|
|
Editor's note: This release is embargoed until 6:15 p.m. Monday, July 29.
WICHITA -- Seeking to advance the state's long history of entrepreneurship, the Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundation has established a new business professorship at the University of Kansas, Chancellor Robert Hemenway announced today at the Wichita Center for the Arts.
The Koch Professorship in Entrepreneurship will serve as a cornerstone for the new Institute for Entrepreneurship and Business Ventures at the KU School of Business. A national search for an acclaimed entrepreneurial and economic scholar to fill the professorship will commence immediately.
The Koch Foundation's latest grant of $500,000, which will be eligible for state matching support through the Kansas Partnership for Faculty of Distinction Program, will be combined with previous Koch Foundation contributions to the Kansas University Endowment Association totaling $3 million. Taken together, the contributions will create the fourth-largest professorship fund at KU Endowment.
"This new professorship at the University of Kansas will be of great value to the KU School of Business as it strives to attain its goal of ranking among the top public business schools in the country," Hemenway said. "With the State of Kansas matching funds, the Koch professorship will be equivalent to a fund valued at $4 million. We are grateful that the Koch Foundation chose to make this investment in KU because it will allow us to launch this promising institute during a time of economic uncertainty and fiscal restraint.
"It is appropriate that the new institute and the entrepreneurship professorship are being created by a Wichita-based family foundation," Hemenway said. "Wichita has long been recognized as the birthplace of many prominent entrepreneurial enterprises, including Cessna, Coleman, Pizza Hut and, of course, Koch Industries."
Charles Koch, chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, said the new institute and Koch professor will help students learn the fundamental economic and ethical components of entrepreneurship.
"We see the establishment of KU's Institute for Entrepreneurship and Business Ventures as an opportunity to further advance Kansas' leadership position in entrepreneurship," Koch said. "We believe programs like this are extremely important because they help build the understanding and culture that lead to a more productive and civil world. A key element is demonstrating that true entrepreneurship requires creating real value and profiting ethically only by economic means. That, in turn, requires embracing certain core values such as integrity, humility, responsibility and treating others with respect. These values represent the foundation for long-term success, not only for an organization but for an individual and for a nation as well. We are being reminded of this reality nearly every day."
The professorship and the institute will promote entrepreneurship through courses, programs for students and members of the business community, and other initiatives. The institute will coordinate the school's existing entrepreneurship programs, including related courses, scholarships, internships, student development and faculty support.
By developing entrepreneurship and economic education for university students and members of the business community, the institute will provide value to Kansas, said William L. Fuerst, business dean.
"The Koch Professorship in Entrepreneurship is very significant for our interests and activities in entrepreneurship in the KU School of Business," Fuerst said. "Entrepreneurship is an important aspect of the business world today. The professorship will allow us to recruit a nationally prominent authority and, with the creation of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Business Ventures, help develop our national reputation in this area.
"Through public programs and courses in entrepreneurship, the school will be able to increase its support of an area of strategic importance to the state of Kansas and the region."
The gift from the Koch Foundation continues a historical relationship between KU and the family of the late Mary Robinson Koch. Mary Koch's grandfather was David Hamilton Robinson, one of the three original tenured faculty members at KU.
Robinson taught Latin and Greek at KU from 1866 until his death in 1895.
Koch Industries Inc. and related Koch family foundations are longtime supporters of entrepreneurial and economic education initiatives. The foundation's gift complements other investments it has made in the Center for Entrepreneurship at Wichita State University, Junior Achievement, Students in Free Enterprise and Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas. Youth Entrepreneurs, established by the Charles G. Koch Foundation and chaired by Elizabeth Koch, provides economic and entrepreneurial education for high school students in Lawrence, Wichita, Augusta, Valley Center, Haysville and Topeka. Since YEK's founding in 1991, more than 3,500 Kansas students have graduated from the program.
The Koch Foundation's gift counts toward the $500 million goal of KU First: Invest in Excellence, the third and largest fund-raising campaign in KU history. KU Endowment is conducting KU First on behalf of KU through 2004 to raise funds for scholarships, fellowships, professorships, capital projects and program support. KU Endowment is an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for KU.
-30-