The Chemical Engineering Class of 1968 was a tight knit group.
Small in number, many of the 21 graduates have remained friends for the nearly six decades since they graduated from University of Detroit. Their careers have taken them around the world and into positions that didn’t even exist when they were students, but it was their time at U-D that made it all happen.
“At the 50th class reunion we talked about how important our time at University of Detroit was and then at the 55th class reunion the conversation turned to what could we do for the University because the University clearly meant a lot to us,” said Bill Crowley, ’68, a retired chemical engineer who specialized in reinforced plastics, said.
“Our education was not just as chemical engineers,” he added. “It was an education as human beings and leaders.”
Mike Martin remembered the conversation well.
“We asked ourselves what we could do to memorialize our time at the school and, more importantly, pay attention to the potential of the students there now,” Martin said. “And we focused in on one figure that united us — Dean Lawrence Canjar.”
Canjar came from Carnegie Mellon University to U-D to be dean of the College of Engineering. He understood that educating engineers meant more than simply learning the tools of their trade.
“He also taught. And I remember one day he wrote on the blackboard a quote,” Martin said. “It was ‘The greatest theologian is a scientist.’ He said the industry knows how good U-D engineers are, but they must also be good people.”
So Canjar pushed to include more liberal arts credits for engineering students, and that is what made the difference for Martin, Crowley and their friends. He also hosted every graduating class at his home to celebrate.
“Did Dean Canjar have an influence on me?” Martin asked? “Yes, he did. And he did on a lot of people.”
Martin remembers being encouraged by Canjar to participate in what was called the Human Relations Club, formed after Detroit’s 1967 civil unrest. It was a student outreach group that helped people in need both locally and in other sites around the country. It instilled in its members a sense of the importance of helping others, Martin said. And that is what led to the formation of The Dean Lawrence Canjar Expendable Student Support Fund after that 55th class reunion.
“The concept of a scholarship fund came up,” said Crowley. But they wanted to do something slightly different. They wanted to help students pay for the unplanned expenses that can derail a student’s semester.
“Scholarships are long-term,” he said. “This is a support fund for the things that happen that you don’t plan on.”
Funds have been given to students who need a boost during minor crises: A laptop that died, car repairs so students wouldn’t have to miss classes, textbooks, fees for an educational trip.
Martin created the fund and asked people to donate then got out of the way. He doesn’t know how many people from his class have contributed to the cause, “and I don’t care, it’s not my business, this is all about the students.”
A couple times a year the class gathers on a Zoom meeting and talk about the students and read the letters of thanks from recipients of the fund.
“This money doesn’t go to an anonymous person,” Crowley said. “We see pictures of the students and their letters are very nice, too.”
For Martin, the work he and his friends do with the Canjar Fund is spiritual.
“Our daily actions demonstrate our love of God, so we can see that spiritual experience in everything we do,” he said. “And part of that is enabling the education of these young men and women.”
To contribute to the Dean Lawrence Canjar Expendable Student Support Fund visit udmercy.edu/donate.
