The Citadel receives $6 million gift to construct new School of Business building
September 7, 2016
State-of-the-art Bastin Hall will offer new resources and opportunities for cadets and students
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel is proud to announce the construction of a new academic building made possible through a gift of more than $6 million from an alumnus and his wife. Rick Bastin graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration as a member of The Citadel Class of 1965. He and his wife Mary Lee will be honored for their generosity through the naming of the new facility, Bastin Hall, which will become the new home for The Citadel School of Business.
“The construction of Bastin Hall will have a tremendous impact on The Citadel, providing both the facilities and resources we need to create programs of distinction within our School of Business as we carry out the LEAD Plan 2018, our six-year strategic plan,” said Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa, USAF (Retired), Class of 1973, president of The Citadel. “This extraordinary gift will help The Citadel achieve the desired end-state of the LEAD Plan, which is to strengthen The Citadel as a nationally recognized college for the education and development of principled leaders.”
Construction of Bastin Hall is expected to begin in 2017 and take approximately 18 months. The building will face Hagood Avenue and become a prominent fixture at the south entrance to campus near Johnson Hagood Stadium. Bastin Hall will be the first major new facility to be added to the campus footprint since Inouye Hall was built in 2006 to house the rifle range, as well as the first major new academic building since Thompson Hall was reconstructed in 2001. An entirely new academic building has not been added to campus since 1974.
Bastin Hall will be built as part of the Foundation for Leadership campaign, the most ambitious fundraising effort The Citadel has undertaken. The campaign seeks to raise $175 million by the academic year of 2017-2018, when The Citadel will celebrate its 175th anniversary. More than $153 million has been raised to date to support Foundation for Leadership, which was launched publically in the fall of 2015.
“The discipline I acquired at The Citadel laid the groundwork for my business career, so it is important for me to give back,” said Bastin. “A new home for The Citadel School of Business will enhance the prospects of cadets as they seek internships and establish successful careers. A modern facility with new technology and office space will also help attract and retain the best professors, providing cadets and graduate students with even more opportunities to learn from our faculty of professionals who are leaders in their field.”
Bastin serves on The Citadel Foundation Board of Directors and the Foundation for Leadership campaign steering committee as vice chair for the School of Business Building Committee. He has been an influential member of The Citadel School of Business Advisory Board. He and Mary Lee have been generous supporters of its goals and were instrumental in the creation of the Rick and Mary Lee Bastin Financial Leadership Lab on campus.
One year after graduating from The Citadel in 1965, Bastin earned his Master of Business Administration degree at Emory University. He served in the U.S. Army for three years, then returned to his home state of Florida to work at his family’s Mercedes-Benz dealership in Palm Beach. He eventually became owner of the dealership which, under his leadership, earned the Dealer of Excellence Award from both Volvo and Mercedes Benz. He has served on the South Florida Automobile Dealers Association Board, the National Mercedes-Benz Dealer Council and National Dealers’ Board. Additionally, the Bastins have been involved in a number of civic and non-profit organizations in South Florida.
In light of the Bastins’ generosity, The Citadel Foundation is issuing a challenge to other donors to support the construction of the new business facility. The Foundation for Leadership campaign aims to raise $15 million in philanthropic support for this project. Several new gifts have already been realized as a result of the challenge, generating more than $2.2 million in additional private contributions toward the building of Bastin Hall.
About Bastin Hall
A new building to house The Citadel School of Business was listed as milestone in the college’s long range plan, the LEAD Plan 2018, when it was initiated in 2013. The school is currently housed in Bond Hall, one of the first buildings constructed when the college moved from Marion Square to its current campus on the banks of the Ashley River. Bond Hall was built in 1922 and has maintained its present footprint since 1939.
The new facility, Bastin Hall, will enable the School of Business to meet the needs of future entrepreneurs and business leaders by providing innovating facilities that supplement academic coursework with practical, experiential learning.
In addition to providing numerous new multi-functional classrooms, conference rooms, and faculty offices, the building will feature a student success center dedicated to ensuring the long-term development of Citadel cadets and graduate students as they prepare to launch their business careers.
About The Citadel
The Citadel, with its iconic campus located in Charleston, South Carolina offers a classic military college education for young men and women profoundly focused on leadership excellence and academic distinction. Approximately 30 percent of the South Carolina Corps of Cadets commission as officers in every branch of U.S. military service upon graduating. Citadel alumni have served the nation, their state and their communities as principled leaders since the college was founded in 1842. The Citadel Graduate College offers more than 70 graduate degrees, graduate certificates, and evening undergraduate programs with many courses available online. The Citadel has been named Best Public College in the South for five consecutive years, and #3 Best College for Veterans in the South by U.S. News and World Report, as well as the best value out of all South Carolina colleges and universities, by Forbes.
