Last week the Board of Governors approved a resolution renaming our main science building on campus (formerly known as Temple Hall) Roy Blunt Hall.
We also broke ground on the $80 million addition and renovation of the facility.
Blunt supports education and research
Sen. Roy Blunt has worked tirelessly in support of education, science and research on a national level.
He continuously demonstrated his high regard for higher education and its importance in today’s landscape. As the chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, Sen. Blunt championed funding increases for:
- STEM and computer science education.
- Apprenticeship programs.
- TRIO.
- And the Pell Grant program (including year-round Pell).
His legacy in Washington D.C. will undoubtedly be connected to his championing research in health and life sciences. Through his leadership role in Senate appropriations, Sen. Blunt:
- Oversaw an increase in the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) each year for seven years straight.
- Added $15 billion to the NIH budget — an almost 50% increase.
- Quintupled (5x) Alzheimer’s research funding, increasing federal investment by $2.5 billion.
Because of this support, the NIH recently named their Alzheimer’s research facility after Sen. Blunt.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the dedication. Leaders from all over the world and from across the political spectrum attended and honored him. Democratic and Republican senators alike feted Sen. Blunt’s ardent support for research and the sciences.
NIH prepared a video summarizing remarks made at the ceremony. I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch it.
Blunt has continually supported MSU
Sen. Blunt’s legacy in Missouri will be connected to his support for Missouri State University.
Throughout his time in public office, Sen. Blunt has demonstrated extraordinary support for Missouri State University by advocating for significant federal investment in Missouri State’s academic and research missions and economic development operations.
That work culminated last year when he led efforts to appropriate more than $56 million to support health, life and physical science research, teaching, and facilities at MSU.
From that $56 million:
- $3 million established an endowment to support CNAS faculty and research.
- $50 million will finance the bulk of the work we started last week to reinvigorate the facility previously known as Temple Hall.
He’s not done yet. Sen. Blunt continues to work during his last weeks in the Senate for the appropriation of additional federal funds to further support CNAS facilities, faculty and research. I hope to be able to update you on that work very soon.
It is because of Sen. Blunt’s support for MSU and his support for science and research that the board voted to rename our primary science facility on campus Roy Blunt Hall.
Honoring Temple’s legacy
The facility was previously named after Mr. Allen P. Temple, and it is important that we continue Mr. Temple’s legacy.
Mr. Temple was the head of the university’s science department for nearly 40 years in the early 1900s. He was a pioneer in the field.
He was well-known as an enthusiast for advances in communications technology.
- He was the first faculty member at MSU to use technological visual aids (e.g., slides, films, etc.) to assist his teaching in the classroom.
- He was the driving force behind the university obtaining and using a wireless radio transmitter and receiver and establishing an AM radio station on campus that was operated by science faculty and students more than 50 years before KSMU came to campus.
- He was also a pioneer with video technology, producing a documentary film called “College Life in the Ozarks” and showing various films in the college auditorium.
Mr. Temple will continue to be honored with a prominent display in the atrium of the current building. We will also name the atrium after Mr. Temple.
Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!
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