FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The best gifts can be tough to wrap: try getting a lecture hall or plaza under the tree! On Christmas day five years ago, Ken Shollmier surprised his wife Linda Sue with a $1 million gift to support architecture and business programs at the University of Arkansas. This Friday, one of the projects funded by the gift, a full renovation of the School of Architecture’s lecture hall, will be celebrated with the dedication of the space as the Ken Shollmier Lecture Hall. The Linda Sue Shollmier plaza will anchor the Sam M. Walton College of Business part of campus. The plaza is currently under construction, with completion projected for July 2007.

Chancellor John A. White, the Shollmiers, and School of Architecture alumni, faculty and students will dedicate the Shollmier Lecture Hall at 3 p.m. Friday, Sept. 22, in Vol Walker Hall.

“Gifts such as these truly keep on giving,” said G. David Gearhart, vice chancellor of University Advancement. “Students, faculty, and visitors to the university will benefit from Ken and Linda Sue’s generosity, which enhances programs and facilities in both the School of Architecture and the Walton College.”

 Jeff Shannon, dean of the School of Architecture, said “The Ken Shollmier Lecture Hall is in constant use as a classroom and as a venue for our Distinguished Lecture Series, which brings top-notch architects, landscape architects, historians and artists to campus to inspire and inform our students Thanks to this generous gift from the Shollmiers, we now have state-of-the-art technology, comfortable seating and beautiful cork floors.”

Ken Shollmier, a Pine Bluff native and 1963 graduate of the Walton College, began his career at the University of Arkansas in the School of Architecture. Though he completed his education in another discipline, Shollmier has maintained an interest in the profession and a desire to assist the students and faculty of the School of Architecture.

He has been active in the heating, ventilation, and air condition industry in Louisiana and founded Shollmier Distributing Inc. in 1989 as a distributor of HVAC products. The company went on to become the 40^th largest privately owned company in Louisiana in 2000. Until recently he was chief executive officer and president of Shollmier Investments Inc. in New Orleans, La., where he has been involved in a number of civic and leadership organizations including the National Democratic Leadership Council, the board of directors of Doctors Hospital and the Jefferson Parish Council. Shollmier sold both businesses in the early 2000s and established Shollmier and Company, an HVAC distributing company based in Little Rock and Fayetteville.

Linda Sue Shollmier is vice-president of Shollmier and Company. She also serves as a board member of LISA, League in Support of Animals, a grass roots organization working to prevent animal abuse and neglect. She is an auxiliary board member of Radio WRBH, a reading radio for the blind and print handicapped and a member of the Ladies Leukemia League. She attended the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The Shollmiers are working with architects to build a new home in west Little Rock that is inspired by the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and School of Architecture alumnus and former dean Fay Jones.

In addition to this gift, the Shollmiers provided funds for Outstanding Faculty Awards to be given each year in the amount of at least $5,000 to deserving faculty members in all colleges of the university. Along with his brother Dudley Shollmier of Little Rock, they made a $250,000 gift to the Walton College to establish the Shollmier MBA Investment Fund, which allows MBA students to purchase and manage an investment portfolio.

Whether providing for hands-on experience or a comfortable seat for a long lecture, the Shollmiers’ gifts have done much to enhance learning at the University of Arkansas.

 “I’m looking forward to seeing the lecture hall, and I just hope it helps the students out,” Shollmier said.