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Historic donation a “game changer” for ACU

Abilene Christian University is receiving a donation of more than $29 million, the single largest gift in the school’s history. The gift comes through the estate of the late Bill and Janie Dukes. Bill passed away in 2015 and Janie passed away in June of this year.

The couple’s connection to ACU lies within their friendships with two former deans of ACU’s College of Business Administration, Jack Griggs and Bill Petty. This gift will specifically benefit ACU’s finance department, as Bill taught for 45 years in the finance department at Texas Tech University.

Phil Schubert, President of Abilene Christian University, says a gift of this size is transformational and will position ACU’s school of finance to be a premiere school of finance across the country, “These don’t happen often and this will, at least among the landscape of higher education, be worthy of national news. $29 and $30 million gifts are few and far between and so it’s really, it’s a game changer.”

ACU will use the funds to establish the Doctor William P. and Janie B. Dukes Excellence in Finance Endowment, as well as the Dukes School of Finance in the College of Business Administration in 2023.