Kansas State University, the University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University have received a gift of stock valued at $210 million, to be shared equally, from the Dolese Bros. Co. in Oklahoma City.

The gifts will establish each university's foundation as a non-voting majority shareholder in the company, the largest supplier of ready-mix concrete, crushed stone, gravel, and sand in Oklahoma. Dolese is buying and will continue to buy stock back from the universities on an annual basis in support of its profit-sharing plan and long-term goal of becoming wholly employee-owned.

The late Roger Dolese, who led the family-founded company for decades, finalized the charitable partnership prior to his death in 2001 as part of his plan to keep the company privately owned and to increase the number of engineers hired from nearby universities. The gift is being announced publicly now that it has been completed, although the three universities have benefited from the arrangement since its inception.

The KSU College of Engineering — which recently launched a ten-year effort to boost the number of engineers it graduates by nearly 40 percent while embarking on a $40 million facilities expansion plan — has used its gift to fund scholarship, tutoring, and mentoring programs to help increase student retention and graduation rates.

"These funds are a true gift," said Gary Clark, interim dean of the College of Engineering. "They are so timely and critical to help us with our strategic plan to increase the number of engineering graduates and align with K-State's 2025 vision. With this gift, Dolese specifically implored us to increase the number of engineering graduates as quickly as possible, which aligns perfectly with the initiative already underway in our college."