Special to the Tribune-Star
. — Gov. Mitch Daniels received the inaugural “Excellence in Innovation” Award during Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s “Leading the Next Decade of Innovation Gala” on Feb. 27 at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis. The governor was honored for his “courage and innovation” at the event attended by more than 700 people and sponsored by Rose-Hulman to celebrate the first decade of its Rose-Hulman Ventures, a one-of-a-kind program that provides student interns outstanding technical and professional experiences.
Rose-Hulman President Matt Branam presented the award stating, “As a leader, Governor Daniels understands the role of education in improving the lives of the people of our state. As an innovator, he understands that emerging technologies are the lever for creating new jobs and improved jobs … the kind of jobs our Rose-Hulman graduates are working hard to fill.”
Daniels has “elevated appreciation for academic rigor, creating a state program to recognize the best math and science students in our high schools,” Branam said. “That makes Rose-Hulman better, which helps us make Indiana better.”
“Because he [Daniels] has so expertly cultivated a climate that encourages innovation…it is my great honor to present our 2010 Rose-Hulman Excellence in Innovation award to our governor, the Honorable Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.,” Branam said.
In accepting the award, Daniels thanked Rose-Hulman “for the contributions you make, the inventions you produce and the jobs that come from them. But even more than that, thank you for the excellence you represent and the standard you have held up, which I hope all Hoosiers and the generations now arriving on the scene will note and emulate and seek, each in his or her own way, to try to achieve.”
“Thanks and good luck for another many decades of leadership and excellence in innovation,” Daniels said. Honoring Daniels was the culmination of the celebration gala that included a tribute to the former president of 28 years and professor emeritus Samuel F. Hulbert and the unveiling of a memorial to the late August “Gus” Watanabe, who was instrumental in launching applied biology at Rose-Hulman.
The celebration dinner was organized by Branam and chaired by James R. Baumgardt, Rose-Hulman alumnus and an emeritus member of the college’s board of trustees and the former chair of the board’s committee on Rose-Hulman Ventures. The celebration engaged various members of the Rose-Hulman community in looking to the future of innovation and the college’s role in it. Branam became the 14th president of the 135-year-old engineering, science and mathematics college Dec. 4. A 1979 Rose-Hulman civil engineering graduate, he is the first alumnus to serve as permanent president at Rose-Hulman.
Major sponsors for the event were AIT Laboratories and Indiana Chemical Trust. Leadership sponsors included Greg and Amy Gibson, David and Katherine Hannum, and the Cornelius Family Foundation. President’s Sponsors were Bill Fenoglio, chairman of the Rose-Hulman Board of Trustees, Nancy and Niles Noblitt, Joann and Jack Ragle, Susan and Donald Scott and Clyde Willian.
To view photos of the event, visit www.rose-hulman.edu/news/2010
innovationphoto/01.htm.
