Honoring Richard C. Hawk

Success has many fathers, as the old saying goes, but no individual has done more to create the conditions for Alliant’s success than Mr. Richard C. Hawk.

Dick Hawk’s ties to the University go back to 1993, when he was asked by former president Garry Hays to come to the assistance of United States International University (USIU) at a time of financial difficulty. Mr. Hawk became chairman of the Board and organized the purchase of the USIU campus in Scripps Ranch, pledging to sell it back to the University at a greatly reduced price.

In 2006, the University, now Alliant, completed this repurchase of the land. In the intervening years, Mr. Hawk donated over $12 million, including funds for construction of the Sports Center and additional operating grants. And in 2007, Hawk made another major gift to enable Alliant to purchase more land to begin a major campus redevelopment project.

Altogether, Hawk’s gifts to the University total nearly $35 million.

With characteristic modesty, Richard C. Hawk explains his generosity this way: "I’m from a small town and received small grant to go to college. I thought it was important to pay back time and money to advance higher education opportunities."

Through his work with universities and as a pioneer in the student loan industry, Hawk has been doing just that during his entire professional career. He was Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Higher Education Assistance Foundation and of HEMAR corporation, the first Executive Director of the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board, Assistant Dean of Graduate School of Education at the University of Chicago and Director of Field Services at Emporia State University. Alliant has also honored him with an honorary doctorate.

Hawk played a key role in prompting USIU to combine with the California School of Professional Psychology, to create Alliant in 2001."These combined institutions play a significant role in several aspects of higher education," said Dr. Hawk. "They meet the needs of students in their geographical areas, and provide specialties and expertise."

" I’m a strong believer in diversity of higher education," said Dr. Hawk. "In this country, we will always have government-funded public education to depend on, but I think it’s terribly important that we have an alternative to public education, and diversity of options which can provide that. Alliant is a good example of that alternative of education. It is my general belief that that it is important to perpetuate the private institution."

Dick Hawk’s long-term commitment to higher education and to Alliant has created opportunities for thousands of students. Each member of the Alliant community is part of his legacy of generosity and service. We owe it to him to continue building upon the strong foundation he has created for us.