After graduation and a year at a small pharmaceutical company Mike joined Monsanto in 1974 and spent 37 years until his retirement in 2010. He was a synthetic organic chemist until 1989 and finished his career as a quality assurance specialist. While at Monsanto he was one of the first students to enroll in the part-time MS program. In 2005 he became a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and served as President from 2014-2015. During his two-year term as President, he also served on the Chancellor’s Council. Mike and his wife Linda, BA political science, have been very generous to the department, recently funding the Linda & Michael Finkes Scholarship in Chemistry and bequeathing a portion of their estate for future chemistry scholarships.
