ROCK ISLAND, IL (06/01/2012)(readMedia)-- The late Milton Glick, Rock Island, Ill., was honored by Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., at the college's annual alumni association awards banquet on May 19, 2012.
Glick posthumously received the Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award. The Outstanding Achievement Award is presented to one or more members for having achieved distinction in their respective vocations.
Glick was a renowned structural chemist and a leader of public higher education par excellence in America. In his career spanning more than four decades, he taught as a faculty member and served in the capacities of dean, provost, vice president or president at five universities: Wayne State University, Detroit, 1966-83; University of Missouri, Columbia, 1983-88; Iowa State University, Ames, 1988-91; Arizona State University, Tempe, 1991-2006; and the University of Nevada, Reno, 2006-2011.
Glick was scheduled to retire in the summer of 2006 from the provost position at Arizona State to become a university professor, "a job that would allow him to teach, mentor younger faculty and serve as a special assistant to the president." But friends say he worried whether that position would be fulfilling for him. When he was asked to apply for the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) presidency, he saw the offer as an opportunity to make a lasting contribution.
Glick led UNR through a period of unprecedented progress and growth, despite economic challenges. Under his leadership, the university reached several new heights of national stature for teaching and research. His emphasis on increasing retention and graduation rates led to gains, and enrollment grew to the largest in the university's history. In 2010, UNR graduated its largest class, marking a 66 percent increase in the number of baccalaureate degrees awarded over 10 years.
Upon assuming the presidency, Glick issued a campus-wide challenge to recruit more National Merit Scholars. Today, the university is recognized as a National Merit Sponsor school and last year, had a record number of National Merit Scholars. Glick also shepherded the opening of several student or research-centered buildings on the Reno campus.
Augustana honors Glick posthumously with the Outstanding Achievement Award for his prodigious scientific research, aggressive technologic innovations and academic contributions, and his tireless enthusiasm in promoting quality higher education.
About Augustana: Founded in 1860 and situated on a 115-acre campus near the Mississippi River, Augustana College is a private, liberal arts institution affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The college enrolls 2,500 students from diverse geographic, social, ethnic and religious backgrounds and offers nearly 90 majors and related areas of study. Augustana employs 182 full-time faculty and has a student-faculty ratio of 12:1. Augustana continues to do what it has always done: challenge and prepare students for lives of leadership and service in our complex, ever-changing world.
