John Brown University today announced a $300,000 gift from the Soderquist Family Foundation to support several new initiatives at JBU’s Donald G. Soderquist College of Business. The gift will establish a Strategic Initiatives and Innovation Fund for the college.

“These resources will enable faculty and students in the Soderquist College of Business to continue to improve the quality of our program by developing new academic specialties within the College,” said Dr. Chip Pollard, JBU president. “We are so grateful to the Soderquist Foundation for its generous and faithful support of the College of Business and so many other projects at JBU.”

The Strategic Initiatives and Innovation Fund will support the development of new graduate and undergraduate programs like retail analytics and entrepreneurial studies. This fund will also support business faculty research and development.

“The Soderquist College of Business has been eager to launch new innovations for the past few years,” said Joe Walenciak, dean of the College of Business. “This great gift from the Soderquist Family Foundation will allow us to move forward on exciting innovations that will equip our students with the best business education in the state.”

The gift is part of John Brown University’s Campaign for the Next Century: A Hope and Future. JBU has currently raised over $58 million toward the campaign’s $125 million goal. The Campaign for the Next Century is scheduled to end on JBU’s centennial in 2019.