Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Beckman Institute [PAGE 8]

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may fairly compete for the jobs of tomorrow, it will be because education, especially higher education, has drawn into a much tighter collaboration with business, with economic development efforts of the State and of the nation. And that is the key to our economic survival in a very challenging world economy. The challenge begins with children at risk from birth to age 3, and it ends with postdoctoral continuing education at the university level, and includes everything in between. It means we encourage not only what the Beckman Institute stands for, but we also encourage the work of others, like professors Larry Smarr and David Kuch, the nationally-renowned supercomputer leaders at this University, as well as literally hundreds of others at both campuses of this University and other public and private campuses across the State. I would like to conclude on a note of pride. I am very proud to be here today as the 39th governor of Illinois, and I am especially proud as a citizen of this great State. My being born here was a matter of my parents' choice, not mine, but my residence here and the residence of my family is a matter of our choice. We are Illinoisans by birth, by heritage, and by choice. And I am extraordinarily proud that a native Illinoisan from Collum, Illinois would, after such a long sojourn in California, recall with such favor and generosity not just his University but his native State. And words in an inscription on a building to be constructed cannot ever convey the sense of gratitude of the 11V4 million people of Illinois to Arnold and Mabel Beckman for the extraordinary generosity and wisdom of their gift.