The power of philanthropy: enhancing educational excellence

A passion for higher education combined with a desire to continue a legacy has resulted in the first named department headship in The Grainger College of Engineering — the Alva L. and Sandra R. Addy Head of Mechanical Science and Engineering. 

Alva “Tad” Addy (Ph.D. ’63 MechEng), who passed away in 2018, was a pioneering fluid mechanics researcher, an Illinois alumnus, and a beloved professor and department head. Tad led the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering (then Mechanical and Industrial Engineering) from 1987-1998 and had a profound impact on the quality of education provided, research conducted and public service completed.

Tad was also an outstanding fundraiser. Fifteen of the department’s faculty members currently hold named appointments due in large part to his efforts.

“Tad loved the field of engineering. He understood the impact of education and the value of well-educated young engineers. He could talk about the difference a gift would make with great passion. He walked the talk and that gave him a lot of credibility,” said his wife, Sandra Addy (BS ’63, MS ’67, Ph.D.’74 Edu), who worked in alumni relations and fundraising for the department.

“With Sandra, Tad was an extremely effective advancement agent — they were a team,” said Tony Jacobi, department head of Mechanical Science and Engineering. “I loved Tad as a department head for many reasons, in particular his generosity and his support of young faculty, including me! He shaped a lot of careers, and it’s an honor to have the college’s first named headship come from a former department head.”

The Addys’ gift is an unrestricted bequest expectancy, meaning the funds have been left in a will and can be used for any purpose, in this case at the discretion of the department head. The Addys knew first-hand the value of unrestricted funds.

“When Tad became the department head, people came to him with a wide variety of needs and aspirations – students with ideas for team projects or wanting financial help to attend professional meetings, young professors wanting equipment for labs or help securing corporate support for their research. Tad helped them in every way that he could, but he had one especially flexible resource that he often turned to — the Alwin Schaller unrestricted endowment fund. That gift meant the world to Tad,” said Sandra.

Alwin Schaller (BS 1907, MS 1912 MechEng) was an engineering pioneer and civic leader, and a generous donor across the Illinois campus.

Sandra said the named department headship is like the Schaller gift multiplied. “Tad and I worked hand in hand, but he was the driving force, and this gift reflects his intentions. It is a very rewarding thing for me to be able to do this,” she said.

The named department headship is also a thank you to the two department heads preceding Tad, B.T. Chao and Helmut Korst. “They saw leadership abilities in Tad and gave him opportunities. He saw their ideas and built upon them,” said Sandra.  “Both Tad and I are giving this gift, partly based on the inspirational leadership and mentorship from Dr. Chao and Dr. Korst. They were mentors and great friends, and they led Tad to be the department head he was.”

Jacobi remembers Tad Addy created a professional atmosphere where people felt at ease, and discretionary funds supported that type of environment. “Such discretionary funds can help glue the department together,” said Jacobi. “Through and post COVID, people have struggled with being socially connected. Roughly a quarter of our faculty joined us in the last two years, so we’ve seen a large change in the make-up of our department. The ability to support faculty and staff gatherings that help unify us, plus the flexibility to support high risk ideas, enable young faculty and support student groups — the funds for those opportunities are incredibly important.”

“I was delighted to find out that this is the first named department headship in the college. I hope that department headship endowments will follow for other departments in The Grainger College of Engineering because I know first-hand what a powerful tool this endowment will be for the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering,” said Sandra.