SFSU Public Affairs Press Release
Published by the Public Affairs Office at San Francisco State University, Diag Center.
| SFSU Public Affairs Press ReleasePublished by the Public Affairs Office at San Francisco State University, Diag Center. |
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--March 31, 1999--San Francisco State University (SFSU) students and faculty members will in perpetuity be the direct beneficiaries of $2 million in private endowed gifts from Y.F. Chang, group chairman and founder of The Evergreen Group, parent company of the world's largest container ship operator, Evergreen Marine Corporation, of EVA Airways and numerous other affiliated businesses.
The gifts will establish a $1 million endowment for Presidential Scholars, and a $1 million endowed faculty chair in International Business. The total represents the largest single private gift ever given to San Francisco State, and honors the University on the occasion of its Centennial celebration during 1999.
The Presidential Scholars Program assists San Francisco Bay Area students from economically disadvantaged and culturally diverse backgrounds who have demonstrated high academic and leadership qualities in high school. The endowment will fund tuition, fees, textbook allowance and a housing subsidy for 20 students for four years. These students will make up the 1999 freshman class and will be called Y.F. Chang Presidential Scholars.
The Y.F. Chang Chair in International Business will allow SFSU to recruit an eminent scholar to guide existing campus programs and make possible new efforts in the analysis of the rapidly changing international and multinational environment, and the new management problems and task that result.
In announcing the gifts, SFSU President Robert A. Corrigan said, "we are deeply honored by Chairman Chang’s profound generosity that affirms SFSU’s commitment to the best and brightest Bay Area students. The endowed chair in International Business also ensures SFSU’s effective participation in an increasingly complex global environment."
Chairman Chang said, "it gives me great pleasure to assist San Francisco State during its Centennial year. I am proud of my long-standing relationship with the University and support its visions for an internationalized education, as well as academic excellence that fulfills the educational aspirations of its diverse student population."
Since its founding in 1968, The Evergreen Group has grown into a comprehensive transport organization encompassing sea-air-land businesses. It operates world-wide, and its ships and airliners are well-known in the Bay Area and California. The company's headquarters is in Taipei, Taiwan.
In his autobiography, Chairman Chang wrote that "there is no luck or miracle involved in my success story. There is only hard work." He also wrote, "I hope that my story of standing tall in times of hardship will encourage the younger generation." The Chairman was honored by San Francisco State in 1990 when he was presented with a President’s Medal and later was awarded with an honorary degree in recognition of his exceptional achievements and contributions to business and society. He was also honored by the University of South Carolina with an honorary doctorate in business.
Founded in 1899, San Francisco State University is a highly diverse community of 27,000 students and 3,500 faculty and staff. It is one of the largest campuses of the nationally-recognized 23-campus California State University system. The University is celebrating its 100th year of service to the Bay Area, California and beyond.
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