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Contact: Diane Silver, KU Endowment Association, (785) 832-7363.

Hall Family Foundation pledges $42 million for KU

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The Kansas City-based Hall Family Foundation has pledged $42 million for the University of Kansas. The pledge is the largest private gift for a college or university in Kansas history.

The Kansas University Endowment Association accepted the pledge for KU's third major fund-raising capital campaign, which will be formally announced in fall 2001. The $42 million gift will benefit four areas: life sciences, the humanities, the Edwards Campus and the KU School of Business.

"This is a tremendous gift for Kansas and the Kansas City region," said KU Chancellor Robert E. Hemenway. "This gift will have a major impact on our ability to serve our students and the state of Kansas. It is an enthusiastic response to the university's plan to become one of the top 25 public universities in the United States."

Life sciences -- $29.5 million
Of the $29.5 million the Hall Family Foundation designated for life sciences, $27 million will help fund a new research facility at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan. The new facility will bring together the people and resources of KU's institutes for brain research, genetic medicine and the Center for Proteomics, where researchers study proteins and the ways they can be used to treat diseases. It will further KU's partnerships with other Kansas City organizations involved in the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute, such as the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Stowers Institute. Another $1.5 million will supplement a program at the Medical Center that provides seed funding for researchers seeking federal research grants. The foundation also pledged $500,000 each for two endowed professorships on the Lawrence campus, one in molecular biosciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and one in genetic and chromosomal research, or genomics, at the Higuchi Biosciences Center.

"A new life sciences research facility will revolutionize research at the KU Medical Center," Hemenway said. "The foundation's generous support will allow this building to become a reality and expand our efforts to conduct cutting-edge research that will benefit the entire region. This support also represents a major step toward making Kansas City a national hub for the life sciences."

Humanities -- up to $7 million
Humanities programs at KU will receive up to $7 million. The foundation pledged the Humanities or to construct a new building. To help the Hall Center qualify for a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the foundation committed $1 million to support outreach programs such as lectures and symposia. The gift also includes a $2.5 million grant to help fund new endowed chairs in the humanities and $500,000 for the Joyce and Elizabeth Hall distinguished professorship in the humanities.

"The Hall family's continuing support for the humanities," Hemenway said, "will reaffirm that the Hall Center for the Humanities is one of the best assets of the university and, indeed, one of the best humanities centers in the country."

Edwards Campus -- $5 million
The foundation also pledged $5 million toward construction of a new building at KU's Edwards Campus in Overland Park. The building represents the first phase of a $71 million expansion of the campus, and will feature an auditorium, classrooms and offices.

School of Business -- $500,000
To honor O. Maurice Joy, a professor emeritus of the KU School of Business, the foundation pledged $500,000 to establish a business professorship in his name. Joy taught finance classes for more than three decades and held the Joyce C. Hall distinguished professorship in business.

"We hope that this $42 million grant will serve as a source of inspiration -- not only to the future students and teachers of KU -- but to lawmakers and private donors as well," said Donald J. Hall, Hall Family Foundation chair. "If the knowledge-based needs of the future are to be met, the importance of higher education in our area must be a view that is shared by all. We believe that the KU grant will broaden the range of intellectual capital within our community and will make our region a more diverse, more forward-looking and more compelling place to live and work."

Forrest Hoglund, chairman of KU's fund-raising campaign, commended the Hall Family Foundation for its foresight. "The Hall Family Foundation has once again stepped forward for KU," he said. "The members of the Hall family are leaders in the Kansas City community who have recognized the importance of supporting bi-state efforts in life sciences research. They also understand the need to bring literature, the arts and scholarship into everyone's lives, and the need to foster education programs for working professionals."

Like all private gifts for KU, the foundation's commitment is not intended to replace funding from the state of Kansas. "The foundation is continuing a long history of partnership between state and private support by investing in excellence at the University of Kansas," Hoglund said.

The Hall Family Foundation is well-known for its philanthropy, both nationally and in the Midwest. In Kansas City, the foundation has been a major supporter of Children's Mercy Hospital, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Union Station and the Kansas City Zoo.

The foundation's grants have benefited KU in a variety of areas, including business, molecular biology and the humanities. The Hall Center was named for Joyce and Elizabeth Hall in 1985, following the foundation's gifts for humanities professorships and program support.