The
University of Tampa formally renamed its college of business after benefactor
John H. Sykes and opened a high-tech college of business building, during a
ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 7. on the steps of Tampa's old
municipal center, the former McKay Auditorium.
During its last meeting of the academic year, last May, the UT Board of
Trustees voted to name the college after Sykes in honor of his commitment to
higher education and his gift of $38 million to the University during the last
three years. John Sykes is chairman of Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated, a
Tampa-based information technology company.
The $10-million, 80,000-sqaure-foot high-tech business building, crafted from
the shell of the former auditorium, has changed forever the way business is
taught at UT, and has put the University’s college of business light-years ahead
of most other business schools.
Sykes's first gift of $10 million came in September 1997. It was earmarked
for the conversion of McKay Auditorium ($7.5 million) endowment of the Center
for Ethics ($1 million) and construction of a chapel and intercultural center
($1.5 million) still to be built.
A second gift of $28 million in January of this year from John and Susan
Sykes is being used to build the new nine-story, 450-bed Ronald L. Vaughn
Residence Hall and Student Center, to be completed in fall 2001.
For more information, contact the Office of Public
Information at publicinfo@ut.edu.