Michael “Mike” Venutolo ’77 and his wife, Kim, vividly remember sharing an eight-hour bus ride through the 110-degree desert in the United Arab Emirates with a half dozen engineering students from Syracuse University. Mike had helped design a novel two-week internship experience to expose the students to issues involved in producing and transporting potable water hundreds of miles across the desert. It was the kind of experiential learning that the Venutolos have supported through their philanthropy. The kind that directly and rapidly transforms the student experience.
“In the many hours we spent together, we learned so much about their lives and hopes and dreams,” says Kim. “These students come from all walks of life and many of them don’t have the funding they need to help them get where they want to go.” The desire to directly help students “get where they want to go” is the motivation behind their recent gifts to the Forever Orange Campaign for Syracuse University and what has become a nearly $2 million legacy in philanthropy that can only be described as “outside the box” thinking by a dedicated alumnus who describes himself as “atypical.”
Venutolo, who was appointed to the University Board of Trustees in 2022, came from modest means—his father was a plumber, and he grew up in a New Jersey town where many teens went to vocational and technical high schools to learn trade skills. “I grew up in a household filled with experiences,” says Venutolo. “There was a lot less learning from textbooks and a lot more learning from doing what my parents and grandparents did.”
His parents insisted that he go to college, but he says he didn’t do very well—until he met a counselor who helped him identify a field where he could excel (civil engineering) and a few professors who spent the time to support his success.
The atypical student became an atypical graduate, taking his engineering degree overseas to work in Saudi Arabia. “I was a junior engineer, working on a multibillion-dollar project building the world’s first major desalination plant,” Venutolo says. “We had no Google. If we had a critical question, we had to drive two hours to the closest telegraph office. It was hands-on problem solving.”
Venutolo would spend more than four decades living overseas, building a successful career and creating a company that became a worldwide leader in engineering and construction services. Living in the Gulf region and England, he was disconnected from the Orange community, but decided to attend his 30th class reunion and forge a new bond to bring his international experience to benefit his alma mater. He helped originate the Middle East Regional Council and engaged his company, Raymond International Pipeline Services Group, in the design and implementation of summer internships for civil and environmental engineering students.
In a 2012 article published in the American Society for Engineering Education, Syracuse University professors credited Venutolo with “helping to create and support another model for successful development of future global engineers.” The article, titled “Stepping Outside the Box: Education of Global Engineers,” detailed the significance of this kind of experiential programming. “These programs have provided an essential service to the engineering profession by providing students with a solid foundation of genuine openness, cultural curiosity and cultural understanding, as well as a greater appreciation for the power of communication, interpersonal relationship skills, organization and team membership,” the professors wrote.
Venutolo also supported the creation of a new construction engineering lab in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) in 2016, providing students on campus with a dedicated space for hands-on educational and research initiatives. His appreciation for international experiences and experiential learning is reflected in Venutolo’s most recent philanthropy, pledging nearly $1 million to create or support:
- Kim and Michael Venutolo ’77 Fund for Experiential Learning to support students studying abroad and the London Center program with particular focus on community and cultural engagement through program-sponsored travel,
- Kim and Michael Venutolo ’77 Fund for Professional Development to augment the activities of ECS clubs and societies specifically oriented to building professional skills, networking and education through their activities, including student travel to conferences,
- Kim and Michael Venutolo ’77 Undergraduate Endowment Scholarship to provide scholarship and financial assistance to deserving ECS undergraduates,
- Kim and Michael Venutolo ’77 Fund for Remembrance and Lockerbie Exchange to support trips to Lockerbie, the Lockerbie Academy and other remembrance related activities and
- Invention Accelerator Fund, which supports undergraduates as they design, prototype and pitch their inventions.
“We want to make a difference in individual students’ lives, to make it possible to attend a conference or get a passport or get on a plane to the Middle East,” says Venutolo. For his wife, Kim, who never had a chance to get a college degree, helping college students achieve their dreams is particularly satisfying. “I feel like these students try their hardest and we like to help.”
“Mike and Kim have a deep understanding of the importance of experiential learning opportunities to student academic, professional and personal growth, and a passion for supporting these opportunities abroad,” says Erika Wilkens, Ph.D., assistant provost and executive director of Syracuse University Abroad. “Their generous gift will provide students with invaluable immersive learning experiences in London, Lockerbie and beyond, and enable them to develop global skills that will benefit them for years to come.”
Both Venutolos have been judges for Invent@SU, which encourages the kind of innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that guided Michael in his career development. “Michael has told me that he credits Syracuse University with his ability to succeed,” says Kim, who went to work after high school in order to help her family financially. Now married nearly 20 years, Michael credits Kim with being “a champion for the underdog” and identifying opportunities for philanthropy that directly help students. “It doesn’t have to be huge dollars,” says Kim. “It’s just got to be from your heart. I love the University that has adopted me. I’ve become Orange.”
“Through these extraordinary gifts, Mike and Kim have given current and future Orange students the chance to pursue a life-changing education: an education that is distinctive in the way it fosters innovation and professional growth,” says ECS Dean J. Cole Smith. “Thanks to them, ECS will now be able to provide new life-changing scholarships, support experiential learning initiatives through our engineering and computing clubs and organizations, and devise groundbreaking inventions through our invention accelerator program, Invent@SU.”
“When we can talk to the students, see what they are inventing or touch what they are building, that’s what gets us excited,” says Venutolo. Now that he is based in the states (he and Kim live in New Jersey), he has more access to the students and more reasons to visit campus as a University Trustee. “I’m really honored and proud to be part of the group. I’m enjoying bringing an international perspective and more outside the box thinking.”
