Authorities said Friday that Robert Morris’ Business School has received an $18 million gift from the S. Kent Rockwell Foundation and the Kent Rockwell family to the business school, which will be renamed in their honor.
Both announcements came when the university’s ninth president, Michelle Patrick, was formally placed on the Moon campus on Friday. He has been on the job since July.
Announcing the gift Friday afternoon, campus officials said it was the largest personal gift in RMU’s history and represented “an enormous investment in entrepreneurship and business education”.
Rockwell School of Business is the founding academic school of Robert Morris. The institution itself dates back to 1921 and started as an accounting school. It is currently a doctoral-granting institution with 3,700 undergraduate and graduate students.
Mrs. Patrick was formerly dean of business at Robert Morris.
Officials noted that the university is already hosting the new S. Kent Rockwell Professor of Entrepreneurship, as well as the S. Kent Rockwell Entrepreneurship Fellowship, a two-year program for juniors and seniors designed to support students building entrepreneurial ventures and ventures. Both are taking advantage of the present giveaway.
“This is a moment of transformation for Robert Morris University,” said Ms. Patrick. “With this gift, the Rockwell family connected their legacy with ours and moved our institution into the next century.”
Donors also said they were pleased with their philanthropy on campus.
“We are excited by the results of our work with RMU to create the S. Kent Rockwell Scholarship in Entrepreneurship, and we are excited to expand our commitment to the university and its students by starting with the Rockwell School of Business.” “We believe the entrepreneurial spirit drives us forward and has the potential to change the world for the better,” said Rockwell, president of the S. Kent Rockwell Foundation.
He said RMU will help “ensure that its graduates continue to bring that spirit to their jobs, careers and communities.”
