It’s a rare distinction for one family to claim three generations of alumni of Stanford GSB. It’s rarer still for one family to celebrate that legacy by building an intellectual home for generations of students and scholars to come. For members of the McCoy family, pride in their alma mater—and the value they place on their decades of experiences at Stanford GSB— is reinforced by the confidence they demonstrate in the vision for the school’s future.
From left: John T. McCoy, MBA ’05; John G. McCoy, MBA ’37; and John B. McCoy, MBA ’67
John G. McCoy, MBA ’37, and John B. McCoy, MBA ’67, recently committed $4 million toward the McCoy Family GSB Building Fund as early investors in the school’s efforts to construct new state-of-the-art facilities to replace the current outmoded campus buildings. Representing the third generation of his family, John T. McCoy graduated from the school in 2005.
John B. McCoy says his family’s gift is a reflection of its gratitude to the business school. “The Stanford GSB has made a meaningful difference to all of the McCoys. It gave us an education and a perspective on life that has contributed to our success,” he says. “Life is all about payback. We believe that this gift is one way to pay back what Stanford gave us.”
The McCoys believed it was important to invest in the future of the school and the many ways the new campus will enhance management education. “Over the 60-plus years that the McCoys have attended the school, Stanford GSB has gone through many changes. Its success is based on keeping up with the world,” John G. McCoy says. “Change is good—we look forward to the new Stanford GSB.”
The necessity for a new campus is clear—it is a crucial element in enabling the school to move forward with its strategic direction, which demands very different facilities from those that exist today.
The new campus will allow the school to better implement the dramatic changes that are already under way with its curriculum redesign. It will accommodate a greater variety of teaching and learning methods, including more experiential, seminar-based, and team-oriented learning opportunities in addition to traditional amphitheater-style lectures. Thoughtful design also will foster greater collaboration within Stanford GSB, with the global business community, and between the school and other schools and departments at Stanford. It also will demonstrate the school’s leadership in building a green campus that exemplifies environmental sustainability.
The generosity of the McCoys is a great legacy that honors what the school has meant to them as individuals and as a family,” says Dean Robert L. Joss. “It’s also a wonderful testament to the excitement at Stanford GSB right now as we build the future of the school, quite literally, and set a new bar for what a business school can and should be doing to educate leaders for this new century.”
With the new campus, the school will address a number of current facilities-related challenges that risk putting Stanford GSB at a competitive disadvantage relative to other top business schools— an insufficient number of classrooms, substandard average classroom size, energy inefficiency, a limited-capacity auditorium that cannot hold an entire MBA class, and unrealized potential for indoor/outdoor integration.
Currently in the early design phase, the new campus will be known as the Knight Management Center in recognition of a leadership gift from Philip H. Knight, MBA ’62. It will be constructed on the site directly opposite the Schwab Residential Center on Serra Street. Plans call for additional approval phases by the Stanford University Board of Trustees throughout the coming year, culminating in an anticipated groundbreaking in summer 2008.
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