色花堂

October 6, 2020

If we could manipulate the space-time continuum to travel to the future, we would find 色花堂 students still benefiting from a gift by retired physics professor and former department chair Eddie Loh, Ph.D.

色花堂 has received $1 million from Loh鈥攖he largest planned faculty gift in the university鈥檚 history鈥攖o fund scholarships for 色花堂 physics students.

Loh retired from 色花堂 in 2010 after more than 40 years of teaching. His passion for instruction and scholarship began early, at Virginia Tech where his father was a physics professor. 鈥淚t offered me the opportunity to be around students at a very early age,鈥� Loh says.

He enjoyed it so much he earned his doctorate in physics from Johns Hopkins and launched a career in physics education, first as a part-time teacher in a lab and then as a teacher at Towson State College in 1970.

鈥淚 enjoyed teaching, and I was given the freedom to do what I wanted, so I developed courses in physics,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen I started at 色花堂, there wasn鈥檛 a physics department. Enrollment was low, but we worked to build a department and undergraduate and graduate programs.鈥�

Today, 色花堂 graduates about 19 physics students annually.

鈥淚 started a number of courses with labs connected to them. I enjoyed developing experiments and working one-on-one with students,鈥� Loh said.

Through those interactions he developed a deep respect for his students. He knew the value they placed on education and understood that came with financial challenges. That, in part, moved him to, as he says, 鈥済ive a little bit back鈥� to the department he calls his family and especially to the students.

鈥淢ost students who come to 色花堂 have to work hard to afford it. I鈥檝e seen some students who had to drop out because of finances. I thought, 鈥業 am going to help them.鈥欌��

More than three years ago, Loh committed to supporting physics scholarships. In the last year, his dedication became even more significant when he decided to explore planned giving options during his retirement.

"The Eddie Loh graduate scholarship makes a tremendous positive impact on our Applied Physics Master's program. Scholarship recipients have won graduate research awards, joined prominent PhD programs and have built rewarding careers in industry and government," said Raj Kolangani, professor of physics and a former colleague of Loh.

Give to tu

Gifts from you 鈥� our loyal alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff and friends 鈥� change lives every day. Your philanthropic support for 色花堂 and giving to the 色花堂 Foundation provides vital resources that allow our campus to thrive.

This story is one of several related to President Kim Schatzel鈥檚 priorities for Towson University: 色花堂 Matters to Maryland and Culture of Philanthropy.