Family gives $1 million donation for Kelley School professorship

The Graf family, which includes four generations of IU alumni, gave a $1 million gift Thursday to the Kelley School of Business to endow the Graf Family Professorship.

This is Alan Graf Jr., executive vice president and chief financial officer of FedEx Corp., and his wife Susan’s second major gift to the school. Their first gift of $150,000 came in 2002 for the school’s Godfrey Graduate and Executive Education Center.

“We’ve got a lot of Kelley grads that work at FedEx, which we’re proud of,” said Alan Graf in an IU press release. “I learned a tremendous amount there and was influenced by some really terrific professors.

“The Kelley School is turning out people who are probably 20 times more productive than I was when I graduated. The Kelley School is contributing greatly to improve productivity in corporate America, I can tell you that.”

Graf and his wife decided to make the donation after his father’s death on Easter Sunday of this year.

“I thought now’s as good a time as any to help remember him and other members of my family who were Indiana grads and have now left the Earth, as well as celebrate the fact that I have a daughter who graduated from there and I hope someday to have grandchildren that graduate from Indiana,” Graf said in the release.

“I think leaving a legacy and giving back to a place that gave you so much is important to do. Hopefully, it will help someone as much as I was helped when I was at the Kelley School. ... We’re just really proud to be able to do this and thankful for what Indiana has done for me and my family. It’s an important gift from the heart of the Graf family.”

The Kelley School launched a $60 million capital campaign last year to transform its facilities for undergraduate students; however, Kelley School Dean Dan Smith believes there is a need to attract and retain top teachers, and the Grafs’ gift will aid that endeavor.

“To maintain our world class presence requires three fundamental things: the best students, faculty who are productive scholars and dedicated classroom instructors, and facilities that enable us to support innovative teaching methods,” Smith said in a press release.

— Bailey Loosemore