Purdue President Martin C. Jischke delivered this speech on Tuesday, Aug. 23, to the first and second class of recipients of Purdue's full-scholarship program, the Purdue Opportunity Awards.

Aug. 23, 2005

A Million Dollar Education

What would you do if someone walked up to you at the close of this evening and gave you $1 million?

It's kind of a nice thought, isn't it?

I have heard people in agriculture say if they were to win a million dollars they would keep right on farming until all the money was gone. I think sometimes a lot of us feel that way.

With a million dollars would you travel the world? Would you buy yourself a house, a boat, a Lamborghini sports car? A gold and black Lamborghini, of course.

Maybe you would go for all of those, because with a million dollars, you could!

This evening I am going to tell you a story about two men, $1 million, how they changed my life and how the spirit of what they accomplished is impacting your life today.

In the late 19th century, nearly 30 years after land-grant universities had opened the possibility of college to the masses of people, higher education still remained a privilege reserved mostly for the rich and the elite.

It was certainly that way in Chicago, where Frank Gunsaulus worked as a minister in a south side church – with the historic name of Plymouth.

Gunsaulus had a college education. He looked around him and saw many young people who had the skills to enter a university. But they were not being given the opportunity.

During that gilded age, he became very concerned about the state of society and the need to educate more people. This wasn't just about advancing the lives of these young people, he believed. It was also about educating a population that would advance society, our nation and ultimately, the world.

Gunsaulus truly believed that the hope for people – that the hope for the entire world – lay in education. He had the idea that young people should be given a practical education that would prepare them for the workplace.

But it was only a dream. He lacked the funds to fulfill his vision.

One Sunday morning in 1892, Frank Gunsaulus walked to the pulpit at Plymouth Church and delivered the most remarkable sermon of his life.

An exact copy of the sermon apparently does not exist today. Indeed, in some versions of this story, Rev. Gunsaulus wrote the sermon late on Saturday night, and re-read it Sunday morning. He then became so excited with the message that he rushed off to church and left the text at home on a table.

I know the sinking feeling he must have experienced when he realized what he'd done.

Fortunately for Gunsaulus, his sermon was not composed of words that came from his head. His message came from his heart – and a heart never forgets what it feels.

For this sermon, he didn't need a script.

The talk he delivered that Sunday morning was titled: "What I would do if I had a Million Dollars." It came to be known as the "Million Dollar Sermon."

Gunsaulus told the congregation that morning that with a million dollars he would build a school – and not just any school, but a place where students of all backgrounds could prepare for meaningful roles in a changing industrial society.

The late 19th century was a changing time in America and the world, just as the early 21st century is today.

At the conclusion of the service, after the congratulatory crowd around Gunsaulus had long disappeared, he was approached by a rather distinguished-looking man who wanted a word with him alone.

"Do you mean what you say?" the man asked directly.

"I do," Gunsaulus said.

The man didn't blink.

He said: "Then I will provide you with the $1 million."

Gunsaulus, and everyone else in Chicago, knew this man's name. He was Philip Danforth Armour, a very wealthy Chicago meat packer and grain merchant. All of us, even today, have eaten foods such as Armour hotdogs.

Armour had but one stipulation in his gift. Gunsaulus would have to agree to become the first president of the new university they would create together.

When the Armour Institute opened in 1893, it offered professional courses in engineering, chemistry, architecture and library science to people of all backgrounds. In 1940 it was merged with another Chicago school and became the Illinois Institute of Technology.

The following year, I was born in the Chicago area.

I grew up in a family led by working-class parents who believed in the importance of higher education. They did not have the funds to send me to college, but I wanted an education.

I was fortunate to receive scholarships. I took out student loans.

In 1963 I graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology, the school started 70 years earlier so students of all backgrounds could prepare for meaningful roles in a changing society.

The university was founded upon the dreams of one man and the resources of another.

I am one of thousands of beneficiaries of two men, one $1 million and the timeless, priceless gift of opportunity.

Today this proud son of a Chicago neighborhood grocer, and the first person in his family to receive a college education, has the opportunity to lead one of the greatest and most exciting universities in the world.

Education has made all the difference in my life.

It will make all the difference in your lives as well.

I believe in education.

I believe in the power of education to change the lives of people.

I believe in the power of an educated people to change the world.

Upon arriving at Purdue, creating the Opportunity Awards Program became one of my primary aspirations and the dream of many other people.

What would you do with $1 million?

I can tell you what some today have done.

Tim McGinley, the chairman of our board of trustees, and his wife, Jane, have given $2 million to support these Purdue Opportunity Awards, helping you reach for your futures. Tim and Jane are the main reason we have been able to fund the first two years of the Purdue Opportunity Awards Program.

In your lifetimes, you will use your Purdue education to earn in excess of a million dollars. Some of you will earn many, many times more.

Some of you might even have the opportunity to do something greater: impact the lives of millions of other people with the work that you will do.

For that, your greatest reward will not be monetary.

And it will be priceless.

You are here today because we believe in you.

We believe in your abilities. We believe in your future.

We are providing you the opportunity and all the support that you need to succeed.

What will you do with this million-dollar education?

What will you do with this million-dollar opportunity?

It is the most exciting question of your lives right now.

It is among my greatest hopes and dreams for tomorrow.

Related news release:
Awards give students opportunity to change their lives

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