Chapman Receives $3-Million Donation From Foundation

Chapman University has received its largest endowment gift ever, $3 million from the A. Gary Anderson Family Foundation, that will go toward economic analysis programs at the School of Business.

The gift announced Friday is directed at the Center for Economic Research, which will be renamed the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research. Its director, Esmael Adibi, will hold the A. Gary Anderson Chair in Economic Analysis.

The gift from the foundation, established in 1992 in honor of its late namesake, a Riverside financier, is twice as large as the college’s previous top endowment donations. They were separate $1.5-million gifts received in 1995 that went toward the study and analysis of entrepreneurship and international business.

The gift also drives the private university’s total endowment to just over $50 million, up from $30 million five years ago, said Chapman President James L. Doti.

The economic research center is part of the business school, for which $11.4 million is being raised to construct a new building. The school shares quarters with the education department in cramped 79-year-old Reeves Hall.

Doti said $9.2 million has been raised for the new building and he hopes to see the rest of the money by April. A companion campaign to raise $4 million for business school endowments has reached $6.4 million with the Anderson gift, he said.

“The gift is quite significant in that funds will be available in perpetuity to fund the center’s operation,” Doti said. “Now that additional funding is in place, it means we will be able to not only expand the center research effort but make it possible for the center to remain in the forefront of urban and region analysis.”

Established in 1978, the center provides economic forecasts for the nation, Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties, and the Inland Empire, based on housing, taxable sales, interest rates and unemployment trends. The business school has about 600 students and 20 faculty members.