$30 million new gift from Gary and Kathleen Rollins to business school follows their earlier $40 million donation

Led by a $30 million gift for expanding the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s business school, UTC raised a record giving amount of more than $60 million over the past 12 months.

“We have a big vision to go out and talk about,” Kim White, UTC’s vice chancellor of advancement, said in an interview. “It has been an incredible year.”

The new $30 million gift was from Gary and Kathleen Rollins, and that gift followed a $40 million earlier donation by the Rollin.

The latest gift will be coupled with $66.4 million in state funds for expansion of the college of business, which was earlier named after Gary Rollins.

The new record in the 2024 fiscal year that ended June 30 compares to $13.9 million in the prior 12-month period, according to White, who joined UTC’s leadership team in 2021.

White said this past year was also bolstered by an $8 million gift from the locally based Kennedy Foundation. That gift was the largest in the UTC School of Nursing’s history.

Work is expected to start later this year on a health sciences building that will serve as the nursing school’s new home.

Amy Donahue, UTC’s assistant vice chancellor of communication and constituent relations, said the Rollins and Kennedy gifts are “incredibly important.”

Still, she said that while not many people can give those figures, people want to support the university.

Donahue cited “Mocs Give Day,” held last October, that raised more than $1.7 million from 2,131 donors, making it the most successful such event to date.

“Most of the gifts were for less than $100,” she said.

That effort was recognized by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, a first for UTC, Donahue said.

Also hitting a record mark over the past 12 months was more than $1 million for the Mocs Club, which is the athletic department’s annual priority fund, according to the officials.

In addition, a campaign for women’s athletics raised $225,000 with 72 donors and created a new endowed scholarship for a female UTC student-athlete, they said.

“A lot of times, athletics is the front door,” White said.

Total donors for the university in the past year grew 11% from the prior 12-month period, figures show. New donors were up 47%, the officials said.

White said her staff is especially talking with donors about the needs of students. She said, for example, staff members are discussing the importance of the nursing school filling needs in the city.

Work on the business school expansion is slated to start in February and finish in 2028, Donahue said.

The $40 million gift by Gary Rollins and his wife was the largest ever to UTC and used to pay for capital renovations, student scholarships and more faculty.