Ingrams donate $5 million to establish engineering school at Texas State

Date of Release: 11/30/2006

Mr. and Mrs. IngramBruce and Gloria IngramSAN MARCOS — Bruce and Gloria Ingram of New Braunfels have donated $5 million to Texas State University-San Marcos to establish a school of engineering.

The new school will be named the Bruce and Gloria Ingram School of Engineering in honor of the Ingrams.

The gift was announced at a news conference held Thursday, Nov. 30, on the Texas State campus.

"We are enormously grateful to the Ingrams for their generosity," said Texas State President Denise M. Trauth. "This is a transformational gift for the university. It will allow us to expand and greatly enhance our engineering curriculum and it will help us serve a vital mission - providing more engineers for the Texas workforce."

Bruce Ingram is the founder of Ingram Readymix, a manufacturer of concrete products that operates 26 concrete plants in 22 Texas cities. It was founded in 1957. The Ingrams have been married for 48 years. They moved to San Marcos from Pearsall, Texas, in 1970 and relocated to Comal County in 2004.

"We chose to contribute to Texas State in an effort to support the San Marcos community where we lived for 34 years. Texas State is a wonderful university and we believe its engineering programs have a bright future. We are happy to be able to help. Our contribution is given in appreciation of all the support we have received from many friends over the years," said Bruce Ingram.

The gift will:

* Establish the Bruce and Gloria Ingram Chair in Engineering ($2 million).
* Endow two professorships to be named the Bruce and Gloria Ingram Professorships ($1.2 million).
* Endow the Bruce and Gloria Ingram Merit Based Endowed Scholarships ($500,000).
* Endow need-based scholarships to be named the Bruce and Gloria Ingram Endowed Scholarships ($500,000).
* Endow the Burce and Gloria Ingram Faculty Development Endowment ($600,000).
* Fund program development ($200,000).

Bruce and Gloria Ingram have four children: Elizabeth Tuttle, Bruce Ingram Jr., Sue Bushong and Earl Ingram. They have 12 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Texas State began offering a program in engineering technology in 1989, followed by manufacturing engineering in 2000 and industrial engineering in 2004. It plans to begin offering a curriculum in electrical engineering in 2007.

Engineering programs were offered through the Department of Technology before it was renamed the Department of Engineering and Technology in 2005. The two entities will now become the Bruce and Gloria Ingram School of Engineering and the Department of Technology. Both are part of the Texas State College of Science.

A national search for the director of the Bruce and Gloria Ingram School of Engineering will begin immediately.

Bruce Ingram served in the Sea Bees in the U.S. Navy and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Texas Aggregate and Concrete Association. He currently serves on the advisory board of Frost Bank. Gloria Ingram is a longtime community volunteer. Both are members of the Methodist Church.