West Virginia University’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences is paying tribute to the memory of philanthropist and WVU alumnus C. Eugene Bennett with the renaming of the Department of Chemistry in his honor. The WVU Board of Governors granted permission Friday (Nov. 14) to designate the department as the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry. This naming is the result of the generosity of Dr. Bennett and the continuing philanthropy of his widow, Edna Bennett Pierce, a resident of Wilmington, Del. Their gifts in support of the chemistry department total more than $6.6 million.
“Naming the Department of Chemistry in Gene Bennett’s honor will assure that future generations of students are aware of the incredible generosity he and his widow, Edna Bennett Pierce, have shown to that department,” WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr. said.”Their contributions have richly enhanced the education that WVU chemistry students receive. It is a privilege to honor the memory of an alumnus who was committed to helping students achieve success, as he did in his own career.”
The Bennett family contributions have been directed to a variety of vital areas that are impacting the health and future of chemistry at WVU . The Eberly College has benefited from the Bennett Academic Enrichment Fund for Science Students. WVU Libraries received the Bennett Library Endowment for Chemistry, which enhanced the chemistry publications collection and funded the establishment of the Bennett Periodicals Department in the new Downtown Campus Library. The Department of Chemistry, however, has been the principal recipient of the Bennett philanthropy.
“The legacy of Gene Bennett and the continued generosity of Edna Bennett Pierce to our Department of Chemistry is truly extraordinary,”said Eberly College Dean M. Duane Nellis.”The Bennett philanthropy has gone directly to initiatives which have supported WVU students and faculty. It is only fitting that the department carry the name of one of our most successful alums.”
Bennett giving has created the C. Eugene Bennett Distinguished Chair in Chemistry, which is currently occupied by Dr. Kenneth Showalter, an internationally recognized researcher in non-linear dynamics. Additionally, it has funded the C. Eugene and Edna P. Bennett Careers for Chemists Program, Bennett Graduate Fellowship Program and Bennett Program Enhancement Fund in Chemistry. The most recent gifts for the chemistry department from Edna Bennett Pierce totaling $2 million will create a teaching professorship, an undergraduate scholarship program and an additional student academic enrichment fund and provide further monies for the Bennett Program Enhancement Fund.
The dedication of the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry will be April 13, 2004, in Clark Hall to coincide with the 10th annual Bennett Careers for Chemists event.
Before his untimely death in 1996, Gene Bennett had served several years on the Advisory Board of the Eberly College. He was born in Rutherford, W.Va., in 1929, and graduated from WVU with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1949 and a master’s degree in 1951. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in analytic chemistry at the University of Michigan in 1954 but previously did graduate work at Penn State.
Bennett brought to the College Advisory Board a varied perspective for its work since he had had a distinguished career as a research scientist with the Aeronautical Research Laboratories and then with E.I. duPont de Nemours&Co. In 1959, Bennett and two colleagues formed F&M Scientific Corp., which eventually merged with and became a division of Hewlett Packard Co. He left Hewlett Packard in 1968 to pursue various business ventures in the Wilmington, Del., area.
While at Penn State, Bennett met Edna Peterson, a member of the”Famous 500,”the first class of women admitted to Penn State following World War II. Born in Rochester, Pa., in 1932, she graduated from Beaver High School in 1949 and from Penn State in 1953 with a major in child development. The Bennetts married June 12, 1953, and had six children.
The gifts were made to the WVU Foundation, a private non-profit corporation that generates and provides support for West Virginia University. The Foundation is nearing the very successful completion of a $250 million Building Greatness Campaign on behalf of the University and has received more than $281 million. The campaign concludes Dec. 31.