The Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation has announced a gift of $2.5 million to support a new building that will be home to experiential learning programming at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. This gift adds to the $4 million-plus previously given by the foundation to the Huntsman School to support programs aimed at preparing students with the skills to operate in the business environment. The new building will be located adjacent to the School of Business campus in Logan.
“Our family is committed to advancing these important initiatives because we believe education unlocks doors and enriches lives,” said Gail Miller, chairman of the Miller Family Foundation. “We are grateful for our partnership with Utah State University and the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business and look forward to seeing the advancements in our communities that result from these experiential learning opportunities.”
“We have made a conscious effort of putting students and their success as our top priority. We know experiential learning, or learning by doing, works, and it will be our focus over the coming decade,” said Huntsman School Dean Douglas Anderson. “Over the past decade and more, we have invested significant resources to recruit world-class faculty, build a world-class facility, and worked hard at refining and improving the curriculum our students learn in the classroom. We have also been developing a lot of our own hands-on, outside-the-classroom learning experiences.”
Anderson said that with this donation, the Huntsman School will invest in existing experiential learning programming and add opportunities to allow all Huntsman students to participate in meaningful and relevant learning in and out of the classroom.
The new building will house Huntsman’s expanding experiential learning programs and create room for new initiatives, like a program aimed at supporting female students and a new Analytics Solutions Center. It will also include professional co-working space for student use for remote internships or other needs. The building is a part of a campaign to increase experiential learning opportunities across the school.