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Through Gift, Once Underused Space
Now Has Dual Purpose
| A $75,000 gift from
Thomas Auth, a 1967 accounting graduate of UW-Eau Claire, and his wife,
Sharon, has made possible the creation of the Auth Foundation Communications
Center/Accounting Lab. When the lab opened, Schneider Hall’s once underused Room 314 was transformed into a round-the-clock hub of activity. By day the facility provides accounting students access to the latest technologies they will encounter in the work force, and by night and on weekends it is the computerized calling center for the Foundation’s telemarketing program. “I think it’s great that a solution was reached whereby students and the Foundation can both benefit from the facility,” said senior accounting major Brook Meister, who regularly uses the lab to complete assignments. The Auths’ gift allowed the university to remodel and furnish the former study area with 13 computer workstations at which students have access to software they will encounter in the workplace. The gift also supplemented the Foundation’s acquisition of customized telemarketing software, and the new facility is now home base for student callers working in the Foundation’s telemarketing program. “Our student callers can now concentrate on the most important part of their job: quality conversations with alumni and friends to solicit their support for the great things happening here on campus,” said Ann Moyer, UW-Eau Claire’s former director of annual giving. “I hope that our gift will allow the Foundation to dramatically expand the resources it has to work with to further its goals, and that the accounting lab will enhance business students’ learning experience and better equip them for the modern workplace,” Auth said. Being equipped for today’s workplace is something Auth knows about firsthand. He is owner and CEO of Vomela Specialty Co., a St. Paul, Minn., based firm he bought in 1990 that has grown from 30 to 275 employees and is a leading designer and manufacturer of large-scale graphics. He also was chairman of the board of Interlogix Inc. until February, when Interlogix was acquired by General Electric Co. Previously he was president of Interactive Technologies Inc. (ITI), which merged in 2000 with SLC Technologies to form Interlogix. Auth, who received UW-Eau Claire’s Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award in May 2000, also has been an active investor in small businesses and serves as a director on the boards of Medamicus Inc., Ergodyne Inc., E.H. Publishing Inc. and Aerosystems Engineering. |
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| Read about other
recent gifts to Fulfilling the Promise of Excellence from alumni
and friends, emeriti faculty and staff
and current UW-Eau Claire faculty and staff. |
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Copyright
2003, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire/ Last updated
May 17, 2004
/Questions or Comments E-mail:
fdn@uwec.edu
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