Investing in the region
By Barbara Sutherland Chovanec
Gifts to CMU from The Dow Chemical Co. are just as varied as the interests and expertise of the multibillion dollar global company.
Dow currently supports initiatives in business, science, and education. And gifts come in the form of training, grants, advice, and business and scientific expertise.
David Kepler, executive vice president, says the company supports CMU to contribute to the education and future of students who one day may be Dow employees – and also simply because it’s the right thing to do.
“We’re a global company with headquarters in the mid-Michigan area, and we have to continue to invest in the community so it remains viable and robust, economically, educationally, and culturally,” says Kepler, who also is chief sustainability officer, chief information officer, and corporate director of shared services for Dow.
“We also have to attract the best talent for the company,” he says. “Education is important to that, and we see CMU as a key part of the equation.”
Dow currently supports the SAP and Six Sigma programs in the College of Business Administration, the development of CMU’s new doctorate in the science of advanced materials in the College of Science and Technology, and the construction of CMU’s new Education Building.
CMU is recognized as a leader in SAP education, and The Dow Chemical Co. has helped make that happen through support of CMU’s SAP University Alliance Program.
SAP – Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing – is the market leader in enterprise resource planning software that brings together all of a business’ functions, such as accounting, human resources, and supply-chain management, into a single database.
The Dow Chemical Co. Foundation donated $150,000 in 1998 to fund the Dow/SAP Learning Lab, a 48-station computer lab in Grawn Hall dedicated to supporting all courses using the SAP software. And the company funds scholarships every year for students who have shown outstanding academic performance in an SAP supported course.
“The Dow/SAP Learning Lab is a wonderful aid for teaching our courses,” says Frank Andera, director of the SAP University Alliance Program and a business information systems faculty member. “Instead of learning case studies only from a textbook, students learn by using a simulated model of a corporation using the SAP software.”
CMU’s SAP program, which began in 1997 with eight faculty members, now boasts 20 faculty members from various disciplines with SAP expertise. The College of Business Administration offers nearly 20 courses that integrate enterprise resource planning concepts and specific SAP training into the curriculum.
In 2005 The Dow Chemical Co. paired with CMU to offer a dozen faculty members training through Dow’s Six Sigma training program.
Since then, more faculty and staff have undergone some form of training in Six Sigma, a quality control approach for improving business performance. CMU has hired a faculty member in the management department to integrate Six Sigma into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum for students to learn the methodology.
“Not only does this partnership allow CMU to act as an important training ground in Six Sigma practices, it also will give us the opportunity to act as a laboratory and to demonstrate that successful Six Sigma projects can be realized in what is primarily a service environment,” says Dan Vetter, senior associate dean of the College of Business Administration.
Dow will provide CMU with its Six Sigma training materials for use in College of Business Administration courses. And in return, CMU will provide Six Sigma training courses in Midland for Dow employees – something the company will no longer need to handle itself.
“Supporting Six Sigma is relevant to us, but it’s also relevant to where the world’s going,” Kepler says. “It’s a win for CMU beyond a relationship with Dow.”
This fall CMU is launching a doctoral program in the science of advanced materials – a program for which Dow scientists contributed valuable ideas and advice during the early planning stages.
Students with a variety of undergraduate backgrounds may apply for the interdisciplinary program, which will include courses from faculty members in physics, chemistry, and mathematics.
“Colleges that specialize in high-technology fields improve communities, educating people on an evolving industry,” says Valeri Petkov, physics professor. “This strategic new area gives CMU the chance to change the local economy by creating job diversity. The program puts the university on the world map of materials science.”
The Dow Chemical Co. has long supported the sciences at CMU. The university has had an agreement with Dow since 1985 that makes the company’s facilities available to CMU students for completing thesis projects.
Finally, the newest major donation from Dow goes to the College of Education and Human Services in the form of $180,000 worth of insulation for the new Education Building.
The building is under construction now on campus and is expected to open for classes in the fall of 2009. Dow’s expertise in manufacturing insulation will help make the new building more energy efficient – contributing to the university’s goals of sustainability.
“There’s a real need in the world to manage energy, and the No. 1 thing we can address as a society is energy efficiency,” Kepler says. “This donation is a way we can contribute with technology and product expertise in finding solutions for world challenges.” •
