Welcome to a series of stories celebrating SIU’s 150th anniversary.

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Growing up on a farm near Canton, F. Lynn McPheeters never imagined he would become the chief financial officer and vice president of Caterpillar Inc. Now, he’s donating $1 million to Southern Illinois University Carbondale, his alma mater, to help future Salukis succeed.

The endowment gift establishes the McPheeters Family Scholarship to benefit undergraduate College of Business students, Chancellor Carlo Montemagno announced this week.

“Without SIU, I would never have been in a position to have the opportunity to do something like this,” McPheeters said. “I’m a first-generation college student, and being able to attend SIU – a national, state-supported college – enabled me to have the career and life I’ve had. My hope is that this scholarship will allow others who are in similar situations the opportunity to attend SIU and succeed in their chosen field as I was able to.”

Benefitting business students

McPheeters’ gift will enable the university to award about $40,000 in scholarship assistance annually to deserving first-generation business students.

“Mr. McPheeters has been a longtime supporter of SIU, and we are very appreciative of his ongoing involvement and this generous contribution,” Montemagno said. “Countless students will realize their dreams of attending college because of this gift, and its impact on the world of business will reach far into the future.”

The scholarship funds are earmarked for first-generation students in the College of Business who are from Illinois counties located south of I-80; preference will be given to those who major in finance or accounting. Recipients must maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 to retain their eligibility and the scholarship is renewable for up to four years.

The McPheeters story

McPheeters is a 1964 accounting graduate from SIU’s College of Business. He joined the Fortune 500 company soon thereafter and held a number of finance-related positions in the United States and abroad during a 40-year career capped off by a term as CFO. He fostered a working partnership between SIU and Caterpillar during his career. Since he retired, he remains active professionally on behalf of SIU and as a proponent for public education and charitable causes.

McPheeters was the first to enroll at and graduate from Spoon River Community College, then known as Canton College, and he established the Francis G. and Dorothea B. McPheeters Scholarship there in honor of his parents. He continues to serve as a board member for several companies, including RLI Inc. and WPC Technologies.

A member of the SIU Foundation board since 2002, McPheeters has served as chair of the audit committee and later as board president; he is currently an emeritus board member. He was one of the first members of the College of Business external advisory board, holding a seat since 1988. He was inducted into the college’s Hall of Fame in 1988 and has earned a number of other honors, including the College of Business Alumni Achievement Award in 2004.

In 2006, McPheeters and his wife, Susan, supported SIU with a $585,000 gift of appreciated Caterpillar stock, which was invested to create the Susan F. and F. Lynn McPheeters College of Business Leadership Endowed Chair, the college’s first endowed chair. The McPheeters’ philanthropy has also extended to various other charitable organizations and efforts in the health, education and abuse-prevention areas, earning them the title of Outstanding Philanthropists for Central Illinois in 2006.

“Lynn McPheeters has been associated with SIU and the College of Business for a long time. He has also been a loyal and generous friend,” said Terry Clark, dean of the College of Business. “Over the years, his love for our institution has been shown in many ways, from serving on the college’s External Advisory Board to serving on the SIU Foundation Board. Lynn’s institutional spiritedness is legendary. We are deeply grateful for his most recent gift. Through his generosity, another generation of Salukis will be helped onto the ladder that Lynn climbed so notably upon graduation from the college in 1964.”

Forever SIU

The McPheeters Family Scholarship endowment was made in conjunction with the Forever SIU fundraising campaign, to advance the university’s goal of providing the best education possible to students of all disciplines. More information about the campaign is available at foreversiu.org.

Welcome to a series of stories celebrating SIU’s 150th anniversary.

By Rebecca Renshaw

It often is said that while most of us dream about great things, engineers just go and do them.

That certainly rings true for Lori Quigg, a 1991 alumna of the SIU College of Engineering. Quigg didn’t let the fact that she was entering a male-dominated field stop her when she began her engineering education in 1988. She worked hard, made the grades and did the work necessary to get her degree.

Nor did it stop her a few years later, when she decided to start her own engineering firm.

“When you wake up one day and say, ‘Today is the day I’m going to go $500,000 in debt’ – well, that took some courage and perseverance,” she says, laughing. “But I did it somehow. There’s a fine line between being really smart and really stupid. Fortunately for me, everything worked in my favor.”

Quigg Engineering Inc., now headquartered in Springfield, Illinois, has seen steady success and growth over the past 10 years.

“We went from two employees in a little office in Jacksonville to now over 75 employees in multiple offices in Illinois, as well as Iowa and Florida,” Quigg says. “Yes, I work hard, but the saying is certainly true for me that ‘when you enjoy what you do, you are not really working.’ I go 24/7. In fact, my entire family’s motto is, ‘Work hard, play hard.’ ”

Quigg attributes much of her success to SIU.

“I loved SIU because the professors actually taught me what I needed to know,” she says. “Sometimes, at large universities, professors spend all their time on research while teaching assistants do the teaching. Not SIU. I found that my professors who taught me were all very accessible and caring. That made a big impact on me that I’ve never forgotten.”

Quigg recently decided to give back to SIU and help those following in her footsteps by establishing an endowed scholarship for female engineering students.

“Whenever I see an issue, I always try to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem,” she says. “I have seen a problem in the state of Illinois in hiring female and minorities. The fact is there is a definite shortage of female engineers. Even the Illinois Department of Transportation is being forced to search for job candidates in other states because there are so few female candidates.”

Quigg says that her daughter, a pre-med student at SIU, continues to see women struggle in traditionally male-dominated fields.

“I always knew for the last 20 years that I wanted to start a scholarship specifically for women,” Quigg says. “I know how much an education costs, and how frustrating it can be. This is something I did because I have walked that path. Now I want to give a helping hand to other women who want to pursue this type of degree.”

Quigg wants students to know that getting a degree in engineering doesn’t mean they must be exceptionally gifted students.

“I always tell young people that they don’t have to be brainiacs,” she says. “I assure them that, as long as they are mathematically inclined, they will be fine. They will be taught and they will learn. I also want them to know that an engineering degree can open so many doors of opportunity. From transportation to oil and gas or the government, engineers are needed in so many fields.

“It’s a great career choice as a woman, especially if you want to raise a family someday. I have always made my family a priority throughout my career, and I want to encourage other women to do the same, if that is their goal. My career choice has truly allowed me to have the best of both worlds.”

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Welcome to a series of stories celebrating SIU’s 150th anniversary.

By Rebecca Renshaw

The first thing you notice about Roy and Marianne Abrahamson is the distinct twinkle in their eyes. Married 56 years, they share a life rich in art, laughter and the art of giving.

“Art is transformational,” says Roy Abrahamson, an SIU art education professor for 31 years until his retirement in 1996. “Art is the ability to transform what one sees into an artistic formation according to one’s inner holistic view.”

The transformational power of art led the couple to establish the Dr. Roy E. Abrahamson Art Education Endowed Scholarship to help students afford an education – so the students, in turn, can contribute to the artistic transformation of others.

“Roy is the type of artist that doesn’t sit and sketch what he sees,” Marianne Abrahamson says. “Instead, he takes in the scene and records it with an inner eye.”

The gift of expression is evident throughout the Abrahamsons’ home in Carbondale. The artwork that adorns their walls and coffee tables reflects Roy Abrahamson’s fascination with multiple types of art – from temperas, to oils, to caseins, to acrylics, to watercolors and wood sculptures.

Roy Abrahamson’s love of art has taken him from one coast to the other. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in art education from the University of Minnesota, he studied with Henry Schaefer-Simmern at the Institute of Art Education in Berkley, California. After obtaining a master’s degree in elementary and secondary education from San Francisco State University, he served three years in the Army during the Korean War.

Following his military service, he taught public school in San Francisco. In 1960, Roy and Marianne married, and in 1963 they moved to New York, where Roy Abrahamson earned a doctoral degree in art education at Columbia University. In 1965, he joined the School of Art and Design faculty at SIU, teaching art education to hundreds of students during his tenure.

While at SIU he also served as president of the Illinois Art Education Association, and was a member of the National Art Education Association and the International Society for Education through Art. In addition, he wrote and published many research articles in professional journals. He also took part in a research grant program involving student teachers and mentally handicapped children and organized annual hands-on art sessions for children from southern Illinois schools.

Perhaps one of Roy Abrahamson’s greatest achievements came after his retirement from SIU. He was asked by the widow of his late mentor Schaefer-Simmern to co-edit a book titled “Consciousness of Artistic Form.” A copy of the book sits prominently in the couple’s living room.

Marianne Abrahamson says they recently saw an opportunity to give back to the university that was such a significant part of their lives.

“Being a native of Germany myself, and both of us growing up during WWII, the experiences of that time formed our outlook,” she says. “While we never had much money back in the early years, we knew how to make the most of what we had. And now that we have the funds, we want to help deserving students in art education get their education.”

“Throughout my career and throughout our lives, it’s always been about helping students demonstrate art that is true to their inner being,” Roy Abrahamson says. “Marianne and I established the scholarship to help students who could not otherwise afford an education. It is a good feeling to have.”

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