News

Florida Atlantic University officially announced today that it has received its largest gift in school history – a $20 million gift from benefactors Kurt and Marilyn Wallach. This transformational gift will create the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Institute for Holocaust and Jewish Studies housed in FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters.

Florida Atlantic University’s Foundation Board of Directors welcomed Raul Valero ’10 in the 2021 fiscal year and Paul Pagnato ’86 and Arlene Fine Klepper in the 2020 fiscal year.  The Foundation Board’s executive committee for the 2021 fiscal year are Steve Schmidt as chair; Brian Poulin as vice-chair, treasurer, and finance committee chair; Phyllis Gladstein as secretary; and Stewart Martin ’89 as immediate past chair.

Florida Atlantic University’s Academy for Community Inclusion (ACI) within the Department of Exceptional Student Education in the College of Education recently received a $1.5 million grant from The Taft Foundation.  FAU’s ACI is a college program for high school graduates who have been diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The program allows students to participate in college activities, clubs, events and organizations that are available to all FAU students. The grant is a continuation of a generous multi-year commitment from The Taft Foundation designated to provide funding for the program’s…

Florida Atlantic University has officially announced a $1.125 million gift from The Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation. The gift will establish the Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation Marine SEA Scholars Program at the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science’s Marine Science Laboratory in the Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex in Boca Raton.

Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters recently announced a $1.125 million gift from FAU benefactor Marleen Forkas to name the Marleen Forkas Studio One Theatre. The theater serves as a production and performance training venue for students, and public events that are held in the theater throughout the year.  This gift significantly expands Mrs. Forkas’ generosity in naming one of the College’s most visible and prominent theater venues that benefits students, faculty, alumni and community patrons now and for generations to come. It will allow for ongoing and significant renovations…

Florida Atlantic University has established the “FAU Cares Emergency Fund” for currently registered, degree-seeking students who are experiencing financial hardship. “More than 65 percent of all FAU students work to put themselves through school,” said FAU President John Kelly. “During these unprecedented times, we want our Owls to know we are here for them.”

The Avron B. Fogelman Sports History Museum, a permanent exhibit featuring artifacts from the former Kansas City Royals owner and longtime Boca Raton resident’s private collection, recently opened in the Schmidt Family Complex for Academic and Athletic Excellence. Part of a donation valued at more than $10 million, the collection is widely considered one of the largest private libraries amassed and owned by an individual.

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science received a $750,000 gift from the GANGALS nonprofit Foundation, Inc. (GnF) to name the Lata and Shiva Gangal Global Innovation Hall in the Engineering East building (platinum LEED certified) on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. Last year, the Gangals also established a $500,000 gift for the “Gangal Family Endowed Scholarship Fund” to support talented students as they prepare for professional careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). In addition to these agreed gifts to the FAU Foundation, the Gangals directly award scholarships to…