$1 Million Harris Gift Will Benefit Undergraduate Students In Earth And Mineral Sciences
December 14, 2000
University Park, Pa.–Penn State alumnus and retired petroleum industry executive Donald F. Harris has pledged more than $1 million to broaden educational opportunities for undergraduates and faculty in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

The gift, to be made through Harris’ future estate, is targeted to endow the college Center for Advanced Undergraduate Studies and Experience (CAUSE) and to establish the Donald Harris Academic Excellence Fund in Global Business Strategies.

Harris designated $400,000 for global business strategies, a new minor that Earth and Mineral Sciences created cooperatively with The Smeal College of Business Administration. The minor introduces students to financial, investment and management concepts of private sector organizations whose operations emphasize the earth and its environment, the energy and mineral industries and the development of new and enhanced materials.

"This exciting gift from Donald Harris will provide support for a variety of activities in a new minor designed to encourage leadership and an entrepreneurial spirit in our students," said John A. Dutton, Dean of EMS. "This includes guest lectures by leaders in business and industry, support for student and faculty research, the purchase of computers and software for classrooms, as well as financial support for visiting faculty."

This part of the Harris gift will also provide an opportunity for EMS to develop a CAUSE course that will integrate the curriculum of global business strategies into the CAUSE program, according to Dutton.

The remainder of the gift will support the CAUSE program directly. CAUSE provides students with "real life" experiences encompassing research, discovery, speculation, writing and debate.

Each year, a select number of outstanding juniors and seniors, representing a cross-section of the college’s disciplines, are invited to participate in a CAUSE project involving the earth and its resources. Students have traveled around the country and the world engaged in projects as diverse as studying the effects of global warming on rural Pennsylvania, examining coral reef demise in the Florida Keys, and discovering the impact of natural hazards in New Zealand. For the 2000 CAUSE project, students are studying the effects of energy choices on the environment.

Harris, a resident of New York City, earned his degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Penn State in 1948. During his 46-year career, Harris worked for Standard Oil of Calif., the Gulf Oil Corp. and Kuwait Petroleum. He traveled extensively in Latin America and Asia and lived in Chile, Panama, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Contacts:

Mike Bezilla (814) 863-4512 (work) (814) 238-5842 (home)
Anne Danahy (814)863-4512 (work) (814)466-4834 (home)