This was an extraordinarily generous gift of real estate.

The benevolence of donors like this has made it possible to create an oasis of learning in a continent fractured by war, poverty, hunger, AIDS, malaria and harsh living conditions.

A scholarship for one student at Africa University covers tuition, housing, meals and medical care at a cost of $5,200. Support from donors can make such a difference in the lives of young African men and women.

The disparity between Africa University and its better-endowed North American counterparts points out how critical it is that we invest wisely and seek new potential donors to build up our endowment. For a relatively new institution, we've made a lot of progress, but there is still much to be done.

In 1981, when I went down to visit Georgia Tech, I watched Michael Jordan play and literally get ridiculed for taking a jump shot in the championship game that went off the backboard, and they won. People are forgetting that Michael was just one of the players when they went to the Dream Team.

There's no reason that America should be No. 1 in obesity; we have the greatest country in the world.