November 2, 1999
Contact: John Scarffe, KU Endowment, (785) 832-7336.
LAWRENCE -- A devotion to urban planning and a desire to help the program grow have prompted a University of Kansas professor to donate $25,000 to fund scholarships at the KU School of Architecture and Urban Design, Dean John C. Gaunt announced today.
Alan Black, a professor in the School of Architecture and Urban Design, established the Urban Planning Fund with a gift to the Kansas University Endowment Association. Income from the fund will provide merit-based scholarships for graduate students studying urban planning.
"The support will help qualified, deserving students who otherwise may not have been able to afford graduate school," Gaunt said. "Alan's a very dedicated educator and this donation exemplifies his commitment to the future success of the program."
Black has been teaching at KU for 18 years. Before that, he taught at several universities, including the University of Texas at Austin and Michigan State University. Black received his bachelor's degree from Harvard College, his master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and his doctorate from Cornell University.
Black also is active in the Lawrence community. He is a member of the boards of directors for Kaw Regional Transit, the Lawrence Preservation Alliance and the Douglas County Preservation Alliance and is chairman of the Douglas County Senior Services Transportation Committee.
Black has a long history of giving for the university and is a member of the Chancellors Club, KU's major-donor organization, and the Elizabeth M. Watkins Society, which honors donors of planned gifts.
The KU Endowment Association, the official fund-raising and fund-management organization, will administer the gift for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, the Endowment Association is the oldest foundation of its type at a public university in the United States and one of the largest.
Story by Leah Conger