A donation of $400,000 has been made by Carole and Barry Kaye for the new FAU Alumni Center. The Great Hall within the future Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center will be named the “Carole and Barry Kaye ’05 Great Hall.”
The alumni center will be under construction this fall and should be completed in the winter of 2007, according to Pat Breman, assistant vice president of Alumni Relations. Breman says the center will be a place that FAU alumni can call home.
This 9,000 square-foot, two-story center will offer classes and other activities for graduates to participate in. The center will give FAU graduates an area where they can learn and entertain.
The middle of the first floor will exhibit “The Great Wall” where the Kayes are named. Surrounding the wall will be individual meeting rooms, a library and a catering kitchen. The second floor will accommodate a boardroom for the president, and will give an open view of the “Carole and Barry Kaye ’05 Great Hall.”
A lighthouse tower will be a symbolic part of the center. According to The Alumni Center brochure, “The Lighthouse Tower will be a visible landmark on campus and a symbol of the Alumni Association’s mission to guide you ‘home.’ The Tower will shine beams of light after each commencement ceremony and in celebration of athletic victories.”
Kaye has also donated five million dollars to FAU’s College of Business, which established the Barry Kaye School of Finance, Insurance and Economics and the Barry Kaye Endowed Fund. In addition, Kaye donated $500,000 to FAU arts programs in 2005, which created the Carole and Barry Kaye Endowed Fund in Integrative Arts and Outreach within the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. The FAU University Center Auditorium has been renamed the “Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium” due to their continuous contributions.
“This wonderful gift reflects the extreme generosity of the Kaye family,” said Dr. Lawrence Davenport, executive director of the FAU Foundation. “By supporting alumni relations, the Kayes are reaching out to this university’s constituency of graduates and helping FAU reach new heights.”
