The day after final exams wrapped up, the University received a gift that could help it pass financial tests for years to come.
On Dec. 17, University officials announced graduate Lonnie C. Poole Jr. and his wife, Carol Johnson Poole, donated $40 million to the University. Poole, who earned his civil engineering degree from N.C. State in 1959, has made millions as founder of Waste Industries and has been a University benefactor for years. It is the largest single donation in N.C. State’s history.
Poole donated the bulk of the money, $37 million, to the College of Management, heretofore known as The Lonnie C. Poole Jr. College of Management. In doing so, the couple upped the University’s endowment by about 10 percent with a gift that Chancellor Randy Woodson called “huge” and “transformative.”
“Lonnie is a great success story, and he says he owes much of his success to N.C. State,” Woodson said. “This gift helps to elevate the stature of the College of Management; it will provide critical resources to hire and retain the best faculty and attract the best students.”
College of Management Dean Ira Weiss said the gift will give the 18-year-old college a financial shot in the arm that will help it compete with the best business schools in the country.
“We now are really aligned with the top programs: Kenan-Flagler, Fuqua, Poole, we should now be seen in that similar light,” said Weiss, comparing the University’s business school to UNC’s and Duke’s, respectively.
“We are just proud as we can be; it’s created huge smiles on faculty and staff faces. We can go out now, puff our chests out a bit and say we’ve come of age,” said Weiss.
Ethics, Sustainability Slated for Special Attention
Weiss said that the college will not see the benefits of the endowment for at least a year and a half. “The next 18 months will be a time of planning and assigning funds,” he said.
The planning will consider the needs of all aspects of the College of Management. “We’ve got a number of initiatives coming up,” Weiss said. Atop the list of needs are retaining key faculty and creating new programs. As it considers how to best use the endowment funds, the college will also pay special attention to sustainability and ethics.
“We are going to honor Lonnie’s legacy and his core values by focusing on sustainability and ethical business practices. There will be a major symposium on sustainability this spring,” said Weiss.
CHASS Slated for $500k Endowment
In addition to the $37 million gift to the Poole College of Management, the gift includes $2.5 million for the Carol Johnson Poole Club House at Centennial Campus’ Lonnie Poole Golf Course. The remaining $500,000 will go to The Carol Johnson Poole Endowment for Humanities and Social Sciences.
The gift will have two immediate positive effects on CHASS, according to Dean Jeffery Braden.
“First, it is an obvious gift of substance in the form of an endowment, which will allow us to use the money to help students for a lot longer than I’m going to be around,” Braden said. “We are also particularly pleased with this gift, because it shows people that N.C. State has a College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
“Due to our excellence in technology, science and mathematics, people forget that N.C. State has awarded more humanities and social science degrees than any college in the state each of the last four years,” Braden said.
Woodson said he hopes the Poole’s generosity will raise the national profile of the University, and convince more private citizens and alumni to contribute to the endowment.
“One of our goals is to grow our endowment because the state is cutting funding for higher education. [The endowment] will forever benefit the College of Management,” Woodson said.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do … to further grow the endowment, but it is a huge step in the right direction. The endowment will continue to be a critical resource as we absorb cuts anticipated by the state and keep tuition as low as possible,” Woodson said.
