For education, for progress

In front of a shimmering wall of starlight, former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn spoke to 850 guests gathered in a candlelit ballroom at the Oregon Convention Center.

The crowd gathered at the ninth annual Simon Benson Awards dinner to acknowledge lifetimes of community work by local philanthropists Sam Wheeler and Gwen Burns and her family. Glenn was the keynote speaker for the awards.

The fundraiser event is held each year to honor local philanthropists. It provides, in part, scholarships for Portland-area students. Plates for the event ranged from $250 to $500 per person.

The first guest of the evening to receive the Simon Benson Award–a stone sculpture created by Portland State Art Professor Michihiro Kosuge–was Sam Wheeler. Wheeler spoke briefly on the value of philanthropic foundations after a biographic video.

“Any fool can give away money,” he said, “and some do. It takes a very consistent, hard look at things to give away money well.”

Shortly afterwards, another video briefly documented the life of Gwen Burns, a longtime supporter of local community works such as the YWCA, the Oregon Ballet Theater and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. She was also the first woman to serve on the Rose Festival Board of Directors.

Her son and PSU geology professor Scott Burns accepted the award on behalf of his mother and their family, and gave a few words on the importance of Portland State to the Portland community at large.

“An investment in Portland State is really an investment in Portland,” he said.

Featured speaker John Glenn ascended the podium after the recipients were honored to standing applause from the audience. He spoke on the declining state of education and research in the United States, and stressed the importance of strengthening both.

Glenn pointed out that the nation’s K-12 programs are in decline and are beginning to lag behind similar programs in other developed nations. He went on to note that those same nations are also putting more into scientific research than we are in the U.S.

“That does not bode well for the future,” Glenn said.

Portland State’s dedication to urban education and interaction with the local community set the university apart from current education standards, he said.

“I like your Portland State approach to some of these things,” he said. Bridging the gap between academics and the real world is something he says is vital to a stronger nation, a concept he calls “academics in action.”

Glenn also urged the attendees of the benefit dinner to remain focused on providing funds for higher education. He said the national No Child Left Behind Act is praiseworthy, but lacking funds. “What got left behind implementing it–what got left behind–is the money.”

Throughout his speech, and in a question and answer session after the dinner, Glenn discussed the importance of maintaining our planet and the fragile nature of Earth’s atmosphere. He described the commonly taught notion of our atmosphere being a series of layers. Glenn, however, said “It isn’t even a layer, it’s a film. If we foul that up, we foul up that which sustains life.”

Glenn feels research in energy storage is the key to our future on this planet, and noted that little headway in the field of mass electricity storage has been made. Whoever makes that breakthrough, he said, will be “doing the greatest service to mankind.”