$1.8 million donation benefits first-generation, rural MU students seeking business degrees

Roger McKinney, Columbia Daily Tribune
·2 min read
Sue and Irl Engelhardt are applauded after University of Missouri System President Mun Choi announced a $1.8 million donation from the Engelhardts to the Heartland Scholars Academy at the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business on Friday at Cornell Hall.
Sue and Irl Engelhardt are applauded after University of Missouri System President Mun Choi announced a $1.8 million donation from the Engelhardts to the Heartland Scholars Academy at the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business on Friday at Cornell Hall.

A $1.8 million donation from Sue and Irl Engelhardt ensures the Heartland Scholars Academy they established at the University of Missouri in 2018 will continue long into the future.

The donation is intended to provide first-generation, rural students with tools and skills to achieve academic success.

The additional gift will establish an endowment for the continuation of the program in the Trulaske College of Business.

The Heartland Scholars Academy provides students with scholarships; laptop computers; business attire for professional events; the opportunity to travel to learn about business; a dedicated adviser; a career coach; and business seminars.

Irl Engelhardt gives advice to business students at the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business on Friday at Cornell Hall. Engelhardt and his wife, Sue, gave a $1.8 million donation to the Heartland Scholars Academy at the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business on Friday at Cornell Hall. The Engelhardts began the Heartland Scholars Academy to provide first-generation rural students with the tools and skills to achieve academic success at the university.

Sue Engelhardt graduated from the MU College of Business in 1975, earning her Master's of Business Administration degree in 1977. Irl Engelhardt's MBA is from Southern Illinois University in 1972.

With the initial donation, this brings their total donation to more than $2.25 million.

"We saw a need in rural communities that was going unfulfilled," Irl Engelhardt said at the presentation, attended by the first graduating class of Heartland Scholars.

"You've represented this program very well," he said.

They set the bar for all future classes, he said.

"Now the program hopefully is on pretty sound financial footing," he said.

Irl and Sue Engelhardt, left, are presented with a crystal tiger from Robert J. Trulaske S. College of Business students Orlando Guerrero and Mercedes Moravec following President Mun Choi’s announcement of a $1.8 million donation from the Engelhardts to the Heartland Scholars Academy at the Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business on Friday at Cornell Hall.

One student among the first class of graduates, Chela Hernandez-Cain — from the 1,200-population town of Valmeyer, Illinois — thanked the Engelhardts.

She was raised by a single mom, she said.

"Coming from a rural area, it seemed like my choices were limited," she said. "Then, a door opened."

It was a group of small-town kids going through the same things together at MU, she said.

"The Heartland Scholars Academy shaped me into a well-rounded person," she said.

MU Chancellor and UM System President Mun Choi urged the first class of graduates to use the opportunities they have been given and find ways to pay them forward.

"Students from rural areas are able to get a world-class education and begin making contributions to their communities back home," Choi said.

Roger McKinney is education reporter for the Tribune. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Engelhardts add to their donation to MU business program they started