Endowed fellowship allows young alumni to pay it forward
In 2001 Fulter Hong took a chance on an entirely unproven program.
More than two decades later, it ranks as one of the best decisions he ever made.
A member of the first class to earn a Master’s in Engineering and Management (MEM) degree, Hong credits the program not only for his first job after graduation, but also the second—secured after his wife’s medical residency took them to Michigan.
“The ‘product’ is good,” said Hong (CWR ’02; GRS ’03, engineering and management), who met his wife Rebecca (CWR ’04) at CWRU, “and the Case Western Reserve brand opened doors for both [of us].”
The couple felt so grateful that in 2011, they began making gifts for a MEM fellowship specifically for students who earned their undergraduate degrees at Case Western Reserve. They’ve added to it each year since, continuing even after reaching the amount required to endow the fund.
“CWRU was the foundation to our success,” Fulter Hong explained, “and we want to see the university succeed.”
The MEM is designed to give engineering students the business knowledge and leadership skills needed to advance in their careers. An applied physics and electrical engineering major as an undergraduate, Fulter found the MEM curriculum particularly helpful in developing problem-solving skills. He’s now senior manager of global business operations at Google.
Rebecca, meanwhile, is a clinical assistant professor in anesthesiology at the University of Michigan (UM) and a pediatric anesthesiologist at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, part of UM Health. These and other achievements would not have been possible, she said, without the scholarships that allowed her to attend Case Western Reserve as an undergraduate.
“Suddenly I had all of these opportunities available to me, and it made a huge difference,” said Rebecca, who majored in biochemistry. “I’m happy to use my financial resources to help other students have those life-changing experiences.”
The couple encourages other young alumni to adopt a “mindset of generosity.”
“You don’t have to wait until you’re older or have tons of money to start giving back,” Fulter said. “You can start now.”
Originally published in the winter 2024 issue of Forward Thinking magazine