Summer 2007

Boyles Donate $5 Million

Gift Supports Business, Journalism, Design

Future Oregon entrepreneurs will be better prepared to launch a successful business in a global marketplace, thanks to a $5 million gift to the University of Oregon from Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle and his wife, Mary. The Boyles’ gift will help the university turn its New Venture Championship (NVC) student business plan competition into the world’s first with an Asian focus and take steps to launch what would be Oregon’s first comprehensive product design initiative.

The gift includes $3.5 million for the New Venture Championship, which is already one of the top three in the country. The funds will be divided between the Lundquist College of Business, which runs the competition, and the School of Journalism and Communication, whose students market the annual contest. The remaining $1.5 million of the gift will go to the School of Architecture and Allied Arts to plan and implement a proposed multidisciplinary program in product design and material studies.

“The Boyles’ generosity will help our students learn to develop strong collaborative business teams whose visions extend across borders,” said UO President Dave Frohnmayer. “Tim has demonstrated through his own business success the importance of a cooperative and global outlook, and now he and Mary are making it possible for future entrepreneurs to adopt an even broader perspective.”

The gift will enable the Lundquist college to realize its goal of attracting at least half the entrants in the New Venture Championship from Asian countries, said Randy Swangard, managing director of the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship. This will further the Lundquist college’s Engaging China Initiative and the university’s East Asia Initiative—both aimed at increasing students’ cultural literacy, boosting student and faculty exchange programs, and developing the university as a key resource on East Asia for Oregon businesses, government officials, and cultural organizations.

The gift also will help increase the total prize money for the annual competition and improve marketing efforts to raise global awareness about the competition, Swangard said.

The university started the New Venture Championship in 1992 with three student teams competing for $300 in cash prizes. An initial gift from the Boyles in 2001 helped boost the prize money and the number of entrants and initiated a collaboration between the Lundquist college and the journalism school to market the event.

The proposed new product design initiative in the School of Architecture and Allied Arts will combine courses in the humanities, business, art, and architecture with specific course work in product design.

Tim Boyle is vice chair of Campaign Oregon: Tranforming Lives.