Haslam College Of Business To Receive Bulk Of The Largest Gift In U Of Tennessee History

Haslam College of Business

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has landed a $130 million commitment from alumni Dee and Jimmy Haslam, the largest donation in the institution’s history, with $100 million of it headed directly to the Haslam College of Business.

The business school gift will fund distinguished faculty recruitment, graduate student scholarships, and the expansion of its undergraduate honors program. The college enrolls more than 30% of UT’s total undergraduate population, making it the largest college on campus by that measure.

The remaining $30 million will go toward a campus-wide faculty recruitment initiative across academic disciplines.

AMONG THE LARGEST B-SCHOOL GIFTS IN YEARS

“The university is experiencing extraordinary momentum, and we are proud to help elevate its national reputation, attract world-class faculty and support the next generation of leaders,” the Haslams said in a joint statement.

The gift places Haslam among a group of B-schools that have attracted nine-figure commitments in recent years. David Booth’s $300 million gift to Chicago Booth in 2008 remains the largest ever made to a business school, followed by Stephen Ross’ $250 million commitment to Michigan’s Ross School of Business. More recently, the dollar figures have been lower but still hugely significant: Wharton’s largest-ever single gift, a $60 million commitment announced in September 2025, secured a spot on what Poets&Quants described as “an exclusive but growing list of business school gifts of at least $50 million” (see table below). The University of Delaware’s Lerner College received a $71.5 million gift in March 2025, and just last month the University of Guelph’s Lang School landed what was described as the largest gift ever made to a Canadian business school.

At $100 million directed to the business school alone, the Haslam gift is among the largest to any B-school in the past decade.

FACULTY, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND STUDENT SUCCESS

Dee Haslam, an Emmy Award-winning television producer, graduated from UT in 1986. Jimmy Haslam built Pilot Corporation into the largest travel center company in the United States before stepping back as CEO in 2020. The two are currently managing partners of Haslam Sports Group, which owns the Cleveland Browns and holds a controlling interest in the Milwaukee Bucks, among other franchises.

Dean Stephen L. Mangum, who leads the college that bears the family’s name, said the investment would deepen the B-school’s ability to recruit top students and faculty. The gift builds on the Haslams’ prior philanthropy at UT, bringing their lifetime giving to the university to more than $195 million. The couple funded the endowment that led to Haslam College of Business becoming UT’s first named college.

Chancellor Donde Plowman credited the gift with helping fuel the university’s ambitions beyond Tennessee’s borders. Since 2019, UT’s first-year student retention rate has climbed six percentage points to 92.4%, and the number of graduates has grown by 40%.

DON’T MISS LARGEST-EVER GIFT TO A CANADIAN B-SCHOOL GOES TO GUELPH’S LANG SCHOOL

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