Iowa State University is announcing the largest single gift to one of its colleges. The College of Business will be renamed in honor of the donors.
“Jerry and Debbie Ivy are the reason we’re here today,” interim ISU president Ben Allen, a former dean of the business school, told a nearly packed lecture hall Monday morning. “It’s because of their extraordinary generosity that we are announcing a $50 million commitment to name the College of Business.”
Allen says the endowment will help the Debbie and Jerry Ivy College of Business and the university realize their vision to prepare future leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs.
Debbie Ivy says she’s seen that Iowa State is a special place and she hopes the gift will help students and faculty expand their horizons.
“The seed we’re planting today, we want to see it grow and we think you will all be a part of that,” she says.
The Ivys live in California and own Auto-Chlor System, a business that provides sanitation products to commercial customers. Jerry Ivy earned his bachelor’s degree at Iowa State in 1953.
The board of regents must approve the name-change, but once it becomes official, the business school will be the first of Iowa State’s colleges named for a donor.
