Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, has announced a $25 million gift from alumnus and Intuit chair and CEO Brad D. Smith and his wife, Alys, in support of its Lewis College of Business.

The gift, one of the largest in the university's history, will support efforts to redesign, reorganize, and reenergize the college of business. In addition to redesigning its curricula, with a focus on experiential learning and industry-academic partnerships, the college will use a portion of the gift to build a new facility with spaces designed to nurture collaboration, creativity, and entrepreneurship. In recognition of the gift, the college's undergraduate and graduate schools will be renamed the Brad D. Smith Undergraduate School of Business and the Brad D. Smith Graduate School of Business, while the new business school building will be named the Brad D. Smith Center for Business and Innovation.

In 2015, the Marshall University Foundation renamed its building Brad D. Smith Foundation Hall in recognition of the couple's previous support, which includes gifts to establish the Brad D. and Alys Smith Family Scholarship at Marshall for West Virginia and Ohio students, with a preference for first-generation college students.

"Alys and I are passionate about education and economic empowerment in West Virginia, Ohio, and the surrounding Appalachia area," said Smith, a Huntington native who graduated in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in business administration before earning an MBA from Aquinas College in Michigan. "We believe in supporting programs that are strategic, enduring, and making a lasting impact on students. We appreciate the opportunity to continue to work with Marshall leaders to bring new insights in business programs to reality." 

"Brad and Alys are caring individuals who fervently champion the success of students," said Ron Area, CEO of the Marshall University Foundation. "The fact that Brad believes Marshall prepared him for the business world and is willing to allow us to propose that our undergraduate and graduate schools be named for him truly represents the quality of our curriculum and our programs. We are honored this fine couple continues to invest in Marshall students and are excited for this new phase of educational excellence."