Wells College has received a significant contribution from a member of its alumni that will help further its new business program.
Pike and Susan Wray Sullivan contributed $5 million to the school based in Aurora for a new business center named the Susan Wray Sullivan and Pike H. Sullivan Center for Business and Entrepreneurship.
The college received the gift on Friday, according to a news release.
Susan Wray Sullivan is a 1951 graduate of Wells College.
In a recent speech announcing the gift, Wells College President Lisa Ryerson thanked the Sullivans for their contribution.
“As Wells College offered a transformational experience for Sue, she and Pike have in turn made a course-altering commitment to Wells,” Ryerson said. “With the Sullivans’ gift, the college will have the funding, in perpetuity, to assure that the Center for Business and Entrepreneurship develops and thrives.”
Of the $5 million, $4.5 million will provide an endowment for annual funding to support the business center’s operations and staff. The remaining $500,000 will be used for start-up expenses for the first two years’ of the center’s existence.
Susan Wray Sullivan is happy that she could give back and support her alma mater.
“The new Center for Business and Entrepreneurship will offer extraordinary opportunities for students at Wells, and I’m delighted that we can help make that possible,” Sullivan said. “Pike and I are thrilled to support Wells College, which long ago offered me the gift of a very special educational experience that made an enormous difference in my life. I remain deeply connected to my classmates and enthusiastic about Wells’ future.”
