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AP: KU receives $20M for new business school building
Published 10/5/2012 in News
LAWRENCE (AP) — The University of Kansas is receiving a $20 million gift to help finance a new building for its School of Business, university officials announced Thursday.
The gift is from the Capitol Federal Foundation, affiliated with Topeka-based Capitol Federal Savings Bank. The gift — the largest ever for the business school — represents about one-third of the estimated $60 million cost of constructing a new building.
Neeli Bendapudi, the business school's dean, said the school hopes to build a six-story, 166,000 square foot building near Allen Fieldhouse, where the university's basketball teams play. Construction could begin by early 2014, and the goal is to open the new building by the fall of 2015.
"This gift will help create an environment that fosters innovation in business education and research and attracts top students and faculty," she said in a statement.
The business school is now in Summerfield Hall, which opened in 1960 and has about 95,000 square feet. University officials say the building can't accommodate the business school's future needs.
University officials said the new building will help the school boost the number of people receiving undergraduate degrees from 500 to 750 annually and the number receiving graduate degrees from 280 to 350 annually.
Capitol Federal Chairman and CEO John Dicus received bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from the university in 1983 and 1985 respectively, and he is a trustee of the university's Endowment Association. His parents and one of his grandfathers also are Kansas alumni and he, his father and his grandfather previously have been honored by the university.
"An outstanding School of Business is an integral part of every university," Dicus said. "With this gift, we are giving students at the University of Kansas the opportunities they need to be successful in the business world."
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