Wichita State University announced a significant donation on Thursday morning that will be used for their proposed Innovation Campus, a massive expansion that is slated to be built over Braeburn Golf Course.
The Sam and Rie Bloomfield Foundation’s gift of $2.5 million will help create the first endowed chair for Innovation Campus.
The Sam Bloomfield Chair in Innovation Engineering is meant to help technology grow in the local and regional economies.
According to Wichita State, the position is eligible for more funding through the Kansas Board of Regents.
The school would like to break ground on Innovation Campus’ first building, a $43 million “experimental engineering” facility in January of next year.
The late Sam Bloomfield was president of Swallow Airplane Company, based in Wichita, from 1934 to 1956. He and his wife, Rie, eventually moved to California. They continued to give donations to a number of Wichita institutions over their lifetimes.
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