Funds to benefit Gatton College, first-generation student scholarships, Student Center
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 10, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees accepted three major gifts to the university during its meeting Tuesday. One will help fund the renovation and expansion of the Gatton College of Business and Economics; another is being used for scholarships for first-generation students; and the third is a previously announced gift for the renovation and expansion of the Student Center.
The board officially accepted the $20 million pledge that C.M. “Bill” Gatton announced in September for the UK Student Center capital construction project. Gatton, a UK alumnus and trustee, is the single largest donor in the university’s history. His gifts exceed $45 million, with an impact of nearly $57 million because some of his gifts were matched by the state’s “Bucks for Brains” program. UK’s College of Business and Economics is named in his honor.
Financier and UK alumnus William E. Seale’s pledge of $5 million was accepted, bringing his total gift to the Gatton College’s renovation and expansion to $10 million. With this funding the college will honor Seale with the William E. Seale Finance Learning Center — a technologically advanced classroom that simulates a real trading environment with digital displays and real-time financial and stock market information.
Seale, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and master’s and doctoral degrees in agricultural economics from UK, has more than 30 years of experience in the financial markets. He was a commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a professor and chairman of the Finance Department at George Washington University; vice president for government relations of the Commodity Exchange; and member of the Board of Managers of the New York Cotton Exchange. In 1997 he helped found the ProFunds Group mutual funds provider.
The UK Board of Trustees also accepted a gift of $984,500 from Carl F. Pollard of Louisville, and a charitable grant of $200,000 from the C.F. Pollard Foundation to provide additional endowed funds for the Carl. F. Pollard Scholarship Fund.
Pollard, who earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce from UK in 1960 and went on to excel in careers with Humana and Columbia Healthcare Corporation, established the scholarship fund in 1994 to support first-generation college students with first preference given to children of full-time thoroughbred horse farm workers employed in Kentucky. Pollard, a life-long horse racing enthusiast and horse farm owner, was chairman of Churchill Downs from 2001-2011.
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