MSU engineering lab receives $600K donation

A Winifred native who founded one of the nation’s largest heating, ventilation and air conditioning companies has donated more than $600,000 in cash and equipment for a new engineering laboratory at Montana State University.

Norm Asbjornson’s donation will allow the school to create an HVAC laboratory.

Asbjornson, 70, is founder and president of AAON, a Tulsa, Okla.-based HVAC manufacturer of commercial, rooftop air conditioning units.

He has endowed several scholarships at his alma mater.

In 2003, Asbjornson endowed a $1 million scholarship fund for graduates of Montana high schools with 100 or fewer students. He’s also created an endowed scholarship for graduates of Winifred High School who attend MSU and created an endowment for the Burns Technology Center to develop distance learning programs for rural Montana schools.

He recently created a scholarship in honor of his parents, Eric and Boots Asbjornson, which is awarded to needy students from Fergus or Petroleum counties who’ve overcome personal adversity.

http://helenair.com/articles/2006/04/29/montana/a07042906_01.txt