| Oct.
27, 2000 – (Lexington, Ky.) – The
University of Kentucky's library endowment increased by $3.5 million and new endowments in
voice and theatre also were established as part of the $8.7 million in new gifts and
pledges officially accepted this week by the UK Board of Trustees. The
William T. Young Library endowment -- which last month became the largest book endowment
among public universities and second in the nation only to Harvard's, according to a
Virginia Tech 2000 survey -- now stands at $56 million.
The
total was boosted by a gift or pledge of $500,000 from Carl F. Pollard of Goshen, Ky., a
1960 graduate of the Gatton College of Business and Economics; $2 million from Chris
Sullivan, a 1972 UK graduate who created the highly successful Outback Steakhouse
restaurant chain; and another $1 million from Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America,
Inc. Toyota was one of the original
contributors to the UK library fundraising campaign that resulted in the new $58 million
William T. Young Library.
All
the new gifts are eligible for a Research Challenge Trust Fund match.
A
$500,000 pledge from Mrs. Lucille Caudill Little will establish the Lucille Caudill Little
Endowment for Theatre to support historical research, productions and other creative
activity, and to provide graduate fellowships.
Much
of the theatre study and research work will be conducted in the Lucille Caudill Little
Fine Arts Library and Learning Center created with a previous $1 million gift from Mrs.
Little. The library, which is located in the remodeled Margaret I. King Library - North
building, officially opened Oct. 2.
A
$500,000 pledge by Mr. and Mrs. George L. Lindemann of New York will benefit UK's highly
touted Opera Theatre program that has produced such graduates as Greg Turay, an
internationally known singer who performs with the New York Metropolitan Opera.
The
Lindemanns are fans of Gail Robinson who performed and worked for the New York
Metropolitan Opera Company for about 30 years before accepting an endowed chair in voice
in the UK School of Music. Also, the Met's
Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, which recruits talent from the Mets opera
auditions coming to UK on Saturday, Oct. 28, is named in their honor.
Other
UK programs to benefit from funding accepted today by the UK Board of Trustees include the
Markey Cancer Center's ovarian cancer screening, engineering, behavioral sciences,
emergency medicine, the alumni association, education, nutritional sciences, business and
economics and physiology.
In
other action, the UK Board:
n
Increased
to six from five the number of members on the committee seeking a new UK president, and
n
Authorized
the approval of a bachelor of science degree program in chemical engineering and a
bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering at its extended campus site in
Paducah, Ky.
The degree program proposals will be submitted to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary
Education.
The western Kentucky engineering degree program is a joint initiative of UK, Murray
State University and Paducah Community College. The
1996 General Assembly provided $1.4 million to help establish the program.
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