JELD-WEN Foundation Pledges $2.5 Million Gift to Willamette University

WU's Atkinson Graduate School is one of only two MBA programs in the nation dually accredited for business administration and public administration.

Willamette University Campus Photo: Matt King

(SALEM) - The JELD-WEN Foundation of Klamath Falls has pledged $2.5 million to Willamette University to create an endowed chair in Free Enterprise at the Atkinson Graduate School of Management.

The donation is the largest in the Atkinson Graduate School’s history. “This is a significant benchmark for the Atkinson Graduate School of Management,” said Willamette University President M. Lee Pelton.

“This gift from the JELD-WEN Foundation is gratifying in that it tells us that the Atkinson program and its faculty are among the best in the nation. This gift recognizes the strengths and the potential of this graduate school.”

“The JELD-WEN Foundation is pleased to partner with Willamette University and the Atkinson Graduate School of Management to create a new endowed chair for the University,” said Rod Wendt, President and CEO of JELD-WEN, inc.

“JELD-WEN feels the project’s focus on free enterprise is especially vital today. A large number of American students do not make the connection between a free market based system and the unprecedented and sustained vitality of the U.S. economy. The JELD-WEN Chair in Free Enterprise at the Atkinson Graduate School will provide an opportunity to expand the curriculum to highlight this topic.” Willamette University’s Atkinson Graduate School, with locations in Salem and Portland, is one of only two MBA programs in the nation dually accredited for Business Administration and Public Administration.

The JELD-WEN Foundation focuses on giving in the communities in which the company operates.

In the past five years, the Foundation has given more than $33 million.