Alumnus donates $10 million

By Laura Pelner
Campus Editor

When Purdue alumnus Jerry Rawls donated $10 million for the Krannert building expansion, he didn't expect he'd actually have to shovel dirt or work with the construction crews.

Rawls, who received a master's degree from Krannert in 1968, gave Purdue the money to help Krannert excel and to make the University preeminent. He was on campus Friday for the official Rawls Hall groundbreaking celebration, but his morning began at the construction site on State Street.

"I’m happy to support the building, but this is hard work," Rawls said as he and Richard Cosier, dean of the Krannert School of Management, shoveled dirt in their business suits.

Purdue officials and Krannert faculty and staff watched the men work from the Krannert Drawing Room via live video. It was a comical start for an announcement of one of Purdue's Top 10 largest gifts of all time.

"Jerry's generosity is doing more than putting up a building," President Martin Jischke told the large audience in Krannert Friday morning. "It's showing others what we together must do if we are to take Purdue to the next level."

Cosier said the day was a historic one for Purdue and Krannert and that it was important to recognize gifts like the one from Rawls.

"This building is totally funded by private donations," Cosier said. "Not a penny of public money is in this building."

The new Rawls Hall, which should be completed by the fall 2003 semester, will be a 128,000 square-foot, four story building on Grant Street across from Krannert. The building will cost $35 million.

Jischke said the building will be equipped with the best educational technology available. Each classroom and study area will have Internet and videoconference capabilities and will be linked to a high-end media production center. The commons area will have walk-up Web kiosks and wireless access to the University libraries.

"When Rawls Hall is completed we're going to have the best facility out there," Cosier said.

Rawls, president and director of Finisar Corp. and a Silicon Valley executive, said Friday's festivities and the fact that the building would be named after him were humbling. He said it was only appropriate he repay Krannert and Purdue for all the University did for him, and he said it's also appropriate he invest in future young students.

"We're making a big to-do about this but I was only helping because I could," Rawls said.

Diane Denis, associate professor of management, thanked Cosier, Rawls and the other donors on behalf of the Krannert faculty. Denis is a member of the school's building committee and she said she's excited Rawls Hall construction has finally begun. Juan Mondul, a second-year master's of business administration student, thanked Rawls and others on behalf of Krannert students.

"This is going to be a great marketing and recruiting tool for students and faculty," Mondul said. "The new facility will raise the quality of all our facilities."

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Campus editor: Laura Pelner

Assistant campus editors: Kurt Esposito, Dave Stephens

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