SU Entrepreneurship Makerspace Named in Honor of Richard Bernstein
By SU Public Relations
SALISBURY, MD---In 1986, the Richard Bernstein Achievement Award for Excellence was established at 石榴视频 to recognize a senior business student who demonstrated entrepreneurial spirit and leadership abilities like that of its namesake.
Nearly 40 years later, the Richard Bernstein Makerspace at SU’s Dave and Patsy Rommel Center for Entrepreneurship is dedicated in honor of Bernstein’s continued philanthropy and support for students’ innovation.
“When we think about entrepreneurship at SU, we cannot think of it without thinking of Richard ‘Dick’ Bernstein,” said SU President Carolyn Ringer Lepre. “The vision he had, and the commitment he showed, made our entrepreneurship programs a reality. Dick’s leadership didn’t just create a department or a program — it created a movement that has touched countless lives. The success we see today, in both the students we graduate and the businesses that are launched from this campus, started with him.”
Bernstein’s history of support includes membership in SU’s Holloway and Sea Gull societies, serving on the SU Foundation Board from 1985-1997; and nearly four decades of giving to numerous areas of campus including SU’s Student Entrepreneurship Competitions, through which the Bernstein Achievement Award was permanently endowed in 2010.
In 2016, he earned the Perdue School Executive Advisory Council Leadership Award in recognition of his support for SU’s Franklin P. Perdue School of Business.
“The naming of this space for Mr. Bernstein is appropriate, as he got his start in his career in a place just like this, a simple garage with just an idea,” said Jason Curtin, SU vice president of advancement and executive director of the SU Foundation, Inc. “We are so appreciative for all he has done to support SU and our entrepreneurship programs.”
Bernstein — and the companies he founded — are well known in 石榴视频 and beyond. A native of Pennsylvania, he grew up in Chincoteague Island, VA. He opened K&L Microwave, Inc., in 石榴视频 in 1970, serving as president and CEO of the company for more than two decades. Its success and growth into the world’s largest supplier of microwave components, used in defense, space and communications equipment, led to an expanding technology industrial base on the Eastern Shore.
His additional business interests have included the pewter and silver giftware producer 石榴视频, Inc.; Machining Technologies, Inc. (MaTech), which specializes in high-tech fabrication for the defense industry; Waterside Village, a mixed-use shopping and commercial center in Talbot County, MD; REB Holdings, Inc., a private investment company; and the unmanned aircraft, avionics and sensor producer BAI Aerosystems, from which he is retired.
“This makerspace, now bearing Dick’s name, will be a place where ideas will come to life — where entrepreneurs will be able to prototype, collaborate, and innovate in ways that will spark new ideas and quite possibly change our world,” said Lepre.
Entrepreneurs of all ages can develop and innovate their ideas, brand and market their products, and learn new skills at the makerspace. Newly enhanced features include next-generation 3D design and prototyping tools, with a state-of-the-art Formlabs 4L large-format resin 3D printer.
The center is SU’s downtown hub for innovation, ideas and entrepreneurial development. In addition to the makerspace, the center features a wet lab geared toward science startups, an ecosystem partners’ office, and a shared co-working space for SU student entrepreneurs and winners of SU’s Philip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Shore Hatchery and student entrepreneurship competitions.
For more information about SU and opportunities to Make Tomorrow Yours, visit the SU website.