Alumnus still connected to college in significant ways

By: Michelle Anstett
Editor-in-chief

David Byrnes, a 1972 alumnus who recently committed $5.5 million to Monmouth College’s most recent construction endeavor, aspires to be “great at things, not just good,” and this philosophy has carried over into his charitable gifts to the Monmouth College campus.

Byrnes, originally from Springfield, Mass., says he owes a great debt to Monmouth College, the community and the faculty present on campus when he was a student.

A graduate of Cathedral High School, a Catholic high school in Springfield, Byrnes was recruited by Monmouth College representatives who were visiting the East Coast. He was told of the growing campus and the strong science programs, and “came without even visiting the college.”

His first impression of the Midwest, and, by extension, the campus, was very similar to many current Monmouth College students, especially those coming from larger cities or outside the Midwest. Byrnes flew into Chicago the night before he was supposed to be on campus, stayed in a hotel and then flew into the Galesburg airport.

“I stepped off the plane and the first thing I was eight- to ten-foot-high corn,” Byrnes laughed. “I thought corn came out of a can!”

The Monmouth College van met him at the Galesburg airport and drove him into Monmouth, where he was met by an “unusual smell in the air,” something students still complain about 35 years later.

Byrnes’ disorienting new surroundings and strange smells did not turn him away from the outset, however. He spent his first year living in Fulton Hall, which was then a men’s dormitory, where he met a group of young men who became his close friends.

“We all eventually pledged ATO [Alpha Tau Omega fraternity] together,” Byrnes stated, noting that he is still rather close with his pledge class and converses with individual members on a relatively routine basis. Through his experiences in the fraternity, and throughout campus, Byrnes “formed great bonds of friendship” which have withstood the test of time.

Financial issues forced Byrnes to return to Massachusetts during his sophomore year, but his advisor, professor of biology Milton Bowman, made special arrangements which allowed him to continue his studies until he could return to campus. Byrnes said he completed many assignments by mail and held conversations with professors over the telephone, thanks to Bowman’s efforts to keep him up-to-date on his schoolwork. Byrnes was able to return to Monmouth during his junior year, and graduated the next year.

“If I had not come back to Monmouth,” Byrnes stated, “my life would have been different.” Many people, professors and fellow students alike, assisted him during this difficult period in his education, and he said he is thankful for the influence each had in his life.

Commenting on how his Monmouth College experience was not completely different from that of many current students despite the 35-year gap, Byrnes said the desire to help students stay in college “is the kind of bond that connects people… the culture has sustained that, and it’s part of what makes Monmouth special.”

Monmouth’s distinction in his mind as an institution highly committed to its students is one of the reasons Byrnes chose to use some of his business success to give back for the construction of the new academic complex.

Since he received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Monmouth College, but his success has come in the business world, Byrnes believes this new complex to be an important project which will really bring together disciplines which, in the real world, coincide quite often, but do not often coincide in the educational environment.

“We have a great opportunity,” Byrnes stated, to make the new complex fusing the sciences and business help to prepare students for the outside world. Science, technology and business often meet outside academia, “so why not have a learning environment that promotes that kind of learning from the outset.”