Auburn gets $57 million gift, kicks off fundraising campaign

AUBURN, AL (WSFA) - Two Auburn University graduates have given the university its largest gift in school history.

Before Saturday's A-Day football game, John and Rosemary Brown committed $57 million to the university to fund two new facilities -- a new performing arts center and a student achievement center in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.

The couple graduated from Auburn in 1957. John Brown was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Stryker Corporation, a medical device company. Rosemary Brown retired after teaching math for almost 30 years.

The university also announced a $1 billion fundraising campaign called "Because This is Auburn."

"The 'Because This is Auburn' campaign will support four major areas across the university," according to a news release from the university. "Auburn's goal is to create thousands of new scholarships for students, to endow more than 100 new chairs and professorships for educators and researchers, to develop programs that will allow the Auburn Family to connect with people everywhere, and to build new facilities and reimagine existing campus facilities."

The university has already raised more than $775 million for the campaign.

Auburn has named seven co-chairs for the campaign: Joe and Gayle Forehand, residents of Dallas, Texas; Raymond and Kathryn Harbert, residents of Birmingham; Wayne and Cheryl Smith, residents of Nashville, TN; and Beth Thorne Stukes, who resides in Jasper.

More information about the campaign can be found at because.auburn.edu.

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