BYU receives $313 million gift
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PROVO, Utah — University, Church and business leaders joined Dec. 4 to announce a $313.8 million software donation to BYU — the largest corporate gift in the school's history.
General Motors Corp., Sun Microsystems and EDS donated a software package that, university officials say, will link BYU classrooms to the corporate world.
The donation, said BYU President Merrill J. Bateman of the Seventy, will benefit the entire campus, starting with students in manufacturing engineering and industrial design. Thousands of students were on hand for the announcement, cheering and offering a standing ovation.
The companies are working together through an alliance called Partners for the Advancement of CAD/CAM/CAE Education, or PACE, to support academic institutions with computer-based engineering and design tools. With the software package, engineering and industrial design students can digitally design 3-D views of a vehicle that can be transferred to other software programs for stress analysis, manufacturing and marketing.
Other universities in the U.S., Mexico, Canada and China, including Purdue, Michigan State, Northwestern and Virginia Tech, have also received grants. BYU is the 21st institution to join the PACE program. BYU's donation, however, is the largest single PACE contribution to date.
PACE representatives at BYU for the announcement said BYU was awarded such a substantial grant in part because of school academic collaboration between industrial design and engineering.
Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve thanked company leaders for the gift during a luncheon after the official press conference. An engineer, he reflected on his education, which began with slide rules and spans to the computer technology used today. He said the Church deeply appreciates that "our students here will have the opportunity to work with software which will allow, not only in the engineering area but many other areas, modeling virtually in the kind of detail and capacity that you are making possible."
Elder Scott also told GM, Sun and EDS officials a little bit about the students at BYU — who are known for their integrity and work ethic. "We are committed as a board of education to make this one of the most outstanding enterprising schools in the world," he said. "I am confident that you will have a devotion on the part of the faculty here to use this gift."
Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve and commissioner of Church Education called the donation remarkable in the effect it will have in the lives of young people. Not only will students learn cutting-edge technology, he continued, but they will also receive the benefit of working with corporate mentors.
Selected universities are invited to participate in the PACE program based on several criteria, including a long-term relationship with GM as a primary educational partner and a strong recruiting relationship; strength in design, engineering and manufacturing; and the institution's current and intended interest in developing curricula using PACE products and processes.
GM vice president Wayne K. Cherry said the grant shows what is possible when business and academia work together for the future.
E-mail: sarah@desnews.com
