Alumni donated more than $2 million to the Lundquist College of Business during the winter break to help fund technology upgrades and construction of the new Lillis Business Center.
The donations came from Matthew Katzer and Barbara Dawson, who donated $1.25 million for technology improvements, and Gerry and Marilyn Cameron, who donated $1 million for the new Lillis Center.
Part of the donation by Katzer and Dawson will establish an endowment for future technological upgrades in the business school.
Business school Dean Philip Romero said the donations are worth far more than their monetary value because they will enable the school to better serve students and to stay competitive with other top schools in the nation.
“The current building is far too small for the number of students by a factor of three,” he said.
All the recent donors are traveling out of the state and could not be reached for comment. According to information from the business school, Katzer earned an executive master of business administration degree from the University in 1998. Both Katzer and Dawson held management positions in the Intel Corporation and currently live in the Portland area.
Gerry and Marilyn Cameron live in the Vancouver area. Gerry Cameron attended the University for two years while working at U.S. Bank. He retired from the banking corporation in 1998 after serving as its CEO for four years. The Camerons’ donation will fund a finance learning center within the new business building.
Learning centers will be a key feature of the new building, and Romero said they will foster better relations between students and faculty. Each center will be reserved for a specific department of the business school and will consist of a lounge, conference center and computer terminals.
“Faculty and students will work together and relax together in close quarters,” he said.
Romero said the value of learning centers has already been proved by the success of two existing centers in the business school, which he believes have enabled students to connect with their professors.
Chris Murray, the associate dean of external affairs, said the donations have helped put the business school’s fundraising drive back on schedule after a short lull during spring term of last year. He said roughly $28 million has been raised of the $40 million that is needed to build the new center, and he added that construction is expected to begin by the end of the year.
Murray also stressed the importance of the new building and the learning centers that will attempt to bond students and faculty in a new fashion.
“We are trying to have our faculty interact with students, and we’re doing that architecturally,” he said.
Named after chief benefactors Charles and Gwen Lillis, the new center will open up 145,000 square feet of new space for the business school and will include a 300-seat auditorium, a 120-seat lecture hall and a new 3,000-square-foot Career Services Center.
Finance professor Larry Dann said any donation toward the Lillis Center helps the business school as a whole, and the technology donation is good news for both faculty and students.
“It will help both students and faculty be at and maintain technology at the cutting edge,” he said. “That’s a tremendous gift.”
Professor Rick Mowday, head of the management department, called the donations a “win-win” situation for both students and faculty. He said the current business school building’s antiquated design offers no place for students to study and relax, but the new center will fill that need. Mowday said the technology donation is also key because most of the computers found in the business school are out of date.