MSU President's Newspaper Column
December 2, 2023
Generosity of alumni and friends ensures outstanding educational opportunities for new generations of students
As the holidays draw near, our hearts are filled with gratitude for the many gifts with which we have been blessed. One of those precious gifts for countless alumni and friends is Mayville State University. For 134 years, the university has provided experiences that have made lives better.
Student scholarships help to ensure that Mayville State’s legacy of delivering the best in personal service and outstanding educational opportunities continues for new generations of students. The MSU Foundation has just kicked off the annual academic scholarship drive. Gifts received will help us to recruit and retain new students.
We know that scholarships may mean the difference in whether a student chooses to attend Mayville State, or whether to attend college at all. Gifts will help to relieve the financial stress that can go with earning a college degree and may be the very thing that makes it possible for a deserving person to do so. Students must carry the bulk of the financial load, but scholarships can really help to ease the burden.
This year, gifts to the academic scholarship drive have the potential to make an even bigger impact at Mayville State because of matching dollars provided through the work of the North Dakota Legislature’s Challenge Grant Program. The Challenge Grant provides a 50% match for private gifts to educational scholarship funds. That’s helping to make a serious bang for your buck, and all for an extremely worthy cause. This is a great time to make a gift that will have an even greater impact.
We at Mayville State are extremely thankful for the generosity of each and every one of our alumni and friends. Their support is key to making great things happen at the university and in the lives of individuals. These people are paying forward the goodness they’ve received through their association with Mayville State, and in doing so, changing lives. Their financial assistance in the form of large and small gifts makes a huge difference.
The alumni rolls contain many families who are responsible for keeping the Mayville State University circle of life in motion. Family members know the Mayville State experience first-hand and are eager to make sure that others may enjoy the benefits that have made their lives better.
One such group is the Larry and Dixie (Hoime) McGillis family. Larry and Dixie and two of their children, Corey McGillis and Shelley Kotaska, are Mayville State University graduates. Daughter Tiffany Sipma chose a career in the medical field. Larry and Dixie grew up in small town North Dakota, in the Edmore area, and came to Mayville State as freshmen in the 1960s.
They earned their degrees and chose to settle in the Mayville-Portland community, where they have made an impact. It's important to Larry and Dixie that their community thrives, and through volunteerism and financial support, they have helped to make Mayville-Portland a wonderful place in which to live, work, and raise a family.
They are quick to recognize the vital role Mayville State University plays in our community and they are attentive and constant supporters of the work of the university. Their support is wide-reaching, and by involving their business and encouraging their children to get involved, they have made a lifetime of financial contributions totaling more than a million dollars through their backing of various projects, programs, and scholarship opportunities. They are making a profound impact, and we could not be more appreciative of their foresight, loyalty, and generosity that supports the continued growth of Mayville State University.
In recognition of their lifetime support, sixty-year Mayville State graduates Larry and Dixie McGillis and their family are now among the newest members of the MSU Foundation Honor Society Founder Club. The members of this distinguished group have given $1 million or more in financial assistance to the university. Other members of the Founder Club are Terry Bachmeier, Jon & Betsy Ewen, the Gransberg Family Estate, the Edson & Margaret Larson Foundation, the Nelson Family, and Harvey & Melanie Noteboom. We are incredibly blessed to have friends who include the McGillis family and many others who are making a difference for the university and its students.
To make a gift to the academic scholarship drive or to learn more about how you can support the university, establish an endowment, or leverage the power of the North Dakota Challenge Grant, please contact Lon Jorgensen at the MSU Foundation, 701-788-4864 or lonny.jorgensen@mayvillestate.edu, or go to www.mayvillestate.edu/academicscholarships.