MAGAZINE • WINTER 2023
Chris Mall, BSME'94: Giving Back with an Endowed Scholarship
Chris Mall never forgot the value of the scholarship that helped him graduate from Lawrence Tech. Because an LTU donor’s generosity made his mechanical engineering degree possible, Chris wanted to “help others in the same way I was helped.”
Christopher Mall, BSME’94 monitors the progress of a prototype build. Mall is a senior technical project manager for NN Inc. in Grand Rapids.
About 15 years ago he directed one of his first gifts to the general LTU Scholarship Fund. But LTU’s director of stewardship Julie Vulaj suggested he establish a scholarship of his own—in the form of a personally meaningful endowed scholarship.
Chris learned the University would invest his contribution and then use the interest earned to award scholarships to deserving students “forever”—meaning, he could leave a legacy that would benefit future innovators for generations to come. It was also a nifty way to pay it forward.
And that’s when the Christopher T. Mall Endowed Scholarship in Mechanical Engineering was born.
Ways to Endow a Scholarship
If you would like to give every capable, curious and deserving student the opportunity to earn an LTU education, consider establishing an endowed scholarship.
A minimum gift of $25,000 is required; the entire amount can be contributed in a lump sum or spread out (pledged) over a period of five years.
There are several ways these scholarships can be funded.
- An outright gift of cash
- Securities (stock, bonds)
- Real estate (current or second homes)
- Personal property (boats, cars, jewelry, art)
- Life income (IRA distribution)
- In a bequest or estate plan
- A combination of these
If you prefer to make a pledge, but want to begin helping students immediately, a hybrid scholarship can make this possible.
Please contact Kevin Finn at kfinn@ltu.edu to learn more.
“The greatest benefit I got from my scholarship was that I was able to graduate from Lawrence Tech with zero debt. That gave me such a head start in life, especially in the STEM fields,” said Chris, who spent 23 years moving all over the country as an engineer for Borg-Warner. He has since settled near Grand Rapids and works in new business development as a senior technical project manager for NN Inc.
Grateful to reap the rewards of LTU’s theory and practice education, he wants other students to have the same opportunities he did. But since the cost of higher education is out of reach for many families (especially when they don’t qualify for financial aid) he wants to help students “so they don’t have to go into debt for the next 20 years paying it off.”
Chris designed the scholarship to be awarded to mechanical engineering students—a curriculum he thinks provides students with the tools and discipline to systematically solve problems. “Everyone should go to engineering school just to learn that!” he chuckled.
But whether the student is fresh out of high school, a non-traditional student returning to finish their degree, or a recent immigrant intent on furthering their education, he also wants to reward hard work. “It’s just good to support a person who is doing it the right way and working hard to get an education.”
When students show Chris their appreciation for the scholarship, it’s the pièce de resistance.
“That to me is a big plus. Getting a thank-you note that says, ‘thank you for helping, your gift means so much’ is the fun part. It fuels the drive to keep donating to the scholarship,” Chris said.
And when the endowed fund grows, the scholarship disbursement has only one way to go—up.
Paying it forward, indeed.
by Pamela Houghton