Lance Hostetter
The Paw Print
Adams State College and Emeritus Professor John McDaniel announced the second largest donation to ASC last Thursday at the Donor Recognition Dinner.
ASC honored Dr. McDaniel with the Billy Adams Award which recognizes continued dedication to education and ASC. Dr. McDaniel established over thirty individual scholarship funds in 1999 and has increased the total to forty scholarships today. McDaniel contributes $5,000 dollars to each fund which is then matched a donor and the Adams State College Foundation. Altogether Dr. McDaniel contributes over $823,000 each year to the McDaniel scholarships.
“Dr. McDaniel is what Adams State is all about,” ASC Athletic Director Larry Mortensen said.
Dr. McDaniel, however, has decided to donate the bulk of his estate to create the McDaniel Scholarship Trust.
“[Dr. McDaniel’s] generosity is so out flowing and enormous,” Carlos Lucero said. “He is a wonderful, decent human being.”
Although the final monetary amount has not been announced, it is expected to be in the millions of dollars. The McDaniel Scholarship Trust will inevitably aid uncountable future students.
“Financial Aid is more than money; it’s a group recognizing intelligence and dedication,” Dr. McDaniel said.
Dr. McDaniel began his academic career at the Texas Christian University where he earned his B.A. and M.A. in English. He then continued his education at the University of Strasbourg with a Fulbright Grant studying French culture and civilization.
Following his time at the University of Stasbourgh, Dr. McDaniel began his doctoral work at Harvard University. Before finishing his doctorate, he left Harvard to work on the John F. Kennedy Presidential campaign. Following Kennedy’s election, Dr. McDaniel worked for the Kennedy administration. After Kennedy’s assassination, Dr. McDaniel finished his doctoral work at the University of Texas.
“After JFK’s assassination,” Dr. McDaniel said, “I felt a return to academics was best.”
Dr. McDaniel interviewed at ASC and the University of Nevada at Reno in the late 1960s, but because of his love for the Rocky Mountains, Dr. McDaniel joined ASC in 1967.
Dr. McDaniel served as the head of the Department of History, Government, Philosophy, and Foreign Language from 1994-1997 and began presiding over commencement ceremonies as Faculty Marshal in 1993. Dr. McDaniel
Upon his retirement in 2007, Dr. McDaniel was named emeritus professor after serving nearly forty years as an ASC professor.
“I’m profoundly grateful and honored,” Dr. McDaniel said. “[The McDaniel scholarships is] a way of honoring the students I have taught in the past, and also of helping students who will come in the future.”
Dr. McDaniel’s donation is second largest only to William and Joan Porter who donated $5.8 million dollars worth of E*Trade shares to ASC in 2007. Porter’s shares created the Porter Scholars Program that aids mathematics and science majors at ASC. The Porters also donated $4.6 million in E*Trade stock in 1997 to ASC. ASC named the mathematics and science building Porter Hall in honor of William Porter. Porter is the founder and chairman of E*Trade and founder of International Securities Exchange. He graduated from ASC with a degree in mathematics in 1951.
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