COLLEGE AT SEMO NAMED FOR HARRISON

Southeast Missouri State University's College of Business Administration is being renamed in honor of Donald L. Harrison, a Cape Girardeau businessman and president of the school's Board of Regents.

It marks the first time a college at Southeast has been named for an individual since the Cape Girardeau school became a university in 1972, Southeast president Kala Stroup said.

The announcement was made first at Southeast's annual President's Council dinner, held Friday night in the Holiday Inn Convention Center. An estimated 200 people attended. University officials then publicized the name change in a press release mailed out over the weekend.

The council dinner recognizes individuals who have contributed at least $10,000 and corporations that have given at least $25,000 to the Southeast Missouri University Foundation.

Harrison has been a major contributor to the university, school officials said.

Stroup said the name change is "in recognition of one individual's exceptional generosity and support of the university and the College of Business, and in honor of that person's extraordinary career in business at the local, national and international level."

While the college has been renamed in honor of Harrison, the new business building will be named in honor of another major supporter -- Sikeston attorney Robert Dempster. The name of the proposed business building was announced some time ago.

Harrison said Monday that he was "quite humbled" by the university's action.

Despite being on the Board of Regents, Harrison acknowledged he's not a "high profile" individual who looks for publicity in his support of Southeast Missouri State.

While being a major supporter of the university, Harrison said he doesn't believe his financial gifts to the school were the only factor in the name change.

"I made it very clear that my donations to the university had no strings connected to this," said Harrison.

But he said financial contributions certainly entered into the picture. "They are going to name it for a supporter, not someone who isn't," he said.

Of the name change, he said: "It was humbling, really. I'm really glad to be able to give back some of what the area has done for me."

Harrison said he's a big backer of education. "I think that education is the very basis of progress, even civilization," he said.

"I think it is the most important institution in Cape Girardeau by far, not just from the economic standpoint, but the cultural standpoint," said Harrison.

He said the university offers the region cultural experiences ranging from art to literature. "It is a great, great cultural boost to the town, as well as economically."

A Cape Girardeau native, Harrison attended Southeast for two years before transferring to Yale University in 1944. After military service, he returned to Yale, where he graduated in 1948 with a bachelor of arts degree.

"His career has been a remarkable one," said Stroup. "Since joining a small but successful family-owned business in 1948, he has added a generous dose of personal vision, correctly interpreted future trends over a period of four decades, and with an entrepreneurial spirit has built an internationally significant group of companies."

In the early 1950s, Harrison's family was involved in the paving, mining and quarry businesses in Illinois. In 1953, he and his associates saw the opportunities presented by the start of construction of the interstate highway system and began forming new companies to handle the various phases of road building.

These operations were responsible for the building of many miles of the primary and interstate highway systems in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, including long stretches of Interstate 57 in Illinois and Missouri, Interstate 70 in mid-Missouri, and Interstate 55 between St. Louis and Arkansas.

Harrison later pioneered the Delta Group of companies, which specialize in the building and maintenance of all phases of highway construction. Harrison's companies also have been successful in the international arena, having served as the general contractor for new highways in Guatemala and El Salvador.

Until January, Harrison was the principal owner of the Delta Companies and Southern Illinois Companies. The group of 15 subsidiary companies operates in Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas and Louisiana in highway construction and the production of materials for such construction.

Locally, the group operates Delta Asphalt Inc., Girardeau Contractors Inc., Delta Concrete Inc., and Southeast Missouri Stone Co.

Earlier this year, Harrison sold the Delta Companies and Southern Illinois Companies to a subsidiary of COLAS U.S. Inc., a subsidiary of COLAS S.A. of Paris, France, which was founded by Shell Oil Co.

Harrison remains active as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the companies he previously owned.