Welcome
The Paper Technology Foundation, a 501(c)3 corporation, was established in 1958. The mission of the Paper Technology Foundation is to recruit students for the Paper Engineering and Paper Science programs at Western Michigan University and to provide those students with competitive scholarships. Careful, directed recruiting and the provision of competitive scholarships are our way to ensure that we provide strong leaders for the paper and allied industries well into the future.
Western Michigan University, at their Parkview campus, has made an unprecedented and unequaled investment in the Paper Science and Paper Engineering programs. Western’s Parkview campus is a $72 million investment in engineering and research and includes a modern 1 meter wide pilot coater with multiple coating application capabilities. During the past five decades, our industry has undergone dramatic change and the programs at the university continue to evolve to meet these challenges. The Parkview campus provides our student body with the most modern and most capable educational and research facilities available in any Paper Science or Paper Engineering school in the nation.
Our industry will continue to evolve in ways that will challenge the ability of universities to provide technically trained individuals to the industry. Western Michigan University is prepared to answer that challenge and to provide talented and motivated graduates who are academically positioned to lead the future generation. Industry change and evolution provides an extremely exciting time for a young person to enter our industry. Changes in the way we work, game-changing leaps in technology as well as the continued globalization and often privatization of both the paper industry and the U.S. economy will make the coming years unlike any we have experienced in our lifetime.
The Paper Technology Foundation Board of Trustees will continue to challenge our faculty while providing assistance to augment and enhance the pulp and paper programs by reflecting critical needs of the industry, by adding value to the degrees offered by the University, and by enhancing the reputation of the programs over the coming years.
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS:
- We experienced our third straight successful recruiting year since the focus began in 2004. 36 freshmen enrolled in Paper Science and Paper Engineering programs and 8 freshman enrolled in the Chemical Engineering program with the pulp and paper option for the fall 2008 semester. We awarded (100) scholarships for a total of $ 250,000 in the 2008-2009 school year.
- 16 sophomores returned in Paper Science and Paper Engineering in the fall of 2008; 5 of those students have a 3.0 or greater GPA and two have a 3.5 or greater GPA.
- 7 Juniors returned; 1 has over a 3.0 GPA and 2 are over a 3.5 GPA.
- 3 Seniors returned; 2 have a 3.0 or higher GPA.
- Demonstrated leadership on the part of many students is as evident as their strong academic performance and their involvement in the University community activities.
- 22 Chemical Engineering Majors have minors/options in Paper Engineering and are supported by PTF.
- Our Board of Trustees approved a proposal by the Strategic Planning Task Force to set a target enrollment of 100 students in the Paper Science and Paper Engineering program while having sufficient funding to support them with competitive scholarships.
- The Board of Trustees established two task forces. The first will increase corporate membership and improve funding from alumni. A second will focus on increasing the endowment funding to $10 million.
- Five new endowments were established in the past year.
- Our graduates continue to be well received by the industry and are being placed at salaries starting in the neighborhood of $62,500 annually.
- Corporate members of the Board of Trustees have come forth with an excellent number of summer jobs and internships to ensure that the education offered has both practical and academic components.
- Western Michigan University's Parkview Coater is achieving the potential that was anticipated when the investment was committed by providing industry with a much-needed resource for research and development in an economically viable and proprietary fashion. We continue to provide pilot work, research and testing services to the industry in pulping, bleaching, papermaking, coating, printing, and recycling. All of this is accomplished on commercially relevant equipment, in user friendly facilities and in a cooperative atmosphere. We continue to encourage new clients to utilize these facilities and welcome those clients we have gained over the past years.
The Paper Technology Foundation has experienced a remarkable track record, and we are most grateful to our alumni, friends, and corporate donors who continue to make it possible. We invite you to visit our new facilities at your convenience.
Our mission remains clear: we are about the business of recruiting, and educating motivated and talented students to earn their places of leadership in our industry.
Our Foundation's stewardship is outstanding as the funds are co-mingled with the Western Michigan University Foundation for investment purposes and the investment earnings have been 9.9% through the end of 2007 and over the past 10 years. 2008 -2009 is proving to be a challenging year with losses of 38.3 % between July 1 2008 and February 28 2009. We use 4.5% of the corpus annually for scholarships and never touch the principle of our true endowments thereby ensuring sustainability and growth of the Foundation while providing a generous award to the best and brightest students interested in advancing the global pulp and paper and related industries.
Investment in the Paper Technology Foundation, therefore, is an important public statement about a commitment to Western Michigan University the Paper Technology Foundation, and the Pulp and Paper Industry which is guaranteed to be sustainable and provide leadership for the future.
We invite you to join us in this venture and to participate in our great commitment to our students and the Pulp and Paper Industry's future.
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Charles R. Young |
John F. Bergin ('66) |