Posted 12/10/2010 11:07AM
Honored as a "Leadership Institution" by the Association of American Colleges & Universities
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2010
Media Contact:
Janice Palmer, CCSU Media Relations Officer
860.832.1791; Cell 860.538.2649
New Britain, CT -- At a news conference today, Central Connecticut State University President Jack Miller announced that the University is receiving its largest gift ever, $8 million from the Carol A. Ammon Foundation, and as a gesture of gratitude, the Connecticut State University Board of Trustees has voted to name the CCSU School of Arts & Sciences the Carol A. Ammon School of Arts & Sciences. The gift will be used to fund student scholarships and academic program support.
“I am very pleased to announce this historic gift for the University,” said Miller. “This gift, for which we are deeply grateful, comes from one of our most illustrious graduates. Carol Ammon’s passion for learning and success in life serve as an inspiration to all of our students. Her wonderful generosity will make an important difference in our students’ lives for generations to come. This is particularly important for CCSU, where many of our students must balance work and family responsibilities while pursuing their education.”
Ammon, who now lives in Delaware, is a native of New Hyde Park, NY and graduated from Central in 1973 with a B.A. in biology. She is the chairman of the board and a trustee of the Christiana Care Health System, headquartered in Delaware. She is best known for her achievements from 1997 to 2007 as the founder and chief executive officer of Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Chadds Ford, PA., which specializes in pain management. At her retirement in 2007, Ammon’s company employed 1,000 people, and net sales were reported in excess of $1 billion.
For Ammon, this gift to CCSU is about paying back the University that helped shape her academic focus and subsequent direction in her career.
“I am deeply grateful to CCSU and to the professors who helped me discover my passion for science and my joy for learning,” says Ammon. “I felt at home at Central, and the environment there stimulated me. My experiences at Central, including the mentoring I received and the confidence I developed, helped establish the foundation for my financial and career success. Now I want to do the same thing for others who want an excellent education.”
Reacting to the news of her donation, the Connecticut State University Board of Trustees, meeting this morning, approved a resolution to name CCSU’s School of Arts & Sciences, the Carol A. Ammon School of Arts & Sciences.
“The Board of Trustees deeply appreciates this extraordinary act of generosity,” said Chairman Karl J. Krapek. “The lives and futures of Central students will be profoundly influenced, and the Carol A. Amman School of Arts & Sciences will inspire achievement and advances that will benefit our students, our state and our nation.”
Those sentiments were supported by CSUS Chancellor David G. Carter, who said, “Today’s students – and those yet unborn - will progress in ways we can only imagine as a result of the vision of Carol A. Ammon. She is held in high esteem for the example she has set and the accomplishments she has earned through diligence, perseverance and leadership.”
“I am deeply appreciative of this honor, and I thank President Miller, Chancellor Carter, Chairman Krapek, and the CSU Board of Trustees, and all those who’ve made this possible,” Ammon said.
After graduating from Central, Ammon spent 23 years in the pharmaceutical division of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, beginning as an associate scientist in research and development. Over the years there, she served in positions of increasing responsibility across research and development, finance, manufacturing, and sales and marketing. In 1993, she was appointed president of the generic pharmaceutical business unit of the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company, the pharmaceutical joint venture of DuPont and Merck and Company, Inc. In 1996, she was named president of the U.S. Pharmaceuticals Division of DuPont Merck and was responsible for a significant share of DuPont Merck’s corporate revenue and earnings. In 1997, Ammon led a buyout team and purchased 37 pharmaceutical products from DuPont Merck to form Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Ammon, a self-described “average B student,” never dreamed of reaching the level of success she has. “I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to leverage my success and invest in students, students like me, with a love for learning and a potential yet to be discovered,” she said.
Although many details are yet to be finalized, the first Carol A. Ammon Foundation scholarships will be awarded next fall. This is not the alumna’s first gift to CCSU. In 2008, she helped establish a scholarship in memory of her former CCSU roommate Frances E. Librera '73.
Ammon’s leadership and achievements have garnered her several awards in recent years. In 2005, she received the 2005 Paradigm Award, the Philadelphia region’s most prestigious award for business people, and the Woman of Spirit Award from the Greater Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. In 2004, she was named CEO of the Year by the Eastern Technology Council, representing 800 technology and life sciences companies in the Philadelphia region. A year earlier, she was presented with the 2003 Greater Philadelphia Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Health Sciences category.
In addition to her B.A. from Central, Ammon earned an M.B.A. and an honorary doctorate from Adelphi University and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University.