From The Ichabod – Spring 2025
In 1868, an industrialist from Worcester County, Massachusetts, pledged $25,000 to a struggling college 1,500 miles away, demonstrating his fervent belief that all people – including women and people of color – deserved the right to formal education. Ichabod Washburn’s legacy was cemented one short month later when Lincoln College was renamed Washburn College in his honor. Over a century and a half later, in a year that has seen record-breaking enrollment, more students than ever living on campus, groundbreaking scholarship programs and the announcement of state-of-the-art facilities, there is certainly a lot at Washburn to believe in.
In the midst of so much momentum, this past February brought a new level of palpable excitement to Washburn University with the announcement of the largest gift in the university’s history – an unprecedented $50 million investment from alumni and longtime supporters Greg, bba ’84, h ’99, and Ronda, b ed ’84, Brenneman.
Their investment will provide the lead gift for the most ambitious project in the university’s history – a center for interprofessional healthcare education that will unify faculty and students from several Washburn health programs, allowing them to learn together and take part in simulations that will better equip them as leaders in their fields.
The gift has also transformed the business and nursing schools in a more immediate way. Washburn’s School of Business is now known as the Gregory D. and Ronda K. Brenneman School of Business, and Washburn’s School of Nursing has become the Harmony J. Hines School of Nursing in honor of Ronda’s late sister, a Washburn nursing graduate.
A two-part feature | Introduction by Jen LeClair | Photos by Jeremy Wangler
The Brennemans are already transforming Washburn with a named professorship in the School of Business. By naming the two schools with their new gift, they are further transforming and elevating the business and nursing schools.
“Named schools indicate a successful donor believes in what the institution is doing and where it is headed,” said David Sollars, dean, School of Business, “and the great thing about the Brenneman story is both Greg and Ronda are Kansas born and raised. Despite all of their business success and accompanying financial rewards, they haven’t forgotten where they came from and that helping others is so important.”
The Brennemans have been demonstrating their belief in Washburn for decades. In 1996, they funded an endowed professorship position in the School of Business, which has provided expanded learning opportunities in business strategy for students. Having a named professorship also helps gain distinction for Washburn.
“As an accredited program, our school is evaluated on three key components: teaching, research and service,” said Norma Juma, Brenneman Professor of Business Strategy. “Our six unique professorships cover all these areas comprehensively. My professorship is dedicated to advancing research, allowing me to collaborate with scholars in my field.”
In addition to the Brenneman-named professorship, having the Brennemans’ remarkable success tied to the School of Business elevates the level of prestige for a prospective student.
“The Brennemans are very approachable and great examples for our students to emulate,” explained Sollars. “We strive every day to live up to our mission, and when our students leave here, they are ready to take on the world.”
Names are occasionally transformative and oftentimes powerful, especially when they tell a meaningful story. When it came to the naming opportunity for the School of Nursing, the connection was even more deeply felt. Ronda’s sister, Harmony Hines, bsn ’87, had her life cut short by an aggressive cancer in 2018 – but not before she was able to leave a lasting impact on the people who knew her.
“Throughout her career, Harmony demonstrated professional knowledge, confidence, care, empathy, concern and the ability to work with all levels of care givers,” Ronda said. “We want to recognize Harmony as an example of one of the very finest of Washburn University.”
As Jane Carpenter, bsn ’80, dean, School of Nursing, approaches her retirement this summer, she will end her career as the first dean of the newly named Harmony J. Hines School of Nursing. While she has had many proud accomplishments throughout her career, she feels especially honored to leave on such a high note, with abundant potential and momentum
for the school moving forward.
“What a beautiful role model to have our school named after,” Carpenter said.
The other element to the Brenneman’s gift will offer a unique opportunity for healthcare students to learn together. The vision for a singular, all-in-one learning environment for students studying in a healthcare field had been in talks among Washburn faculty, staff and leadership for years. But when the $50 million gift was announced in February, the Healthcare Education Center came to fruition much quicker than anyone could have anticipated.
“This gift greatly accelerates the timeline of this facility, which means it will become a reality for our students much sooner,” said Zach Frank, dean, School of Applied Studies.
According to John Fritch, provost and vice president for academic affairs, “this project went from a 10-year proposed achievement date to less than four years seemingly overnight with the added funding from the Brennemans.”
Still early in the planning stages, the new building will house the Harmony J. Hines School of Nursing, the allied health and social work departments from the School of Applied Studies and kinesiology from the College of Arts and Sciences. The need for the building arose from the fact that various healthcare personnel and equipment had scattered across campus over time. Furthermore, Benton Hall, the home of the School of Applied Studies, was deemed unequipped for future renovations and modifications.
Keeping in line with the general vision for the healthcare building, students and staff alike can expect new lab spaces with state-of-the-art simulation areas, as well as more expansive practice areas. The space will also provide equipment available to check out. Still, leaders like Frank and Fritch want to underscore that interdisciplinary learning will take center stage.
“This will be a unique and encouraging environment for students from separate fields to come together to learn from one another,” Frank said.
“During the planning process, our goal when we look at other models will be to create a facility that promotes the notion that healthcare professionals work together, not isolated from each other,” Fritch said. “And, in this way, we’re mimicking real workspaces and providing better student experiences in the process.”
“A nursing student might have a better perspective of what a radiology tech student does, and vice versa, because they are studying and working alongside each other,” Frank said.
Furthermore, the more experience students have working across disciplines the more they witness the variety of healthcare positions and educational pathways available. All of this ties into Washburn’s master plan, announced in October, and Thriving Together, the strategic framework announced in February 2024.
“Our strategic plan talks about finding an educational path for everyone,” Fritch explained. “In exploring new career paths for each student, we also look at how the student’s desired field aligns with the industry.”
The healthcare facility is in phase one, a planning period with 18 to 24 months dedicated to research and design before the construction phase, or phase two, gets underway.
Frank said during this time the university wants to hear from students, faculty, staff and community members on what would best serve them regarding the building’s design and equipment. This information will be gathered during various listening sessions.
“Each academic program has specific and unique needs; that’s why this upcoming planning phase is so important,” Frank said.
But Frank wants to stress the importance of input from the local community. As presently planned, this facility will offer an optimum space to educate future healthcare professionals in the region, and future plans may help it further lend itself to the health of the local community.
“Ultimately, we would like to better use the building to meet our community’s healthcare needs,” he said. “This learning environment will further enhance the power of our graduates as they prime themselves to be leaders in healthcare in northeast Kansas,” Frank said.
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