F. W. Olin Foundation

Not to be confused with the John M. Olin Foundation founded by Olin's son.

The Franklin W. Olin Foundation was founded in 1938 by Franklin W. Olin.^[1]

By the mid-1970s, the era of Horn, Wynn and Clark was ending, and the torch was passed to a new generation of board members. The transition in leadership began in 1974 with the election to the board of Carlton T. Helming, an officer of Federal Cartridge Corporation, and Lawrence W. Milas, a law partner of Mr. Wynn. At about the same time, William B. Horn, Chairman & President of Federal Cartridge, and son of Charles L. Horn, joined the board.^{[citation needed]}

In 1982, the foundation gave funding for the construction of the Olin Fine Arts Center at Washington & Jefferson College.^[2]

The foundation donated buildings to numerous college campuses, often for business or engineering use. Led by foundation President Lawrence W. Milas, F.W. Olin Foundation announced its plans to create a new engineering college. The board was prepared to establish and fully fund the new college with a major gift, today estimated to be worth $400 million; the college offers an outstanding engineering education to top students at little or no cost.^{[citation needed]}

The Franklin W. Olin Foundation made such a significant contribution to Miss Porter's School that, to this day the Olin Arts and Science Center stands to honor three members of the Olin family that are graduates of the school. The building has a painting and ceramics studio, each with 25-foot ceilings and 500 feet of windows; a computer art lab with the most current programs and equipment; a multi-media studio for jewelry and textiles; and a photography studio and dark room.^{[citation needed]}

On October 16, 1995, Babson President William F. Glavin announced that the F. W. Olin Foundation was granting Babson College $30 million to build a new graduate school building. At the time it had been the largest grant ever made to an independent graduate business school and one of the largest ever given to any business school. The grant funded the construction of the new graduate center, established an endowment for the graduate school to study and support innovative curricula, created the F. W. Olin Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship, and formed merit-based F. W. Olin Graduate Fellowships. In recognition of this extraordinary gift, Babson College’s graduate school was renamed the Franklin W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, the F. W. Olin Foundation chartered Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts, a private undergraduate college. The remainder of foundation funds have been donated, in several grants, to the college's endowment.^{[citation needed]}

Also in 1997, the F.W. Olin Foundation awarded a $50 million grant to Florida Institute of Technology. The grant was used by the university to fund part of the construction costs of the F.W. Olin Engineering Complex and the F.W. Olin Life Sciences Building. The foundation later awarded another grant to FIT for some of the construction costs of the Olin Physical Sciences Building.^[3]

In the year 2000, the Board of Trustees of the Olin Foundation began to implement a gradual phaseout plan, which led to its ultimate closure in November 2005.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ "F.W. Olin Foundation". http://www.olin.edu/about_olin/olin_foundation.aspx. Retrieved 22 Jan 2011. 
2. ^ "Washington & Jefferson College 2008-2010 Catalog" (PDF). Washington & Jefferson College. 2008. http://www.washjeff.edu/uploadedFiles/Academic_Affairs/Academics/Deans_Office/w&j%20college%20catalog%202006-2008%20pgs%201-219%282%29.pdf. Retrieved 2010-05-15. 
3. ^ F.W. Olin Physical Sciences Building