Brule Donates $250,000 Gift to SBE

Dave Brule '72 has donated $250,000 to support the new master's program in business administration. Additional donors have given or pledged $453,000.

"This is an extremely generous gift, which reflects Mr. Brule's awareness of the critical need for business education in a technological university and his strong commitment to the graduate program," said Christa Walck, dean of the School of Business and Economics.

Over the coming months, the School will be developing a plan to invest the gift in students, faculty and programs.

"I am particularly interested in providing more opportunities for graduate students to engage in hands-on activities and research projects, to participate in competitions, and to travel to site visits and conferences," Walck said. "Funding for graduate course development is also needed. Plus, keeping up with information technology is very important and comes at a significant cost: As our numbers grow, more students will need access to the latest and best technologies."

"Mr. Brule, through his challenge grant, has challenged not only our supporters to match his generous gift, but also the SBE to develop a graduate program that will draw the best and brightest to MTU for a program of rigorous study that truly bridges business and technology," she said.

Brule earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Tech in 1972 and is now president and CEO of Northern Star Industries, Inc., in Iron Mountain. He has been a member of the university's Board of Trustees since 2001 and is a lifetime member of the MTU Alumni Association. In 1996, he was elected to the university's Electrical and Computer Engineering Academy.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.