Above and Beyond

Major Gifts to Progress & Promise: 150th Anniversary Campaign

Major gifts from alumni and friends have made more than a significant impact on Michigan Engineering’s mission and well-being. These large-scale investments – in scholarships, fellowships, professorships and infrastructure – are endowed, providing support in perpetuity to build and renew resources at the College.

Endowed Scholarships

Each year, approximately 2,000 new Michigan Engineers enter the workforce and graduate programs, prepared to make significant contributions to their chosen fields. These young people are not only Michigan Engineering’s legacy but its means of making an impact on the world. For its own sake and for society’s, the College must continue to enroll and retain highly qualified students, despite the fact that fierce competition and diminishing financial aid present considerable challenges.

Endowed scholarships are one permanent solution to the financial-aid dilemma. They’ve become an ideal way to perpetuate a family or corporate name, memorialize a loved one or celebrate a graduating class. The Class of 31E has just such a story. 

Class of 31E

In the fall of 1927, the economy was booming as 386 freshmen entered the College of Engineering. Two years later the stock market crashed. By 1931 the Great Depression had begun to take its toll. Despite the obstacles of that era, members of the Class of 31E succeeded and chose to support the College so that others would have a way to obtain the education they considered so important to their lives.

Today, the Class of 31E Scholarship Fund has grown to $5.19 million and has supported more than 135 scholarship students over the years.