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Record Gift to UW Tacoma Creates Milgard School of Business

Tacoma residents Gary and Jim Milgard grew the family company into a national leader in the production and manufacture of residential windows. Now the brothers behind Milgard Manufacturing are creating opportunities for UW Tacoma business students to receive a world-class education in their own backyard.

A $15 million gift from Gary E. Milgard, James A. Milgard and the Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation, announced in June creates the Milgard School of Business at UW Tacoma. The gift will endow the school's leadership position, create a Center for Corporate Leadership and Social Responsibility and a Center for Information-Based Management, and establish an endowed scholarship program.

"An enhanced business school will help fuel the region's economy and give people greater access to educational programs that transform the lives of individuals and through them their communities," says UW Tacoma Chancellor Vicky Carwein. "The Milgards are creating a legacy that will grow through generations to come."

The brothers see their philanthropy as a fitting expression of gratitude toward their community. "We grew up in Tacoma, and our business has enjoyed great success here," says Jim. "This gift, because it is an endowment, will allow us to contribute in perpetuity to the economic vitality of our community and to the lives of future graduates."

Gary Milgard agrees that the gift will help revitalize the area economy, saying, "We can think of no better way to contribute to the Greater Tacoma region than to fund these centers and the school of business."

The gift, the largest ever to UW Tacoma and one of the largest to the University of Washington, continues a history of generosity that has enhanced UW Tacoma immensely. Gary's support was critical to the private-public partnership that enabled the UW Tacoma Institute of Technology to open earlier this year, and gifts from him and his wife, Carol, have provided scholarship and program support since the institution's beginnings in 1990. Gary also is a member of the UW Tacoma Advisory Board.

Gary's leadership extends to the Seattle campus as well, where he serves on the UW Business School Advisory Board, contributing insight and expertise to the board's makeup of prominent area business professionals.

The UW Tacoma business program was established in 1993 with an initial enrollment of 40 students. Today, more than 400 undergraduates and 50 graduate students select from eight areas of concentration, from accounting to international business.


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