On the Cover

Features

An intimate connection

Love, CMU style

Departments

Letters

Take Five
Jeff Daniels visit
Jesse Jackson visit
Brain research
CMU volunteers
Real estate

Discovery
Driving distractions
How seals relate

Sports
A championship year
Jones named new coach

In support
Education building
Faculty learning
Opus gala

Maroon and Gold

Alumni in Action

I Am CMU

Smiths support lifelong passion for education

For Sid Smith, ’65, and Judy French Smith, ’65, supporting CMU’s new Education Building with an extraordinary $1 million gift is the ideal way to express their commitment to quality education.

The Smiths are lifelong advocates for education and believe that those pursuing the dream of becoming a teacher should do so at CMU.

In fact, Judy did just that. She received her degree in secondary education with a major in English and taught seventh-grade English and remedial reading in the Lansing Public Schools.

“I really enjoyed teaching,” Judy says. “It was a new and rewarding experience for me, working and living in an urban environment.”

Although Sid holds a degree in business, education is in his blood. His father, Woodward “Woody” Smith, came to CMU in the fall of 1942 and held several positions on campus. He was a teacher and an administrator and also was instrumental in creating what now is CMU’s Off-Campus Programs. Woody’s love for CMU and dedication to teacher preparation were instilled in his son.

“Teachers are the second most important people in a child’s life,” Sid says. “Next to parents, no one has a greater influence than a teacher. We have to do everything we can to make sure they are trained and well prepared for the 21st century.”

Fundraising moves forward The Smiths’ leadership gift gave the fundraising effort for the new building a tremendous start.
“We are so very grateful to the Smiths for their generosity,” says Karen Adams, dean of the College of Education and Human Services. “Their gift truly paved the way for this project to move forward.”

CMU’s new Education Building will offer the ideal space for that preparation to take place, particularly in the 200-seat auditorium. Its design will make the auditorium an attractive location for student instruction, campuswide presentation, and small professional conferences. In recognition of their gift, the new auditorium will bear the Smiths’ name.

The state of Michigan has committed $37.5 million toward the cost of the $50 million project. The college and university must raise a minimum of $7.5 million toward CMU’s $12.5 million matching requirement for the project.

In addition to the $1 million gift from Sid and Judy French Smith, other lead gifts for the new Education Building Project include:

• The Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation has pledged $1.5 million

• The Morey Foundation has pledged $1 million

• The Charles J. Strosacker Foundation has given a $500,000 gift

Naming opportunities

The campaign for the Education Building presents many new donor engagement and naming opportunities for CMU alumni, friends, partners, faculty, staff, and others to realize the immense potential in CMU’s College of Education and Human Services.

Listed here is a selection of naming opportunities.

• Student seminar rooms (two available), $75,000

• Reading clinic classrooms (two available), $50,000

• General classrooms (several), $25,000

• Large study areas (four available), $15,000

For information on these and other Education Building naming opportunities, contact
Cindy Hales, director of development,
(989) 774-1554 or hales2ce@cmich.edu.