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Babson College Announces Glavin Center for Global Entrepreneurial Leadership, at Lincoln Center Gala for Retiring President William F. Glavin
$15.5 Million raised to date to fund endowed faculty chairs
February 24, 1997, New York...In a surprise tribute to its retiring president and former corporate executive William F. Glavin, Babson College announced the naming of the William F. Glavin Center for Global Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College. The Wellesley, Mass., school of business held a black-tie salute February 24 at Lincoln Center's New York State Theater to honor Glavin and benefit the new Babson Center. Emcee for the evening was Chancellor of New York City Public Schools Rudolph. F. Crew, a 1972 graduate of Babson.
Major donations and net proceeds from the New York event have garnered $15.5 million to date to fund eight endowed faculty chairs for the Center. Babson's plan is to create up to a dozen endowed chairs to develop new collaborations in business, teaching, and research worldwide.
"Bill Glavin made us believe in ourselves; he energized us into reaching for goals beyond what we thought could be achieved. His personal integrity, superb leadership, and complete devotion to Babson College have made the difference in this school's journey to becoming the very best in international management education and entrepreneurial leadership," said John H. Muller, Jr., founder and former chairman, General Housewares Corp., who served as chairman of Babson's Board of Trustees from 1989 to 1996.
Glavin, formerly vice chair of Xerox Corp., had 34 years of management experience with Xerox and IBM when he became Babson's ninth president in July 1989. He is widely credited with initiating an aggressive multiyear strategic plan that propelled Babson from a regionally-respected business school to one recognized nationally and internationally for its strength in entrepreneurial leadership and trail-blazing curricular reforms. For the last eight years U.S. News & World Report named Babson the Best Business Specialty School in the USA. Additionally, U.S. News and Success magazines have ranked Babson number one in entrepreneurial studies.
During Glavin's administration, Babson more than quadrupled its endowment--from $22 million in 1989 to more than $100 million in January 1997. Babson's five-year fundraising campaign, which began in 1992, topped its ambitious goal of $80 million two years early when the College received a $30 million naming gift from the F.W. Olin Foundation to fund a new graduate school building and graduate curriculum development. The campaign, scheduled to close in December 1997, has raised more than $117 million to date (the school's previous campaign in the 1980s raised $26 million).
Participation by Babson alumni in the Annual Fund--considered an indicator of alumni confidence in a school's mission and management--more than quadrupled from 1989 ($900,000) to 1996 ($3.8 million). During Glavin's presidency, Babson doubled its
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undergraduate and quadrupled its graduate applicant pool. Several key building and renovation projects during his term include a new graduate center, residence hall, campus center, performing arts center, chapel, center for entrepreneurial studies, and classroom and faculty office space.
For the Glavin Center for Global Entrepreneurial Leadership, endowed chairs created to date will recognize the generosity of: Donald P. Babson, chairman, Babson-United Investment Advisors, Inc.; Paul Fireman, chairman and CEO, Reebok International Ltd., and his wife Phyllis Fireman; Toyota Motor Corporation; Yod Jin Uahwatanasakul, chairman and managing director, Bara, Windsor & Co., Ltd., Thailand; The F.W. Olin Foundation; the Babson College governance chair in honor of William F. Glavin. The Edward A. Madden Distinguished Professorship in Global Leadership, the first fully-endowed distinguished professorship for the Center, was created by Robert E. Madden and his wife Terry Madden in honor of his father.
Faculty leaders holding these chairs will provide expertise in the areas of international economics, marketing, and finance. These faculty will build partnerships throughout the world, introduce entrepreneurial curricula to faculty in schools abroad and help develop internship and study opportunities for students from Babson and partner institutions.
Babson College was founded in 1919 by entrepreneur and financier Roger W. Babson. It grants BS and MBA degrees through its undergraduate program and the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, and offers programs to experienced managers worldwide through the Babson School of Executive Education. Its degree programs are accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
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