Stuart B. Padnos, president of the Stuart and Barbara Padnos Foundation, has pledged $1.5 million to create the first fully-endowed chair at Grand Valley State University. The bequest will be used to endow the Stuart and Barbara Padnos Chair in Art and Design.
Grand Valley joins a tradition at many prestigious universities of having named fully-endowed chairs that permanently support academic rigor.
"This support is an academic milestone for us," said Mark A. Murray, president of Grand Valley. "It raises Grand Valley State University to a new level. Stuart Padnos is a man who acts on his passion, and he is enabling new generations to share that passion for enjoying, understanding and creating art. This gift is a wonderful, lasting tribute to Barbara's memory."
There was already a link between the Stuart Padnos family and the Art and Design program at Grand Valley. The late Barbara Padnos studied art at Grand Valley, and she encouraged Stuart to become a creative sculptor. One of his many works with recycled scrap metals can be seen on Grand Valley's Allendale Campus in the form of a marching band on Campus Drive. Another piece representing a tulip is located on Grand Valley's Meijer Campus in Holland.
"Sculptor" is a role that came to Padnos after a life that already involved service to his country in World War II, during which he was held prisoner and was awarded the Purple Heart with Oakleaf Cluster, and contributions as a businessman at the Louis Padnos Iron and Metal Company and a humanitarian.
With this gift to Grand Valley, he moves the university forward on its academic mission in a significant way that he hopes others will model. "I envision this endowed chair as the first of several at Grand Valley State University that perpetuates the quality liberal arts education the university has come to provide," said Padnos. "I sincerely hope my gift will inspire others. Grand Valley is ready."
The professor occupying the Stuart and Barbara Padnos Chair will be selected for an initial three-year period. The position can be renewed based on teaching excellence, professional service and artistic achievement. "This is a very prestigious position," said Gayle Davis, Grand Valley's provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. "We will hold a national search to find the best person to occupy the chair. This person is expected to be a leader mentoring other faculty and students. There are great expectations of what this distinguished individual will bring to the university ."
The university will recognize this gift with a plaque that will be placed in the student art gallery of the university's Calder Art Center, naming the gallery in the couple's honor. The gallery will become the Stuart and Barbara Padnos Student Art and Design Gallery.
Padnos was recognized at the Grand Valley University Foundation Enrichment dinner on June 1 at the DeVos Place Ballroom in Grand Rapids.
