MatSE Receives $1 million to Endow McFarlane Professorship and Scholarship Fund

This past spring, Cathleen McFarlane-Ross, longtime friend of Penn State passed away. Known as “Kate the Great”, Cathleen was an advocate for the homeless and hungry.  She founded St. Ann Place in West Palm Beach, FL, a center where the homeless can receive mail, make telephone calls, shower and get a lunch. Before her death she pledged $1 million to establish two endowments to benefit students and faculty of the Materials Science and Engineering Department in the University’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. McFarlane-Ross gift honors her late husband, industrialist and alumnus Norris “Mac” McFarlane who graduated from Penn State in 1934 with a bachelor of science degree in metallurgy.  After holding executive positions with Pittsburgh Metallurgical Co. and Airo Inc., he served as president and owner of Macalloy Corp. in Charleston, S.C., the single-largest ferrochrome producer in the United States. A member of the American Iron and Steel Institute, McFarlane received many awards during his lifetime, including the David Ford McFarland Award for Achievement in Metallurgy from Penn State in 1990. Words cannot express how grateful the department is for her generous gift that will live on and benefit countless students.   The two new endowments she created are:

The Norris B. McFarlane Faculty Career Development Professorship in Materials Science and Engineering, which will provide critical financial support and encouragement to junior faculty members beginning their careers. The fund will allow young faculty members to direct initial energies to the classroom, will provide start-up funds for new areas of research and teaching laboratories and will offer early recognition for outstanding accomplishments.

The Norris B. McFarlane Scholarship Fund, which will provide financial support to deserving undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in materials science and engineering.