| University of Florida Foundation, Inc. | |
| Christopher Brazda | 352-392-1633 |
| Public Relations | 100 NW 20th St |
| cbrazda@uff.ufl.edu | Gainesville, FL 32603 |
| For immediate release | Monday, December 18, 2006 |
UF’S BUSINESS SCHOOL GATORNEST PROGRAM RECEIVES $105K GIFT FROM DOW ELECTRONICS
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Graduate students from the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida will get a chance to experience business in the real world.
A $105,000 donation made by Dow Electronics will create the Philip A. Decker GatorNest Endowment Fund in memory of Philip A. Decker, entrepreneur and founder of Dow Electronics, a supplier of signal reception and signal distribution equipment based in Tampa, Fla.
The gift will benefit the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s (CEI) GatorNest program at the college. The program provides a hands-on learning experience for graduate students who want to make a difference with a real company. Students work in a team to conduct research, analyze and formalize a solution, and write a full report for a real issue facing the business world.
“When I heard about the CEI GatorNest program it really clicked,” said Chip Yodzis, president and CEO of Dow Electronics. “Phil was the consummate entrepreneur and it made sense to go ahead with this project.”
The gift is eligible to receive state matching funds from the State of Florida Trust Fund for
Major Gifts bringing the total endowment to $150,000. The fund will help provide aid for the expenses of GatorNest projects. One example of needed support is to provide funds for the teams to travel to the location of a GatorNest company.
“We often times want to take field trips since we have projects all over Florida and the
World,” said Ted Astleford, assistant director for Experiential Learning Programs at the Warrington College of Business. “But since current funding for this program is not enough to support trips, this endowment will very much help us expand the student’s experience and we are very appreciative.”
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