Newsroom

CORVALLIS, Ore. - A $1.5 million gift from the estate of William R. and Sara Hart Kimball to the Oregon State University Foundation will expand support for OSU's College of Business, nearly doubling an endowment supporting the dean's position.

The Kimballs established the Sara Hart Kimball Deanship, now held by Ilene Kleinsorge, in 1989.

"Strengthening business programs is a high priority for OSU," said Sabah Randhawa, OSU's provost and executive vice president. "Our College of Business helps meet a critical need for well-educated graduates to compete successfully in a global marketplace and for new economic innovation for the state and nationwide.

"Through the Kimball deanship, we are helping to meet these goals and using the funds in a way that reflects the Kimballs' long-standing interest in the College of Business," he added.

Endowed dean's positions are important resources in higher education, allowing the university to recruit and retain top candidates for key leadership positions. The endowment gives the holder of the position additional funding to meet pressing needs and seize new opportunities, including annual faculty research grants, start-up initiatives, student scholarships and internship programs.

The Kimballs made an initial gift of $1 million to endow the dean's position in the College of Business 17 years ago. At that time, they also made plans to benefit OSU after their lifetimes. With the new gift and earnings on the original gift, the Kimball endowment now totals $3.7 million.

"We are extremely grateful to the Kimballs for their generosity," said Kleinsorge. "Their past gifts have helped the college excel and this latest gift will open up many new exciting opportunities for faculty and students."

William Kimball, who died in June 2005, was the owner of Kimball and Company in San Francisco, which dealt in real estate and other investments. Sara Hart Kimball, a native of Medford, was a 1958 OSU business graduate. She worked at Kimball and Company before retiring and volunteering for a variety of charitable organizations, an interest she shared with her husband. She served on many boards including the OSU Foundation, the Marin Ballet Association and the Harvard Business School Associates. She died in 1998.

When the Kimballs made the initial gift to endow the dean's position, Sara Hart Kimball said, "We feel there is no better investment in the future than education. We support education not only financially, but also as volunteers. Bill and I feel so strongly about the importance of education that we, and mainly I, want to say a huge 'thank you' to Oregon State. We hope this gift will be viewed as a leadership gift, and that many others will experience the enjoyment it gives Bill and me to be able to do this."