Michigan State Gets Huge Gift in Honor of Alumni
Even though Michigan State is closed it will be getting a huge gift in honor of an alumni, with a nice story behind it. According to WILX, Michigan State is going to get a $6 million gift from MSU graduate and research scientist Keelung Hong, PhD. He is giving the gift to the university in honor of his longtime partner, and graduate of James Madison College, Stephen O. Murray, who was an independent scholar as well as a sociologist, and anthropologist.
The two of them met in the early 1980s and were partners in research science for over 30 years. Murray, who graduated from Michigan State in early 1970s, died in 2019 at the age of 69. He had done tons of research at Michigan State which was another reason for Hong's gift, as he had to say,
“My donation is intended to ensure that Stephen O. Murray’s research, whether complete and published or incomplete and remaining unpublished at his death, remains accessible to other scholars, and to support additional research into the topics that interested him. I also want MSU students, staff, and faculty to know and remember his passion and appreciation of his college days.”
The $6 million plus gift will be mostly given to the MSU Libraries for the renovation and relocation. There will also be a $1 million gift to the James Madison College to support the Stephen O. Murray Scholar in Residence.
The money going to the MSU libraries and towards education is great as it will help future students get even more out of their education. It is also nice to see big multi-million dollar gifts going towards education at universities instead of athletics, just saying. More about it here.
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