{"id":90825,"date":"2020-06-17T10:12:24","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T14:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=90825"},"modified":"2020-06-17T10:15:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T14:15:01","slug":"paying-tribute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2020\/06\/17\/paying-tribute\/","title":{"rendered":"Paying tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Marc Porter established the Gordon B. Skinner Scholarship Fund to support the full cost of tuition for a student majoring in chemistry at Wright State.<\/p><\/div>\n

Four days a week, Marc Porter would begin his day as a Wright State University freshman in an 8 a.m. calculus class. Although it was a math class, the course was taught by chemistry professor Gordon Skinner.<\/p>\n

To help students connect what they were learning in the classroom to real-world applications, some of the university\u2019s freshmen calculus classes were taught by engineers, physicists or chemists.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Skinner was very accessible and very patient,\u201d said Porter, who appreciated the chemistry bent that Skinner provided in his teaching examples. Porter and some of the other students would frequently stay after class to have Skinner further explain his lessons.<\/p>\n

After taking Skinner\u2019s calculus courses during the fall and spring quarters of his freshman year, Porter was invited to help Skinner with a summer research project. Along with gaining valuable hands-on experience, Porter received a small stipend for assisting Skinner with his lab research and the inspiration for his future career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought I would be a scientist,\u201d said Porter. \u201cDr. Skinner just made it fun. And it\u2019s been fun ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

After receiving a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry<\/a> in 1977, Porter continued his graduate education at Wright State. He worked on his master\u2019s thesis with Skinner, who had received a grant from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to research laser chemistry. Porter helped Skinner assemble a large and powerful carbon dioxide laser, which would be used to study the laser ignition of fuel hydrocarbons.<\/p>\n

One night, as they were setting up the laser system in Skinner\u2019s Fawcett Hall lab, Porter had a brief moment of terror when he thought he had accidentally killed Skinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big power supply and we had misread the electrical circuits,\u201d Porter recalled. \u201cAs we were charging up the power supply to shoot the laser, it created a lightning bolt. Everybody on the floor came running into the lab to see what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, no injuries were involved.<\/p>\n

When it was time to begin working on his Ph.D., Porter applied to both Ohio State University and Cornell University. A recommendation letter from Skinner helped secure Porter\u2019s acceptance at both schools. In the end, Porter would choose Ohio State, the alma mater of his mentor. (Skinner received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Ohio State in 1951.)<\/p>\n

Porter and Skinner would continue to stay in touch in the years to come. Skinner followed Porter\u2019s successful career trajectory in research and academia, and he even took the time to write letters of congratulations and holiday greetings. He also occasionally invited Porter to come back to Wright State to give seminars in the Department of Chemistry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a USTAR professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at the University of Utah, Porter works to incorporate some of Skinner\u2019s best practices in his own teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made the science personal and interesting,\u201d said Porter, who provides real-word examples and tells stories to his students just as Skinner did.<\/p>\n

Much to his students\u2019 chagrin, Porter also follows Skinner\u2019s example of assigning a good deal of homework every night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI emulate that too,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

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Gordon Skinner taught at Wright State from 1964 until his retirement in 1986.<\/p><\/div>\n

Following Skinner\u2019s death in 2016, Porter began having discussions with Wright State\u2019s fundraisers about setting up a scholarship in Skinner\u2019s memory. Earlier this year, Porter made a significant cash gift to establish the Gordon B. Skinner Scholarship Fund. The scholarship will support the full cost of tuition for a student enrolled in the College of Science and Mathematics<\/a> and majoring in chemistry.<\/p>\n

For Ellen Skinner and Laura Skinner Webb, the scholarship is the perfect tribute to their father.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so grateful to Marc for honoring him,\u201d said Skinner. \u201cThe scholarship would mean so much to our dad. He was a brilliant chemist, but he loved teaching. That\u2019s where his heart was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up, the Skinner sisters witnessed their father\u2019s devotion to his students, who were frequent guests for dinner in the family home. Skinner was always supportive and went above and beyond to help.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe used to give out our home phone number,\u201d said Webb, who can remember answering the phone when students were calling for assistance with their homework. \u201cHe just loved watching the students succeed. He took a personal interest in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

His daughters say that one of Skinner\u2019s proudest moments was receiving the \u201cI Give a Damn\u201d award from Wright State students for his teaching. He also took great pride in helping to build Wright State into a student-centered university and launching the graduate program in chemistry.<\/p>\n

After a successful career as a research chemist at Monsanto, Skinner taught at Wright State from 1964 until his retirement in 1986. As young girls, all three of the Skinner daughters \u2014 Jane, Ellen and Laura \u2014 enjoyed visiting their father on campus. They have priceless childhood memories of writing all over the chalkboard in their father\u2019s classroom and marveling at the blow out wall that would contain a chemical explosion in his laboratory. As teenagers, they attended music and sporting events on campus and swam in the university pool.<\/p>\n

When they became old enough to go to college, all three sisters enrolled at Wright State. Jane, who passed away at the age of 55 from lung cancer, earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in anthropology in 1975. Ellen graduated in 1977 with degrees in psychology, theatre and Spanish. Laura received dual degrees in computer science and Spanish in 1981.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt worked out great for all of us,\u201d said Webb. \u201cWright State is a huge asset for the whole community. So many of the people that I went to high school with would have never gone to college had Wright State not been there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Skinner family, front row, from left: Laura, Jane and Ellen; back row: Marjorie and Gordon Skinner.<\/p><\/div>\n

While they may not directly benefit from his teaching, future generations of Wright State students will continue to be impacted by the legacy of Gordon Skinner. Just as Skinner opened doors for him, Porter hopes that this new scholarship will help students sharpen their skill sets, engage in meaningful research and become lifelong learners.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaculty members, like Dr. Skinner, and other members of the Chemistry Department paid it forward,” Porter said. “They had a perspective on life as a scientist and what it meant. There\u2019s a lot of satisfaction for me in doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Skinner family, the scholarship honors the father they adored while supporting the Wright State students their father was so proud to mentor and teach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a living tribute to the values that he held so dear,\u201d said Skinner. \u201cHaving his name be connected with something that he loved so deeply \u2014 and he loved Wright State \u2014 made us feel honored and touched. This would have meant the world to him.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gordon B. Skinner Scholarship Fund will support the full cost of tuition for a student enrolled in the College of Science and Mathematics and majoring in chemistry. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":90849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4309,2069,2040,2060,725,715,746],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-association","category-chemistry","category-giving","category-graduate","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news","category-science-mathematics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90825"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90869,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90825\/revisions\/90869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}