$750,000 gift benefits BGSU students

A generous gift to Bowling Green State University from a Perrysburg couple will be shared among two academic areas and one campus facility, it was announced Oct. 20.

Harold and Helen McMaster are donating $750,000 to support the University's College of Musical Arts, education in the sciences and renovation of the Student Union. The three areas were chosen for their potential to benefit students across campus and enhance the University community.

The gift was formally presented at an afternoon ceremony in Mileti Alumni Center attended by University President Sidney Ribeau, students, deans, faculty, friends and members of the McMaster family.

One of the gift's three parts is a first for the University. One-third of the donation will go toward establishing the first endowed professorship in the College of Musical Arts: the Helen McMaster Endowed Professorship in Vocal Music and Choral Studies. Before her marriage, Helen McMaster studied music at Defiance College, and she has been a supporter of the arts at BGSU for many years. In 1992 she served as honorary chair of Bowling Green's Campaign for the Arts, to which the couple donated $150,000.

A second portion of the gift will be used to establish the Harold McMaster Endowed Fund for Visiting Scientists in the College of Arts and Sciences. The interdisciplinary program will annually bring to campus an eminent scholar or practitioner in the area of chemistry, biology, geology, physics or astronomy. The visiting scientist will deliver a lecture as well as interact in classes and small groups with faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and members of the community, including area business leaders.

The third part of the gift will fund the Harold and Helen McMaster Meeting Room in the soon-to-be-expanded and renovated Student Union. The third-floor room with seating for approximately 300 people will be among the largest meeting rooms in the new Union and may be used by University and community groups alike.

The McMasters have long been friends of BGSU, donating to programs in music, business, science and the Center for Photochemical Sciences. Harold McMaster serves on the University's Foundation board of directors, which oversees all private contributions to BGSU.

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