Endowed fellowship created in honor of OU charter faculty member

As a way to honor her husband, James McKay, former Oakland University English Professor Marilyn Williamson has established an endowed fellowship at Oakland that will impact future minds in mathematics.

The James H. McKay Endowed Fellowship in Applied Mathematics is named after Jim McKay, a charter OU faculty member serving the university for 36 years, from 1959 to 1995. McKay is a former professor and chair of Mathematical Sciences at OU who was instrumental in developing the Ph.D. program in Applied Mathematics — the first Ph.D. program created in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS).

McKay also helped found Oakland’s Summer Mathematics Institute, which exposes gifted high school students to advanced undergraduate mathematical concepts for college credit. The successful program was honored when its director, Eddie Cheng, recently received a prestigious Professor of the Year Award from the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan for 2009.

Williamson served as chair of the English Department, teaching English at Oakland in its early years and later went on to teach English and serve as a faculty chair at Wayne State University.

She has also served as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and provost at Wayne State University.

She hopes the endowment will serve to carry out and advance Jim’s legacy of exemplary applied mathematics education at Oakland University.

Williamson, who is diagnosed with incurable brain cancer, hopes to augment the endowed fund by encouraging friends and acquaintances to contribute to the support of promising students in applied mathematics. “This is a worthwhile way to honor Jim and me, while also supporting the important legacy Jim left at OU.”

Reflecting on their early years together at Oakland, Williamson describes the then fledgling institution as “more like a smaller college. We felt that we were part of something special and a little risky. No one else was doing anything like what we were doing.”

The pair knew Matilda Wilson, who hosted many parties at Meadow Brook Hall, and who Williamson describes as “highly sociable with faculty and students. She tried to create an atmosphere that was congenial.”

Making her own mark on Oakland, Williamson was chair of the committee that first created the popular “exploratories” classes in the CAS, an interdisciplinary collection of courses with an emphasis on inquiry, which later evolved into The Honors College.

“Jim was a pioneer and set a high standard for math education at Oakland,” Ron Sudol, dean, CAS said. “We are indebted to him for his contributions to countless students and faculty members, and to Marilyn for her foresight and generosity in establishing this award that will continue to provide support for students.”

For donors interested in contributing to the James H. McKay Endowed Fellowship in Applied Mathematics, please contact Pat Zawadzki, director of Planned Giving at (248) 364-6129.

We regret that Marilyn Williamson passed away on February 21, 2010. Her lifelong legacy will live on in the hearts and minds of those who knew her best and those who benefited from her generosity.

Children’s book author and illustrator Ashley Bryan knows how to tell a tale. Through words and images, he has brought unimagined worlds to life for thousands of children over a career spanning decades. With his in-kind donation of paintings, sketches, manuscripts and illustrations, the award-winning storyteller has given a piece of those worlds to Oakland’s School of Education and Human Services (SEHS).

“Ashley has made sure that we have an example of every type of his work,” Jim Cipielewski, Reading and Language Arts department chair, said. “We have everything from pencil sketches to final art, so it’s possible to trace the creation of a book from beginning to end.”

One of the nation’s most highly respected children’s literature authors and illustrators, Bryan began painting as a child and, after a tour of duty in World War II, studied at the prestigious Cooper Union Art School in New York. The winner of a Fulbright Scholarship, he has received countless other honors including the Coretta Scott King Book Award and the 2009 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, the most prestigious honor bestowed by the American Library Association.

The Bryan collection helps lay the foundation for a future Center for Children’s Art and Literature to be housed in Pawley Hall, said Angie Schmucker, SEHS development officer.

“It’s really become the backbone of our collection of children’s literature art,”  

Cipielewski said. Bryan’s work also has been incorporated into SEHS curriculum, providing discussion points for art education courses and aiding in outreach programs to local schools. “Children’s literature is something that people have come to see as a viable, important subject, especially for young people,” Cipielewski said.

Bryan developed a unique relationship with Oakland University after numerous visits to campus as a guest lecturer and visiting author. In 2003, SEHS presented Bryan with an honorary doctorate, the first such award bestowed by the school, citing the extraordinary nature of Bryan’s stories, poems, illustrations and interpretive readings which have “enriched the African American experience and added new dimensions to American culture.”

With his own generous gift to Oakland, Bryan has shown that those feelings of admiration are mutual.

Nicholson hopes these experiences will translate into better training for students and better care for patients. “Medical students are smart, trained to think scientifically and to notice things,” she said. “Their skills as critical thinkers, not just as doctors, are needed in the greater community. They, in return, have the opportunity to develop skills in communication and cooperation with non-medical people, which should help them in all aspects of their future practices.”

For more than 16 years, Nicholson has been an enthusiastic supporter of Oakland University, its programs and its initiatives. As a trustee, her ability to assume leadership roles and rally others to give in support of important OU initiatives, such as the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, has been transformational.

“Ann’s gift will no doubt inspire others to see the profound opportunity for good that can come from helping to shape the future of even one doctor,” Gary Russi, president of Oakland University, said. “Scholarships are invaluable in helping us build a strong, creative, influential medical school that will have a lasting effect on medical education and the practice of medicine. This gift will help make lives better.”