A North Texas school has received its largest gift ever. Texas Woman’s University is returning the favor - by naming a new campus building after the donor.
Mary Stanton never envisioned it. Not when she was a full-time divorced mom - and full time student - at TWU.
“I didn't even think that far,” said Stanton. “I was just trying to make it through the next day."
But on Friday, the Frisco businesswoman stood before trustees – after giving her alma mater a ten-million-dollar gift.
“I wouldn't be where I am today,” she said. “If I hadn't had my degree."
On the TWU campus in Denton, a new residence hall is being built, the first since 2005. A building the school will name Mary L.A. Stanton Hall, or “Mary's Hall" -after the woman who just gave the largest gift in the school's 117 year history.
“This is incredibly powerful,” said Carine Feyten, TWU chancellor. “And the fact that it came from an alum is amazing."
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Stanton received her bachelor's degree in business in 1989. She credits her TWU accounting classes, her professors, and hard work, for her becoming a successful businesswoman.
“It's extremely important,” she said. “It helps people strive to be the best that they can be."
“It sends a message to our students that if you work hard, you too can be successful,” said Feyten.
Stanton notes that on college campuses, it is rare to see a woman's name on a building. When students see her name, she hopes to serve as a role model.
“Ninety-nine percent of them will never meet me or know me, and that's fine,” she said. “But they're going to know that a woman was successful."
A woman who is giving back to a school that still means so much.
