Meadows celebrates record donation (Photo by Brittany Oswald, The Daily Campus)
Meadows Foundation President and CEO Linda Evans announced Wednesday that the Meadows Foundation was donating $33 million to SMU, the largest single gift in the history of the university.
The Hope Lobby in the Owens Fine Arts Center was full of people Wednesday. Meadows School of the Arts Dean Carole Brandt cancelled all Meadows classes from 10:30 a.m. until noon so students could attend the event. More than 60 chairs were full, while the rest of the lobby was filled with faculty, staff, students and press. Red and blue banners hung in the lobby that read “We Celebrate” and “We Inspire.”
The celebration was opened by Brad Cheves, vice president for development and external affairs at SMU.
SMU President R. Gerald Turner then spoke of the historic partnership between the Meadows Foundation and the Meadows School of the Arts, which began 40 years ago.
“The Meadows Foundation provided the funding in the last decade for the new Meadows Museum,” Turner said.
“The tradition of support that began with Al Meadows’ first gift in 1962 has lasted throughout his lifetime and continues today,” Evans said. “They [SMU faculty] nurture, stretch and grow the talents of these young people enabling them to be successful artists and communicators when they leave SMU.”
According to Evans, the Meadows Foundation donated $20 million to SMU nine years ago to build a new museum to house the collection of Spanish art, which, at the time, was the largest gift ever made by the Meadows Foundation.
Evans also said the gift would be used for many enhancements for the Meadows School of the Arts and the Meadows Museum, such as support for student scholarships, faculty development and visiting scholars, acquisitions of art and many other things as well.
Brandt spoke of the importance of this gift to the university.
“Al Meadows would be proud of his legacy in the world and his place in our education in this country,” she said. “I also believe that he would be celebrating the wisdom and generosity of his family and foundation in making this gift.”
Afterwards, Brandt said she will be meeting with the division chairs Thursday to outline the allocations for the school’s portion of the donation. Next week, Brandt will meet with the faculty in a roundtable discussion.
Afterwards, the division chairs and faculty will meet with students to discuss how their specific department will benefit.
Brandt said she would be involved in the dispersement of the money for next year, even though she is retiring on June 1.
“I will be making the initial decisions on where money will go next year, while still leaving flexibility for my successor,” she said. She said examples of ways the money could be used are sending performance majors on tours, funding advertising students for competitions and funding research initiatives.
