Stephen Jenkins, a 1996 MBA graduate of Brigham Young University’s Marriott School, and his wife, Kay-dawn, have contributed half a million dollars to fund a professorship and several scholarships at the school.
The Jenkins’ donation will benefit both faculty and students by funding a $300,000 professorship and four student scholarships totaling $175,000. The Jenkins named two of the scholarships after their children, Brooklyn and Chandler. The couple also donated the remaining $25,000 to the Marriott School Dean’s Annual Fund, where other university donors matched the contribution two-to-one.
“The professorship is designed to assist professors dedicated to teaching students how to utilize the latest business technology,” Stephen Jenkins said. “The odds are really against you when you start a business.We want to help students with an interest in entrepreneurship and technology learn what it takes to be successful.”
While a student at the Marriott School, Jenkins was honored as the student entrepreneur of the year in 1996 and has since been appointed to the board of directors of the Marriott School’s Entrepreneur Founders.
Jenkins launched and ran two businesses, WinFiles.com and Vservers.com, while he was a student, and said he owes much of his success to the one-on-one guidance he received from several professors.
“My professors were tremendous assets,” Jenkins said. “If I ever ran into a problem with one of my businesses, I would take it to one of my professors, and they would help me find a solution.”
He has since sold the two businesses he started at BYU and is onto his third venture. Jenkins and his partners launched CheatCodes.com — a video-game information resource — this week and are excited about the potential.
“It’s particularly gratifying to see a youthful entrepreneur have such great success and then turn around and help others do the same,” said Donald H. Livingstone, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship. “Steve is a great example of what the center is all about.”
Jenkins said he is grateful for the opportunity to give something back to a program that taught him the skills and offered him the support he needed to succeed.
Donations sent to the Marriott School Dean’s Annual Fund before 31 December 2001, may qualify for matching or double matching funds. More information is available from Ron Seamons at ron_seamons@byu.eduor at (801) 378-3801.
The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally and internationally ranked programs in accountancy, business management, information systems, public management, organizational behavior and entrepreneurship. The mission of the Marriott School is to educate men and women of faith, character and professional ability who will become outstanding managers and leaders throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School's graduate and undergraduate programs.
_
Writer: S. Wade Hansen (801) 378-1512
