PC receives $2M gift to create entrepreneurship incubator space

PROVIDENCE COLLEGE announced Wednesday that it received a $2 million gift from a family of a late alum that will support an incubator space for entrepreneurship at the college. / COURTESY PROVIDENCE COLLEGE
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE announced Wednesday that it received a $2 million gift from a family of a late alumnus that will support an incubator space for entrepreneurship at the college. / COURTESY PROVIDENCE COLLEGE

PROVIDENCE – Providence College became the beneficiary of a seven-figure gift from a family of a late alumnus that will support an incubator space for entrepreneurship at the college.

PC announced Wednesday that the $2 million gift from the family of Donald R. Ryan will finance the creation of the Donald Ryan Incubator for Entrepreneurship in the Arts and Sciences. The space, PC said, will be utilized by students from all academic focus to create and test out new ideas for products, services and organizations.

The space will be closely tied to PC’s business and innovation minor program, the college said. The minor allows non-business majors to develop skills within applied science, global engagement and design thinking while learning entrepreneurship fundamentals. New technology, digital displays, individual work zones, a presentation area and a collaborative team space will be part of the new Ryan Incubator, PC said.

The incubator’s namesake, a 1969 PC graduate who died in 2011, was chairman and CEO of South Carolina-based CareCore National LLC, a company that Ryan co-founded to provide benefit management services to health care providers.

- Advertisement -

In a statement, PC Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Sean F. Reid said that Ryan’s life story exemplifies many characteristics PC wants to nurture in its students. “It is fitting that this generous gift will provide opportunities for students and faculty to innovate in a space that will bear his name and will assure his enduring legacy at the College.”

“If youngsters are learning from an early age to be innovative and creative, to be hands-on doers and thinkers, that needs to carry to the college level,” said Helen Ryan, Donald Ryan’s widow, in a statement. “Our hope is that this gift will expand what has already begun at Providence College and give even more students the opportunity, through a formal program, to develop an idea and put it into action.”

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.

No posts to display