The Unlimited Impact of a Generous Gift

Antonin Scalia typically only visits universities with law schools. For Central Missouri, it took political science professor Jim Staab's book on the Supreme Court justice plus funding from a UCM alumnus' estate gift.

Thanks to the Julius J. Oppenheimer Symposium Series Endowment, Scalia was the most recent dignitary to challenge the thinking of the campus community. His lecture on constitutional interpretation reached some 1,350 students, faculty and area citizens who crowded into Hendricks Hall.

The Oppenheimer Series started in 1984 when Great Britain's former prime minister Lord Harold Wilson spoke on the American presidency. Since that time, it has brought an extensive list of renowned guest speakers to campus, including such noted individuals as former First Lady Barbara Bush, human rights activist Lech Walesa, former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev and American journalist Hugh Downs.

Oppenheimer's estate gift didn't stop with a lecture series that broadens our thinking to a more global perspective. It also funded a series with a more academic twist.

The Florence Hull Greer and Julius J. Oppenheimer Fund recently brought to campus three Japanese women who shared their personal experiences as survivors of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. An Army veteran and filmmaker talked about transitioning from combat to college while dealing with post-traumatic stress syndrome. An award-winning Broadway actor, famous for impersonating Groucho Marx, introduced a showing of "Duck Soup" and held an acting class. All of these recent learning experiences were possible because of support from the Greer-Oppenheimer Fund.

Widely known as a scholar and educator, Julius Oppenheimer would be proud to see the results of his gift. A 1909 UCM alumnus, Oppenheimer was born in St. Joseph, Mo., in 1890.

With a master's degree from the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. from Columbia University, he was a high school principal in Windsor, Mo., a superintendent of schools and associate director of research at Stephens College before becoming dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. His career there spanned nearly three decades and focused on general education, including in 1934 the idea for high school students to skip their senior year and instead start college courses. The highly respected education professor died in 1983, preceded by his wife, Florence, in 1974.

“Julius and Florence Oppenheimer created an amazing legacy for our students giving them opportunities to hear and interact with national and global leaders whose actions have changed the world. Gifts such as these help our students and campus community learn to a greater degree,” says Jason Drummond, executive director of the UCM Foundation.

Learn How You Can Help
For more information please contact the Office of Planned Giving at 660-543-8000 or toll-free at 866-752-7257 or [email protected].