SMU made a historic announcement Monday afternoon: a donation of $45 million from The Meadows Foundation, making it the single-largest gift in the school’s history.

Members of the SMU community and The Meadows Foundation joined together to celebrate this news with speeches from SMU President R. Gerald Turner, Brad Cheves, SMU vice president of Development and External Affairs, Michael Boone, chair of the SMU Board of Trustees, and Linda Perryman Evans, president and CEO of The Meadows Foundation, Inc.

“Al Meadows’ vision is carried forward with a new commitment from the Meadows Foundation to SMU… and will absolutely propel the museum and the school into an even wider world stage as we enter into our second century,” Turner said.

The $45 million donation will go to various sectors of the Meadows Museum and the Meadows School of the Arts, as The Daily Campus reported Monday.

According to Evans, The Meadows Foundation has committed more than $145 million to SMU since 1962 to honor the vision Algur Meadows had for his foundation: enriching the education of students, faculty and the wider Dallas community.

“I believe if Al Meadows were here today he would be thrilled with the achievements of the school that bears his name and delighted that his small ‘Prado on the prairie’ has achieved so many accomplishments,” Evans said of the success of the Meadows School of the Arts and the Meadows Museum.

Algur Meadows believed in education and endowed Meadows School of the Arts in the hopes of building one of the finest schools in the country for arts education. He also had a dream to enrich a growing metropolitan area and build ties between nations.

“His dream also conferred a responsibility,” Turner said. “A responsibility to his family that his dream lived through the years and a responsibility to SMU to be sound stewards of his vision.”

A vision, Turner said, the University is even more committed to as it approaches its second century.

Meadows students are excited for the future of the school. Mary Anna Billingsley, senior public relations and strategic communications major, is expecting this gift to create significant growth at SMU.

“I think this donation will help propel all disciplines of Meadows into the next level of prestige both nationally and internationally,” she said.