Prime Highlights-
- The University of Dubuque will rename its School of Business the Robert W. Plaster School of Business in honor of a seven-figure gift from the Robert W. Plaster Foundation, which will also help build the university’s new innovation center.
- The school will move from several campus locations to the third floor of the Chlapaty Center for Innovation, where students will work alongside faculty, alumni and industry partners.
Key Facts-
- The center has five floors and 87,000 square feet.
- The campaign goal is $150 million.
Background-
The University of Dubuque will rename its School of Business the Robert W. Plaster School of Business after receiving a seven-figure gift from the Robert W. Plaster Foundation.
The school will also leave its scattered campus locations and move to the third floor of the Chlapaty Center for Innovation. The new building will house business classrooms, faculty offices, open spaces where students can develop ideas and flexible rooms for mentoring and visits from industry professionals.
The gift will help fund construction of the five-story, 87,000-square-foot center on McCormick Street. Most of the building will serve students from every major, with metalworking and woodworking areas, 3D printing, a culinary suite, digital media studios and a rooftop garden.
University president Travis Frampton thanked the foundation and said the gift does more than put a name on a school. He called it a shared commitment to the future of student learning. Foundation president Dolly Clement said Robert W. Plaster believed in education and free enterprise as tools for opportunity.
Plaster grew up in southwest Missouri, the son of a carpenter, and went to work because he could not afford college. He founded Empire Gas Corporation, later one of the country’s largest retail propane distributors, and started more than 500 companies. His foundation funds capital projects at colleges and universities. The gift supports the university’s $150 million Momentum Campaign.
