The Marriott School officially named the Kevin and Debra Rollins Center for eBusiness at Brigham Young University April 7. University and Marriott School faculty and administration, top high-tech business leaders and Elder Henry B. Eyring, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, honored the Rollins family and discussed the future of e-commerce at a special banquet that evening in the Wilkinson Student Center.
“We all participate in this era where the Internet is allowing us to see and do more than any other time,” said Kevin Rollins, vice chair of Dell Computer Corp. and Marriott School alumnus. “We have the responsibility to do much good. We need to create good out of the center, so technologies are used to benefit people’s lives.”
Rollins donated $3 million to create the eBusiness Center, which is positioned to become one of the nation’s leading technology and e-commerce research centers. Rollins challenged other high-tech leaders to contribute to the center.
“We’ve all been blessed with a great degree of wealth at this time,” Rollins said. “What should we do with that wealth? We should build something that creates good, that benefits others.”
BYU President Merrill J. Bateman said every gift to the university brings with it a trust to use the resources to improve people’s lives and fulfill the university’s mission. He stressed the need for the center to partner its research with leading companies in the high-tech industry.
Elder Eyring said, “In the paperless business paradigm that replaces people with electronic processes, our motto should be ‘What will happen to the people?’” The people, Eyring said, should be inspired to use technology to turn the hearts of the people towards doing the Lord’s work.
The new eBusiness center, directed by Marriott School professor J. Owen Cherrington, will foster the study and teaching of how information technology is changing business and management processes. It will serve as an intermediary between the high-tech business sector and the faculty and students at the university—forming new partnerships and undertaking joint research projects. The center will also work to attract and maintain the highest quality faculty and staff, develop new course materials, expand the number of e-commerce classes, and provide students with new employment opportunities, internships, and field study projects.
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Writer: Peter Carr (801) 378-1512