Caleb Lynn, For The Evansville Courier & Press
EVANSVILLE — Interest in the Health Sciences Center in downtown Evansville continues to rise as William and Mary Stone gave $15 million to the new medical school.
The name of the building officially has been changed to the Stone Family Center for Health Sciences, referring to the collaboration between the University of Evansville, University of Southern Indiana and Indiana University.
“I’m from Indiana; we don’t forget who we are,” said Bill Stone, owner of Connecticut-based SS&C, a provider of financial services technology solutions. “Evansville is where Mary and I grew up and where we have extended family and friends. SS&C has a large and growing office (in Evansville), and we look forward to helping this community grow in size, wealth and health. The health center is one key to unlocking the capabilities of Southern Indiana.”
UE’s president Tom Kazee said the gift is transformational for UE's health sciences program.
"Not only will it contribute directly to UE’s physical therapy and physician assistant programs housed at the facility, but the effects of the Stone’s family generosity will be felt by all health science students at the University of Evansville," he said.
USI President Linda Bennett said the Stones' gift not only will have a great impact on the new center but also on the city and region.
“All three universities have dreams about the collaborative potential of the space downtown, and now this gift will help bring those dreams to life," she said. "On behalf of the University of Southern Indiana, I thank the Stones for their generosity and commitment to their hometown of Evansville.”
This gift will allow all three schools to continue building upon improvement in the health education programs and will allow them to provide a state of the art facility.
Bill Stone said IU's Dr. Steven Becker gave them a tour of the "spectacular building."
"The collaboration from USI, UE and IU is pretty special," he said.