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August 7, 2009
UND's summer commencement was held on Friday, August 7 in the Chester Fritz Auditorium. About 500 students were eligible to receive their degree when UND President Robert Kelley presided over the UND summer commencement. On average, UND graduates about 2,700 students total in the summer, winter and spring. At the summer commencement ceremony, UND did award an honorary Doctor of Letters degree to entrepreneur James C. Ray, president of the Aerospace Capital Group and president of the Ray Foundation.
James C. Ray is president of the Aerospace Capital Group and president of the Ray Foundation of Naples, Florida. Ray has invested in more than 300 high tech aerospace and computer ventures, including Compaq Computer and Cirrus Design of Grand Forks and Duluth. Ray has funded many innovative ventures at an early research stage to advance solutions for air and pilot safety, including advancement of simulator training and curriculum development. He also is the lead investor in the Hilton Garden Inn located near the UND Center for Innovation.
"Jim is one of the most accomplished angel investors in the nation," said Center for Innovation director Bruce Gjovig in his nomination letter. "He has a significant record of investing in innovation and technology entrepreneurs, matched only by large institutional funds, not individuals. He was a venture capitalist long before being a venture capitalist was cool."
Ray first heard of the University of North Dakota from his neighbor in Switzerland, Chester Fritz, in the late 1950s. At that time, Fritz was making his gift of the Chester Fritz Library for UND's 75th anniversary celebration in 1958. Fifty years later, Ray has become a major benefactor to UND, donating $12 million toward the growth of entrepreneurship and aerospace for the benefit of students, enabling these programs to become nationally and internationally recognized for excellence.
"The Entrepreneur Program at UND would not be ranked in the top 1 percent of the entrepreneur programs nationally by Princeton Review without the endowment and operating support that Jim provided," Gjovig said. "His support includes funding for interns and staff with the Center for Innovation and two faculty positions in the Department of Entrepreneurship in the spirit of a venture philanthropist making strategic investments."
Gjovig added, "What really drives Mr. Ray is the outstanding students on the UND campus. He makes sure he has great access to entrepreneur and aerospace students when he is on campus, engaging in their life stories and career goals. He has commented many times on the superior quality of our students who have good intellect, strong work ethic, and who expect to earn their way into the world."
Since the late 1960s, Ray has served as president of the Ray Foundation, which distributed millions of dollars in royalties earned from the development and sale of a cattle vaccine to a variety of programs including anti-drug education and mental health organizations.
He has been active in aviation for more than 65 years since joining the U.S. Army Air Corps following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Ray was a B-17 bomber pilot during the war. Major Ray also was on active duty with the U.S. Air Force during the Korean conflict. He has been owner and chief pilot of numerous aircraft since 1948 and has traveled the world in a jet.
Mr. Ray serves is a trustee and serves as Treasurer of the UND Center for Innovation Foundation, an independent university-affiliated foundation that support the Center for Innovation the Entrepreneur Department and entrepreneur programming on campus. |
The following citation was read by Dennis Elbert, Dean of the UND College of Business & Public Administration at the graduation.
James C. Ray
Throughout your life, you have shared a love of adventure and a love of ideas.
You are renowned as a angel investor and venture capitalist. You have invested in more than 300 entrepreneurial start-ups, a record few other individuals can match. You have achieved great success in business interests ranging from cattle ranching and energy exploration to real estate, the aerospace industry, and more.
For nearly half a century, you have matched your skill in business with a faith in the talents and energy of young people. Through your foundation, you have donated and invested tens of millions of dollars to promote achievement, responsibility, and healthy living.
In the 1990s, an investment in Cirrus Design brought you to Grand Forks and your first visit to this University’s Center for Innovation. You saw great potential in that center and in UND Aerospace.
Since then, you have contributed more than $12 million to the University, making you one of UND’s greatest benefactors.
Your generosity has made UND one of America’s top universities for educating and nurturing new entrepreneurs.
You are one of this nation’s greatest supporters for the training of pilots and aerospace professionals, here and across the United States.
Friends and colleagues know of your love for reading and sharing ideas. You are a life long learner. Your trips to this University always include time to visit with students and hear their experiences.
In your travels across the globe, by air and by sea, and through your extraordinary accomplishments, you have shown us how live life to its fullest.
Your magnificent record of philanthropy will make it possible for new generations of leaders and professionals to do the same.
In recognition of these achievements, the University of North Dakota is proud to confer upon you the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.
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