A Reason to Celebrate

For the third consecutive year, generous donors helped Radiance: CSU Realizing the Promise achieve more than $1 million for scholarships.

Since 2011, $4.8 million has been raised, with some 1,500 Radiance scholarships awarded to students who literally need just a bit of financial help to get them over the finish line to graduation. Radiance Scholar Drewcilla Roberts brought the crowd to its feet as she spoke proudly of being a role model to her siblings and the first in her family to graduate. Now attending Miami University on a full graduate assistantship, she is studying for an education specialist degree in school psychology.

The President’s Medal, the University’s most prestigious nonacademic honor, was awarded to civic leader/philanthropist Steven A. Minter, former president and executive director of the Cleveland Foundation. Currently a CSU Executive-in-Residence, CSU Foundation director and Fellow in the Levin College Center for Nonprofit Policy and Practice, Minter has served the University in a host of other capacities. “My life has been filled with incredible moments. Receiving this medal is one of them,” he said.
He and his wife established the Steve and Dolly Minter Endowment Fund in the Levin College.

Cleveland State is the proud recipient of a 2016 Sustained Excellence Award for fundraising from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

CSU was recognized for Overall Improvement over fiscal years 2013 through 2015. “CSU has not only demonstrated the highest levels of professionalism and best practice in its fundraising efforts, it has contributed to the betterment of educational advancement worldwide,” said Sue Cunningham, CASE president.

Indeed, during the fiscal years analyzed by CASE, CSU posted back-to-back-to-back record-setting years — $6 million, $20 million and $22 million — for fundraising. And we have generous donors to thank. In addition, ENGAGE: The Campaign for Cleveland State University has achieved nearly $92 million of its $100 million goal. Publicly announced in May 2015, ENGAGE supports student success through scholarships and initiatives to help students stay in school, graduate and use their knowledge and skills to succeed in their careers and their lives. ENGAGE is CSU’s first-ever comprehensive campaign. Thank you to everyone who is supporting CSU and its students. Here are some highlights of the past fiscal year.

The annual Celebration of Scholarship Luncheon recognized scholarship donors and recipients.

Keynote speaker Tom Hopkins, MA ’82, interned at Sherwin-Williams while a graduate student at CSU and went on to a 35-year career with the firm, retiring in May as senior vice president of human resources.
A 2012 recipient of CSU’s Distinguished Alumni Award, he established the Hopkins Family Endowed Scholarship Fund and provided leadership to establish the Dr. James M. Schuerger Endowed Scholarship Fund to honor his faculty mentor.