Alumnus donates $5 million to Loras

Early last week, President Jim Collins announced that Loras had received one of its biggest single-handed donations of all time. Bill Miller donated a $5 million cash gift to the college in loving memory of his wife, JoAnne, who passed away this past December. “Bill Miller is a very generous and humble soul who really did make the gift because he was grateful for what Loras Academy and Dubuque has been for him and his family. Also, the role that Loras College has played with both retaining the affiliation with the academy, and all of its graduates, but also what Loras has done for the community. He's pretty excited about giving students an opportunity to access a place like Loras, and be able to navigate the professional world in the way in which he did so successfully. It’s sad that his wife had passed away this last December, but they were such a great team and such great partners together for a long, long time. He really wanted to do this in a way that was near and dear to him, so that he could honor her response.” President Collins said. An extremely generous gift such as this will most definitely have a positive impact on Loras as a whole. With many project and renovations soon to come, the donation was extremely welcomed and appreciated by the college. “Well I think it's so impactful because I know we have so many needs here at Loras, just like so many colleges and universities. Knowing that we were just coming off a relatively successful campaign and had the opportunity to increase the amount of financially rewarding students, while simultaneously doing a better job of resourcing some of our academic programs and Faculty and staff. It reminds you that we're so grateful to have done all that, but we still have more needs that we have to address. So this donation is kind of like another boost in the arm where we're able to finish off a couple of key projects that we're in the midst of pursuing, and then simultaneously address another strategic goal of building the multimedia center. It's really exciting and I think a couple of things that it does is that it reinstalls the pride that everybody has at Loras and mobilizes everyone. I look for good days ahead from this gift.” President Collins said. A gift such as this says a lot about the Loras community and all of the great things the college is looking to achieve. President Collins has high hopes for what the donation means to Loras and hopes that has a greater impact than simply just an extremely generous gift. “Well I think it says that we're worth investment. I think that there are so many people who often just say, 'oh, I went to this little place in a little town in a little state that nobody's ever heard of', but when you start to hear about the kind of successes that Loras has had, whether it's around our Catholic mission or whether it's around our curricular efforts or our core curricular efforts, I think people are just stunned by how this little place is having widespread national and worldwide success. People take a step back and say, 'there's some impressive things happening.'”