Notre Dame received its largest gift ever -- $50 million from
the estate of Joan B. Kroc to bolster the peace studies institute
on campus that bears her name.
The bequest from the widow of McDonald's Corp. founder Ray Kroc
was announced shortly after Mrs. Kroc's death in October, 2003,
at age 75.
Mrs. Kroc became acquainted with Notre Dame in the mid-1980s
when she attended an event in San Diego at which then-President
Hesburgh voiced his concerns about the escalating arms race. The
following year, after visiting campus, she donated $6 million
to establish the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
Two years later, in 1988, she gave another $6 million to build
the Hesburgh Center for International Studies, on the south end
of campus near the Morris Inn. The facility houses both the Kroc
Institute and the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies.
Last May, on the occasion of Hesburgh's 86th birthday, she gave
$5 million to create a fund in Hesburgh's name that provides scholarships
for students in the Kroc Institute's master's degree program.
With the gift, the institute becomes the best-endowed peace
studies center at any college or university.
The money will be used in part to hire additional staff and
faculty. With University approval, the institute plans to expand
its one-year master's program to two years, incorporate a semester
of field research at sites around the world, and double enrollment.
Twenty-four students from about 17 countries are enrolled in the
degree program this year.
About 100 undergraduate students also take courses through the
Kroc Institute each year.
(January 2004)
