March 29, 2005 - Accounting Professor Emeritus Charles W. Plum of Dallas has funded $130,000 in scholarships for students at Mays Business School. His gift forms the Charles W. Plum Endowed Scholarship Fund, established with proceeds from two charitable trusts.
"Charles had such a major impact on students during his teaching career at Texas A&M University," said Dean Jerry Strawser. "He is one of those professors who had a major impact in his students' lives. We are so pleased that his generosity will continue to impact Mays Business School students in a meaningful way."
Plum earned his bachelor's degree from Ohio State University in 1936 and his MBA from Case Western Reserve University in 1951. He attended Harvard Business School's advanced management program in 1954. After passing the New York CPA exam, Plum held positions in public and private accounting in New York City and St. Louis before joining The Standard Oil Company (Ohio) in 1946 as an assistant controller. He retired from Standard Oil as vice president of accounting and management systems in 1978, two years after he first lectured at Texas A&M as a business executive in residence.
In 1979, Plum joined the Mays faculty as full professor of accounting, retiring in 1989 after teaching accounting for non-business majors to more than 6,000 students. Plum, a longtime supporter of Mays and its programs, also advised business majors on their career choices. One former student, Willie Langston '80 and his wife Marian '82, endowed the Charles W. Plum Seminar Room in the Wehner Building, home of Mays Business School.
"I want to pay back the school for my academic career," Plum says. "Mays gave me the opportunity to extend my professional career."
Plum 's gift counts in the One Spirit One Vision Campaign, the university's multi-year fundraising effort. The campaign goal is to help Texas A&M attain national top 10 status among public universities while sustaining the distinctive Texas A&M spirit. The volunteer-led campaign, coordinated by the Texas A&M Foundation, encompasses all private gifts benefiting the university.