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• 1 media/Henry headshot.jpg 2019-03-01T15:57:25+00:00 The Man Behind the Name - Henry M. Rowan 12 image_header 2019-05-13T13:57:13+00:00

  Henry M. Rowan also known as “Hank” was born on December 4, 1923 in Virginia, coincidentally the same year the Rowan University was founded. He grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey until he served as a bomber pilot in World War II with U.S. Army Forces. After serving in the Army, he majored in Electrical Engineering at nation’s one of the best universities,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
  
  Mr. Rowan was the founder and chairman of Inductotherm Corp. which is now part of 40 different companies across 20 nations including North America, South America, Europe, India, China, and Australia making it the “Inductotherm Group”. He started this company in his garage inspiring other entrepreneurs that nothing is impossible. Although he was rich and could drive any fancy car such as Mercedes, he drove Oldsmobiles and Buicks which explains the importance he gives to money. 
  
  Mr. Rowan was a friend of Phil Tumminia, the head of development of Glassboro State College who wanted to persuade him to donate money to the business school of Glassboro State College. Mr. Rowan rejected his proposal and said, “ Phil, I have zero interest in your school business. Uh, what this world needs is more engineering, how to make things, we have to produce. And Phil, what would you do with $100 million?” 
  
  The journey of $100 million began when Mr. Rowan and his wife donated the money with a request of creating a game-changing engineering program. He also requested to create Inductotherm Scholarship awarded to the children and legal wards of employees of Inductotherm Corp. It was the largest donation made to a public institution at the time. The gift inspired other philanthropist to invest in the education to help change the world for the better. 
  
  Many wondered  “What would Glassboro State College do with $100 million? Rowan University “answered” this question with tremendous investment that is paying off twenty-years later. In 1992, the student population was 9,500; in 2016 it was 16,100. During this twenty-year period, the number of undergraduate programs increased from 29 to 70 and the number of graduate programs increased from 19 to 38 (including five totally new doctoral programs). Research and sponsored project funding increased from $118 thousand to $29 million. The total university assets increased from $300 thousand to $184 million. As of 2019, the university includes 12 colleges and schools including Cooper Medical School and School of Osteopathic Medicine. 
  
  Mr. Rowan died on December 9th, 2015 leaving his footprints to be followed by others. 

  References:
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_University
  Rowan Magazine