Betty Shanahan and Bob Nuber don’t just wish for a better future. They’re making it happen.
Both proud graduates of the College of Engineering, they dedicated their careers to creating a better world — and have never stopped looking for ways to help others succeed.
Though they’ve lived far from East Lansing, they are familiar faces around campus. They served on college and department advisory boards, judged student projects on Design Days and spoke at alumni/student gatherings. Through their estate plans, they created the Bob Nuber and Betty Shanahan Endowed Professorship to support entrepreneurship and diversity in the college.
Now, on the heels of the public launch of the Uncommon Will, Far Better World campaign, this Chicago Spartan power couple has joined the regional campaign committee.
At a recent gathering at the STEM Teaching and Learning facility to celebrate MSU’s Landon Society — MSU’s donors who have remembered MSU through deferred giving — Bob and Betty spoke of their confidence in MSU’s impact, ignited by the campaign’s ambitions to activate talent, drive discoveries and build futures.
“Every Spartan should be proud of how MSU teams address important, complex problems by collaborating across surprisingly diverse disciplines,” Betty said.
“Amazing things can happen when you bring together curious, smart, creative people,” Bob added. “Initiatives like the STEM facility don’t just enable collaboration, they stimulate it and act as talent incubators.”
Bob and Betty know a bit about how talent gets activated.
They first met in an MSU calculus class. Married a week after graduation, they used their MSU educations to launch careers in the computer industry. Their belief in higher education remained steadfast, both earning master’s degrees and MBAs.
Bob’s trajectory made him a technology leader in startups, a managed services consultant, and a national newspaper publisher and e-commerce leader.
Betty focused on development and management, later becoming executive director and CEO of the Society of Women Engineers, where she made a critical impact advancing women in the profession. She concluded her career as an associate vice president at DePaul University. Her drive to help others, recognized in 2018 with MSU’s Alumni Service Award, reflects her gratitude for the support she received as an MSU student, which went well beyond the skills and knowledge she needed to succeed in engineering.
“An advisor gave me confidence, student organizations provided a community, an associate dean encouraged leadership, and faculty created an environment that made a first-gen woman in the ’70s believe she belonged in the engineering profession!” she recalled.
“Betty and I are strong believers in the importance of diverse perspectives, bringing minds together to solve problems,” Bob said. “That is the essence of engineering, but it goes much broader than that.”
Innovation, problem-solving and bringing great minds together is the essence of the Uncommon Will, Far Better World campaign, too. Bob and Betty look forward to playing a role.
As interim dean of the College of Engineering, John Papapolymerou puts it: “Their steadfast commitment inspires us to build a far better world.”
LEARN MORE about how you can support MSU by contacting the development officer in your college or the Office of Gift Planning at (517) 884-1000, giftplan@msu.edu.