UNCG Receives $3.85 Million Gift from McDowells

A $3.85 million gift from Microsoft Vice President Robert McDowell and his wife Lissa Shelley McDowell will provide support for global information technology, the Weatherspoon Art Museum and enhancing student reading, writing, and speaking skills. The gift has been made through the Students First Campaign.

Two million dollars of the pledge will establish the Bob and Lissa Shelley McDowell Research Center for Global Information Technology Management at the Bryan School of Business and Economics. The center will address business and society-related information technology challenges faced by companies as they expand globally.

“Lissa and I are proud to give this gift to UNCG, a university that is forward-looking in its focus on the importance of technology in the business world,” said Robert McDowell. “At the same time, we were equally impressed by the university’s commitment to critical communication skills. In this competitive world, no student can afford to neglect either skill set.”

As a couple, they have a unique perspective – Lissa is an alumna who has never lost her love for this campus and Bob is a businessman operating on an international level who can appreciate the vision that is transforming UNCG.

The McDowell gift will allow UNCG to greatly expand its information technology program by establishing the nation’s first center to investigate the international applications of information technology. “Through the gift, experts from around the globe will gather at UNCG to explore new ways to use technology for business and scientific endeavors,” said Dr. Prashant Palvia, MBA professor and PhD program director in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management at the Bryan School.

As vice president for Information Worker Business Value at Microsoft Corporation, McDowell travels the world to recruit the best talent for Microsoft. McDowell delivered the keynote address during last year’s UNCG Corporate Expo, which brought together top level business leaders from across North Carolina. At that time he said, “The quality of education between the U.S. and the rest of the world is closing. We either succeed globally or we die.”

-March 2007