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Foundation Building renamed

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Ira A. Fulton speaks at the renaming ceremony of the ASU Foundation Building Tuesday morning. The building will be named in honor of Fulton, the University's largest contributor.

The blaring brass of the ASU marching band, cheerleaders waving pom-poms and Sparky helped celebrate the renaming of the ASU Foundation Building Tuesday in honor of ASU's most generous donor.

The ceremony for the name change of the Foundation Building to the ASU Fulton Center drew a crowd of about 400 University administrators and Valley leaders.

Ira Jackson, president of the ASU Foundation, said the renaming acknowledges the contributions of money and time Ira A. Fulton and his wife, Mary Lou, have made to the University.

"Their generosity to ASU is transformational," Jackson said.

Ira Fulton is the chairman and chief executive officer of Fulton Homes, a major Valley homebuilder. He and his wife both attended ASU.

The ASU Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization responsible for attracting donors to ASU and managing and distributing donations.

The six-story ASU Fulton Center houses offices for ASU administrators, including the president's office, and offices for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

"This is the intellectual and institutional lighthouse of ASU," Jackson added.

ASU President Michael Crow said the Fultons have given

$168 million to the University, making them ASU's largest donors.

The next-largest gift was William Carey's $50 million donation in 2003 to what is now the W.P. Carey School of Business, Crow said.

This money is part of why Fulton is a Valley role model when it comes to helping ASU, but it's not the only reason, he added.

"It's not about the money," Crow added. "It's about the example."

Ira Fulton is also on the foundation's board of directors, and chairs its development committee, said Craig Weatherup, chairman of the ASU Foundation Board of Trustees.

Crow said large donations like the Fultons' are necessary due to a lack of state funding.

"No university in this country has ever been built by taxpayers," he said.

The money is necessary to invest in new projects and initiatives ASU needs to improve the quality of its education and attract more students, Crow said.

But Ira Fulton said he never tells ASU how to use his family's money.

He said he asks the University what it needs to move forward.

"It is the purest form of commitment to the institution," Crow said.

The Fultons' latest pledge was $100 million, given in December. The money was divided among the College of Education, the ASU Foundation and a $25 million strategic venture capital-like fund that the president can distribute as he chooses, according to an ASU press release.

Uses of the $25 million fund have yet to be determined, Crow said.

The College of Education will also be renamed the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education in May, he added.

This move honors Mary Lou Fulton's commitment to promoting education and her graduation from that school, Crow said.

The Fultons have also given $72 million to Brigham Young University, said Carri Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the University. BYU is a private university in Provo, Utah, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

That makes Fulton one of BYU's largest donors, Jenkins added.

"I got my church university and I got my state university," Ira Fulton said.

Aerospace engineering junior Melissa Bryant said the renaming of the Foundation Building was unnecessary with the Fultons' name being imprinted on other schools.

"Honestly, they should just name [ASU] the Ira A. Fulton University," Bryant said. "I bet in 10 years, they'll pretty much own the place."

She added she didn't notice any changes from the donation to the engineering school, except for perks like new pencils.

"I don't think people know how it benefits students," she said.

Political science senior Adam Toronto said he thought the Fulton Center should have kept its old name.

But he added donating so much money was an admirable way for the Fultons to help future students at the University they once attended.

"I think they're very generous," he said.

Reach the reporter at grayson.steinberg@asu.edu.


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