity established by the program helps students respond to global issues in environmental and energy studies.

“Even though we have environmental and chemical problems in this country we can see how other countries approach these issues… [which] will give us a wonderful perspective of how to solve ours and also solve them in a way that doesn’t create problems in other parts of the globe,” Chen said.

The International Experience brings students to a partner institution over the summer, and continues the learning experience through a three-credit course offered the following fall.

Students attend a weekend language school to develop a conversational understanding before the program. While abroad, students take courses taught in English on the individual nation’s history and culture. They also have the opportunity to see laboratories, meet professors who are leading the students’ fields of study, and attend lectures and laboratory projects.

Upon their return, students work on a project with a faculty advisor that culminates in a research paper.

History: Beijing, China 2008

In China, the program has been run through two partner universities in Beijing: Tsinghua University and Peking University, both of which are top-tier schools.

Students in the program also worked alongside government officials to improve Beijing’s air quality before the Olympics.

“The inaugural year went quite well,” Chen said.

History: Seoul, Korea 2009

The University has three partner universities in Seoul, Korea: Yonsei University, Seoul National University and Korea University. The International Experience program also coordinated some lessons with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

Students concluded their visit with a seminar presentation to 200 Korean engineering students.

Future Programs

This summer, the International Experience will go to IIT Bombay.

The International Experience is scheduled to go to Hong Kong and Shanghai in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Chen expects the program’s strength to continue and also hopes to expand the availability of internships in the country post-program.

“I feel that this type of in-depth study would prepare our students for their future challenges in their work or in their academic pursuits,” Chen said. “The perspective they bring from abroad will make them a world citizen and make them more perceptive to world problems, environmental and energy issues in other parts of the world.”

Benefits of the Program

Chen notes that many students have been heavily impacted by the program.

“I feel it was eye-opening in many ways to the students and they bring back a new perspective,” Chen said.

One student called the Beijing experience “the highlight of his life,” according to Chen.

A number of participants who have graduated have gone on to graduate school or careers related to their experience.

Beijing program participant Tyler Nading told Chen that at a certain point in his career, he wanted to work in China.

Chen said she believes other participants in the Beijing Program have had life-changing experiences.

“They have seen how far China has come, but they also see how much farther China has to go. They realize it’s a global issue, and it’s not a problem for only the Chinese to solve. It takes going to China to have that realization,” Chen said.

Students who participated in the Korea Program have continued on to related internships.

Senior Michael Craig said he learned a lot through the Korean program and recommends it to future students.

“It seemed to be a great opportunity to visit a part of the world I’ve not been to while also learning a tremendous amount and possibly networking with people outside our nation,” Craig said. “Meeting people there who may be potential contacts later in life [if] I choose to look for a job there was a great opportunity.”

Chen said she believes the program participants have remarkable potential, which the International Experience Program will help to develop.

“As far as I see, they are very good engineers and this would make them better engineers and better citizens of the world,” Chen said.