The Weatherhead School of Management community gathered on Friday, April 26 to celebrate the school’s philanthropic supporters and recognize the impact and importance of scholarship support for Weatherhead students. Hosted at the The Frank N. and Jocelyne K. Linsalata Alumni Center, the annual celebration featured student scholarship recipients and Dean Manoj Malhotra recognized the community of supporters who helped the School raise $69M during the Forward Thinking Campaign, which concluded on December 31, 2018.
President Barabara Snyder also addressed the audience and highlighted some of the final results of the campaign, including:
- Of the campaign’s 60,000 donors, 46,000 were CWRU alumni
- 99 percent of the campaign total ($1.3 billion) was in cash gifts and pledges
- Weatherhead surpassed its $65M campaign goal, reaching $69M by the campaign’s conclusion
The celebration also marked the 10th anniversary of Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit. The Center grew from Chuck Fowler’s experience as a student in the Executive MBA program studying with David Cooperrider, PhD. Chuck embraced the concept of appreciative inquiry, pioneered at Weatherhead by Cooperrider and Ron Fry, PhD, and subsequently incorporated AI applications into his own company, Fairmount Santrol, one of the nation’s largest producers of industrial sand. Chuck and Char Fowler have helped the Weatherhead School advance appreciative inquiry through the Fowler Center, which is dedicated to research and education on societal entrepreneurship and sustainable value, and Fowler Family Fellowships for highly qualified MBA students studying in these areas.
Finally, guests heard from Robert Relief, III, a graduating MBA student and the PNC Scholarship recipient. Rob shared many of his academic highlights while studying at Weatherhead, and expressed the essential need for scholarship support to make that happen.
“Weatherhead provided me with the experience I needed to land the job I desired, after some said it would be nearly impossible for me to obtain. None of this could be possible without scholarship support. So I thank you, on behalf of myself and every other scholarship recipient, for the generous support of everyone in this room. I promise you that your investment has not been wasted!” - Rob Relief, III - MBA Candidate ‘19