Lipscomb received a university record-breaking donation for the second consecutive year, president Randy Lowry announced at the Imagine donor event Tuesday evening.
“This is a significant moment in the history of Lipscomb University,” Lowry said in a statement. “We are grateful to these donors for their commitment to this institution. This gift is an investment in our College of Business as a way to continue to elevate the image of the school as a leader in business education in Nashville and in the nation.”
The $23 million gift from an anonymous group of donors is going to the College of Business to build a new facility and parking structure. Some of the money will go to the study-abroad campus in Florence, Italy.
College of Business dean Ray Eldridge said the gift would help the College build on its recent successes, which include the accounting program being named tops in Tennessee for back-to-back years by College Factual.
“It is exciting for our students and faculty to see how many people believe in our mission, and it also attracts attention from others who want to be part of what we’re doing,” Eldridge said.
“They’re investing into the students of tomorrow,” business major Hillary Reader said. “They may be the students who make the new Amazons, the new Googles, the new Apples of the world. That’s all we can ask for – to keep getting better as students because those are the ones who transition to be the business leaders of tomorrow.”
At the Imagine event last April, the University announced a then-school-record gift of $15 million from former NBA owner George Shinn, which was dedicated to the College of Entertainment and the Arts. The Shinn Center, which will house the CEA, is currently under construction.
This year’s invite-only event for donors featured author and journalist Tom Brokaw. The topic was “The Power of Telling Nashville’s Story.”
Lead photo depicts official rendering of the planned College of Business building. Photo courtesy of Lipscomb University Communications and Marketing.