Newsbeat
April 30, 2019
GC dedicating Offutt STEM Center on Saturday
Oakland native's trust gifted $2M for STEM scholarships, equipment
Garrett College will officially dedicate the Daniel E. Offutt, III STEM Center Saturday morning at 10 a.m, honoring the late Oakland native and philanthropist whose trust has gifted $2 million to STEM scholarships and equipment renewal.
"This is truly a transformational gift," said Dr. Richard Midcap, Garrett College's president. "The scholarship component ensures student access to STEM education while the equipment renewal fund will allow GC to keep our new STEM facility a state-of-the-art education center." Income generated from the endowed gift will be split between STEM scholarships and technology renewal for the college's recently opened STEM Building.
Richard Orenstein, trustee for the Offutt Trust, will be the featured speaker at Saturday's event, which will take place in the STEM Building. Dr. Midcap, GC Board of Trustees Chair Don Morin, Garrett County Commissioners Chair Paul Edwards, Senator George Edwards, Delegate Wendell Beitzel, and Garrett College Foundation Chair Susie Crawford will also speak at the event, which is open to the public.
Orenstein, who visited GC right after the gift was announced last fall, noted at the time his enjoyment at fulfilling the late Mr. Offutt's philanthropic goals.
"I am delighted to be the intermediary for this gift from Dan's trust," said Orenstein at the time the gift was announced. "He had contributed to Garrett College over prior years, and this is a fitting tribute to the college's growth and future prosperity."
Garrett College's Board of Trustees voted unanimously last fall to name the STEM Building after Mr. Offutt. Morin said the board "strongly believes that it is only fitting for this facility, which is where the students benefiting from this gift will spend most of their classroom time, be named in Mr. Offutt's honor."
The Offutt gift helped Garrett College and the Garrett College Foundation smash the $500,000 goal for a capital campaign for STEM scholarships and technology renewal. The campaign raised nearly $2.5 million thanks in large part to the Offutt Trust gift.
"Thanks to Mr. Offutt's extraordinary generosity, we've exceeded even our most optimistic goals for the STEM campaign," said Cherie Krug, executive director of the Garrett College Foundation.
The Offutt STEM Center, which opened last September, was a renovation and expansion project that includes classrooms, student spaces, faculty offices and laboratories for physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, and robotics.
