The University of Minnesota will commemorate the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Flight 93 with two events.
On Friday, September 9, the University will hold a commemorative reading on campus of the names of the nearly 3,000 victims of the attacks. The reading will commence at 1 p.m. on Gateway Plaza outside of the McNamara Alumni Center and will begin with brief remarks from U leaders.
Then on Saturday, September 10, at the home Gopher football game, the University and the University of Minnesota Alumni Association (UMAA) have invited three University alumni who are survivors of the attacks to attend the game and participate in an on-field recognition:
• Mark R. Lewis (Carlson School 1971, Graduate School 1979), retired from the U.S. Army and now a senior executive service civilian with the U.S. Army, was in the Pentagon when the plane hit.
• Terry L. Placek (College of Liberal Arts 1968), now retired, worked for the Department of the Army and was in the Pentagon when the plane hit.
• Scott A. Wallace (Carlson School 1980) serves on the UMAA Board of Directors and was on the 63rd floor of the World Trade Center North Tower when the first plane hit.
Four alumni who were victims of the attacks will also be acknowledged during the game: Thomas E. Burnett (Carlson School 1986), Gary Koecheler (Law School 1972), Robert George LeBlanc (CLA Ph.D. 1968), and Clarin S. Schwartz (Law School 1973).
The family of Tom Burnett, who died on United Flight 93, started the Tom Burnett Advanced Leadership Program at the University, which focuses on identifying and nurturing future leaders. In commemoration of the anniversary, the program is inviting current and former program participants to gather prior to the game and a number of them will join members of Burnett’s family to watch the game.
Read more about the leadership program and Burnett’s heroic deeds in the Legacy story.
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